Watch Space Station 76 For Free

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This film has a lot of elements going for it.The '70s theme is unique and enjoyable. Starting with a futuristic setting, but then infusing it with sights, sounds, and colors of the '70s, was a good move. It isn't a version of the future as envisioned by the media of the time. Rather, it simply is the 1970s... but in space. What few new technologies exist, are done in period style. It works.The casting is excellent. Patrick Wilson really steals the show though. The believability is there, and so is the comedic timing.Unfortunately, the end does not bring the sort of resolution you'd expect from a motion picture. In fact, it's downright disappointing. It feels more like the pilot to a TV series -- a potentially awesome TV series. A good film experience should leave you wanting more. But there's also a such thing as not enough, and this one falls into that latter category. There is way to much wasted opportunity and too many loose ends here.It doesn't feel complete on it's own. But should they feel like adding another installment, count me in.

Highlight of the film: Seeing the first sock drawer in space.This is a movie that is a low-budget knockoff of Space 1999 and Seinfeld.A difference being that Seinfeld had a laugh track which helped you know when something was supposed to be funny.The environs of the spaceship looks like it was pulled out of a Space 1999 Set with all of the nice looking parts removed. This makes just about every 1970s sci-fi flick you've seen look higher budget.Nothing is really that funny in this comedy altho' you will perhaps like some devices like the little kid drawing directions to home quarters with a crayon, with a retro-robot cleaning up after her.The movie is about being dysfunctional which... if you are into feeling inferior then you will probably like (some people dig this kind of thing).There isn't really a plot to spoil since there is no plot. You can't really say "at the end of this film, _________ happened and was interesting since there is no __________.Things that do work:The asteroid rotating+tapping against the space station, thus making the actors stop talking. - The sock drawer.Things that don't work:Making a mockery of Christmas as a tool to extend dysfunctionality. - Wood paneling in Space 1999-like quarters - Todd Runngren singing with a guy in the bathtub. - All dialog - The "dumb blond" with the 1970s qualude+booze habit - Globe lighting - 1970s Hologram Chamber - Repeating Robot Doctor - 4 bit microcomputer strapped to a character's arm - Blouses+random comfort debris floating/rotating in space.What could have been done:Adding a plot of any real kind would be well... kind.

I happened to catch the trailer for 'Space Station 76' and couldn't believe that no one had already thought of this type of film already. I grew up in the seventies and eighties and was well into the sci-fi of the day, i.e. with wooden sets, cheesy robots and unfashionable hairstyles. Therefore, when I saw that a film was dedicated to sending up this genre, only in the modern age, I couldn't believe my luck. This film was truly made for me. It looked hilarious.I was wrong. The trailer was hilarious. The film was not. Not because the jokes fell flat or didn't work when they were stretched out into a full-length feature film, but because the film just wasn't really a comedy, as it was presented in the one and half minutes trailer.Yes, the sets are indeed well-designed (i.e. old fashioned seventies incarnations of what the future may look like) and there are a few moments that produce a wry smile from you. However, the film is actually more of a dark drama and – dare I say it – quite depressing.Leaving the kitsch period feel aside, the film is about a space station billions of light years away from Earth. Some of the inhabitants of the station have lived there all their life, others much of their adult life. Either way, they're only one step away from going stir crazy. Therefore, you have many depressed and broken people, all desperately seeking some form of justification for their existences.And there's the problem. I rented this film thinking it was a comedy that based its jokes on the clichés of yesteryear's science fiction and I got quite a dark drama about the misery of human existence at its loneliest.Therefore, I –sort of – didn't enjoy it. But that's not to say that it was a bad thing; I just wanted something different. Just know what you're getting before you sit down to watch it. There are moments of humour, but much of it is very dark and there are places where you won't know whether you should be laughing or crying at the characters' plights. Just make sure that you're in the mood for something a little tragic that's dressed up as a silly seventies sci-fi show.

I consider myself a fairly 'typical' viewer. By which I mean that I tend to find myself agreeing with the professional critical consensus on a book, movie or film. (Rather than the popular one, which tends to get distorted by rabid fans on one side and equally rabid haters on the other end.) Personal mileage can vary of course, but it is rare that I find myself really enjoying something that – according to most critics – sucks. Space Station 76 is such a thing.The movie is a loving pastiche of scifi from the sixties and seventies, sporting some impressive retro styling and understated but modern special effects. It introduces us to the crew of the titular space station through the eyes of new arrival Jessica (Liv Tyler). A she will discover, the people on board have their share of issues. And Jessica has some of her own to add. Though the size of the station and the extras milling about in the background indicate that there is a large crew, the story focuses on just a few of them and makes them feel isolated and alienated. Some of their problems are timeless, such as cheating and the tribulations of parenthood, some have consciously been given a dated feel. Being gay is a shameful secret in this retro- future and emancipation is only just starting to be a thing. This is a future in which smoking around babies is no big deal and fashion shows are best viewed on stereoscopic slides with a cutting-edge plastic viewmaster.I can see how this movie would turn people off. It walks a fine line between being funny and being poignant, trying to engage your emotions while also going for the occasional cheap laugh. The cast is game, playing it mostly straight – even some of the more absurd bits – and going slightly camp when a moment calls for it. Like the space station itself, the story moves slowly and doesn't really end up getting anywhere surprising. You have to be fond of the kind of movies that Space Station 76 pokes fun at and you have to allow yourself to get enveloped by its weird mood and funky synth music. Seeing it in the dark on a big screen is definitely recommended. Fail to tune into its frequency and you will be left with a boring slog through phoney-looking sets that goes nowhere. The movie could have used more sting in its tale, but I couldn't help but be seduced by it.