Nova

Lucky to get 3 stars, must have been made in a garage. I think if your looking for a really good story with a high quality finish you will be happy to skip this one. On a journey to Mars to set up an android colony, android Nova is given a program to mimic human emotions. She struggles to understand and express her feelings to her human crew mates, but another android on board rallies the rest to mutiny against their human masters. Just put that in to fill in the required minimum. The sci-fi flick has difficulty choosing a narrative and struggles to create a world. Do yopurself a favour and skip it.

Enjoyable independent sci-fi film with a compelling narrative about a small crew composed of humans and humanoid robots en route to the Mars colony. Was pleasantly surprised that despite the low budget, the production quality was high enough and consistent throughout the film to keep me captivated. The acting is okay, my favorite actor being the one who played the ship's captain, but also the woman who played the titular character had me forgetting she was human. Also the film handled the challenge of having a young child actress quite well and she did a great job in her role.

All in all a technically solid and fun indie film.

No matter the budget, it's a miracle if you can get a film made and worth it if you have something to say. Nova attempts to ask questions about how we treat our own creations, especially at moments of crisis when the choices only become tougher along the way. Aside from the scenes of peril that offer excitement, Nova works best when it leans on its dramatic aspects, most notably with Lelia Anastasia. Her performance as the Captain leading a doomed ship lends authenticity and dimension to a character with both nobility and bias- especially against the AI of the film- played with haunting understatement in the case of Juliet Chevelle's title character. For a shoestring budgeted sci fi film, it's nice to see that it concerns itself with drama between characters and allowing the performances to be the film's greatest special effect.

The lead character is Abilene Lamb meaning Grassy Meadow Lamb. But his real name is Chase Pollock which is Chasing Fish. It's just SO dry to watch. The acting is REALLY terrible. Luckily these are supposed to be androids but even a robot in our time has simulated emotions. The character outfits are not even plausible for a crew on a present day shuttle or station. (SERIOUSLY Abilene wearing a white lab coat but also a black cowboy hat with that name? Why not make him spit and speak in a slack jawed southern accent?) The fake eyelashes killed all sense of reality (besides the dry acting). I honestly felt like I was pranked into watching a student film off YouTube but under the heading "a serious Movie." I couldn't finish it. My advice is stick to making YouTube videos and it will look average there. But even on YouTube you'd see more effects and acting.

Fun Fact: Most of the cast are named after places, objects, or things.

I love a good Science Fiction thriller and this one fit the bill nicely. Thematically it was actually really very refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie and can consider it fun for the whole family. It had characters of all ages so everybody in my home had one or more people or android we could easily relate to. The subject content were many and varied from trivial to life threatening. It was a very realistic view of the present we're living to the near future were anticipating. It gave us a lot to talk about afterwords and was very well thought out. Kudos to the writer/director. My family feels we gave it a very realistic rating.