CameronMacKenzie

Nor does Every TV Show or Film put on Celluloid merit being Viewed. "Invasion" is an interesting Story, but the Acting does not elevate it - not in the way Rami Maled, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy snd Joseph Mazzello elevated McCarten and Morgan's Script.

Was interested to see what Grazer & Howard helped create with this very noble, albeit relatively inexpensive mini-series narrative docudrama, perhaps, created to encourage a renewed interest in what used to be a very successful, highly-supported and admired, if not revered, space program made popular by NASA.

Certainly, the American public is not so adrenaline-addicted that it isn't capable of appreciating a normally- or slow-paced televised program such as MARS or RECTIFY. Episode 1 of any new series, mini- or otherwise, always has the challenge of putting enough story out there in an interesting, if not new, fashion, in order to attract a broad audience to tuning in to view an Episode 2.

I, personally, am not so spoiled that the presence of A-List Actors, overactive CGI or overly-creative sets-props-camera work (a la Abrams' new STAR TREK franchise) are necessary to keep me interested in a good story. After all, an actor's entire reason-to-be is simply to tell "a story".

I enjoyed the time-travel roller-coaster, as well as the real-fiction mash-up. That change-up was as interesting as the space fiction was evenly-paced. Diversity is important in all sorts of venues and mediums; most certainly in our electronic and digital viewing options.

A change-of-pace from 2016-styled television, where mystery and supernatural now run amok, denying viewers good, simple stories about boring and real Reality and Science.

Thanks National Geographic!

Only handful of people I know have had the pleasure of seeing a prescreening of "Mother's Birthday" ... and they all loved it! "Mother's Birthday" is a film for everyone. Writer-Director Matsumura tells a story combining only the most necessary verbiage with the most beautiful of visual technique by his cinematographer. Matsumura's use of sound is pertinent. His use of music is an audio pleasure. Matsumura implies life throughout this short feature film by weaving clip after clip together of nature-in-action which adds exponentially to the sense of life of the story told by the film. "Mother's Birthday" is a film that tells a story without all the superficial tools used to sell films today. Our society would no doubt be healthier if more people saw more films like "Mother's Birthday".