Space Station 76 (2014)

ridiculous rating

Lack of good storyline.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Can't believe that this film was considered a comedy - I saw NOTHING even to bring a smile to my face. No take that back there were a couple of instances where the robots created the smile. In some ways it was like suburbia translated (complete with furniture) onto a space station. So it came with a 70's view of sex and masturbation which hardly helped the lack of story. Given that it was supposed to be a space station there was little evidence of professionalism and chain of command - they seemed to be aimlessly drifting in space with little concern for what may outside the space station or how to manage it. I think this is the first film I have seen where actors smoke - irrespective of where they may be AND so many of them!! I found this difficult to take be it on the command deck or private quarters. So many people with problems one wonders how they were screened to be crew members on a space station in the first place. DULL - unimaginative and sit-com predictability.

Believe it or not, this movie has a lot in common with the Beach Party Movies of the 1960's, in the sense that only certain people born in a specific era will get it. Fortunatley, having been born in the 1960's, I'm one of those people. The fact that it was co-written by many of the cast-members, most of them from the same generation probably has an affect on it's quality. Having said that, once I saw it it took some time for me to get into the movie. Contrary to what you may have read, this movie doesn't take place in the 1970's, but is instead a representation of the future that we thought would take place in the 1970's. It contains futuristic space travel with home appliances that pre-date the election of Ronald Reagan.Jessica Marlowe (Liv Tyler) is a Lieutenant who has just arrived on a refueling station in space named Omega 76. She has been assigned to co-pilot the station along with Captain Glenn Terry (Patrick Wilson), who seems a little too uncomfortable around the opposite sex. This is because he's not a male chauvinist, but a closeted homosexual who spends much of the movie trying to commit suicide rather than deal with a fling he had with one of his crew members. Among them are Ted (Matt Bowman) and Misty (Marisa Coughlan), who have a lonely little daughter named "Sunshine" (Kylie Rogers). Ted is a mechanic who has what is considered an old-fashioned mechanical hand and smokes a lot of pot, which at one point makes him see a naked woman floating outside of the window of the station who's face morphs into Lt. Marlowe. Misty is the nutritionist who spends most of her time getting Valium from a robot shrink named "Dr. Bot," who spends much of its time spouting psycho babble and random catch-phrases. Poor little Sunshine just wants a friend she can play with, whether it's a pet or another kid. She tries a pregnant gerbil, but the gerbil eats her babies. She tries to spend time with the baby of another couple, but they won't let her. Jennifer gives her a cryogenically frozen puppy, but her pill-popping mommy screws that up too.Then there's Steve (Jerry O'Connell) and Donna ("Liv and Maddie's" Kali Rocha). Steve is the ship sex fiend who would screw anything with two legs and a vagina. He's not only doing his wife (Lucky bastard!), but also Misty, and would take Jennifer to the bedroom if he had the chance. We can only hope that he won't be around when Sunshine finishes going through puberty. Donna is pretty, but is selfish and materialistic as she neglects her newborn baby, and at the same time keeps Sunshine from visiting her out of fear that she'll give the kid germs. The crew is all loaded with their own neuroses, and their own selfish interests... so much so that they don't even realize a meteor is heading towards the station. The same meteor that the captain's ex-lover could've prevented them from encountering.The soundtrack is primarily filled with the mellow hits of Todd Rundgren, but also has some late Neil Sedaka and leftover Spanky and Our Gang. It's typical of the existentialist sci-fi of movies like "Silent Running," the kind of sci-fi movies after "2001: A Space Odyssey" and before "Star Wars." It even has Keir Dullea as Jessica's dad. The movie is also an example of why many people wanted to get away from the 1970's. It was a decade that spent so much time trying to deal with it's feelings that it never dealt with real problems. In a sense, it's the reason movies ranging from "Star Wars" to "National Lampoon's Animal House" had to happen. It was a representation of a time when we were afraid to take action against real dangers because we were conditioned to believe the dangers only existed in our minds. Think of the Saturday Night Live skit where John Belushi played a mobster in group therapy, and you'll get the idea. It's the kind of mentality that kept us from defending ourselves and our friends against bullies on the school playground, building the highways that would've reduced our traffic jams, prevented us from facing the fact that we were right about the communist threat in Korea, Indochina, and elsewhere, and kept us from taking action against the People's Temple in Jonestown, and the jihadists in Iran when they took over the U.S. Embassy.

Nothing in the plot of this movie has anything to do with science fiction. Yes, it is set on a "space station" but it could as easily have been a 20th century cruise liner or a 19th century Orient Express Train. The plot is all about the interaction between the personalities of the people on-board. Why is it so clearly a stage play?--because it uses the old tried and true plot structure of "drama"--characters reveal themselves to each other and come to make self-discoveries as the play unwinds--that's what the film is all about--these 'revelations'. Why is this supposedly the 1970s?--Well the art-direction--the sets and costumes look something like Kubrick's film 2001--which came out in 1968--and also Star Trek--the iconic 1960's TV show. There are touches like black-and-white TV monitors etc., telephones with cords, and lots of cigarette smoking. Actors--insecure actors puzzling out how to project the script that they're given traditionally use cigarette-smoking as an action to substitute for emoting. Well--there's certainly a LOT of smoking in this FILM. Maybe they're saying that smoking is still OK in this 1970s--but it's probably just a lame ripoff of the tobacco and alcohol consumption in the MAD MEN TV show. There is some "symbolism" in the movie--the huge asteroid, which seems to menace and trivialize the mere dilemmas and conflicts of the human characters. The other symbolism is maybe the sort-of-1970s setting--a guy freaking out over his unaccepted Gay Identity--really? In 2014?--come on!--Will and Grace has been off the air for years. Also the couple who "stay together for the children"--another theme from a previous era. Today's society has moved beyond these dilemmas. Most of these plot concerns are really kind of generic and clichéd. Best part of the film is the ACTING--and this is definitely a film about ACTING--not science fiction or plot or story! Some of the acting is uneven--some characters are better at it than others. Liv Tyler is really good and not self-conscious and labored like some of the others in the cast. She does not chew up the scenery. And it's fun seeing her play a real role and not just a comic-book character as in Lord of the Rings, etc. SO--I was a little let-down by this film, but I'd give it a 7 for effort but only a 5 (at best) overall. Kind of a weird hybrid of a movie.

In this dark comedy that is blacker than the deepest depths of space, a group of denizens reside in a random floating space station (Station 76 to be exact) whose lives and well-being are put up for inspection by the audience as they struggle with everyday ordeals such as loneliness, infidelity, sexism, drug use, self loathing and loneliness (yes, the second mention was intentional).This low budget film does the most with its budget and it actually all looks quite acceptable as it is a spoof/comedic take on cheap, cheesy futuristic 70's science fiction films which allows for poor special effects and less-than believable interior shots of actual human- built ships/stations floating about in space. The station's interior décor is 1970s chic ... as are the characters' costumes and hair styles. The director (Jack Plotnick) has all of this down.Where he suffers is piecing together the story's narrative. His lack of direction is rather obvious as the toxicity of some of the laughs aren't as deadly as they should be. I chuckled throughout most of this movie but this comedy is actually more of a tragedy and while everything is played for laughs the somber, serious nature of each of the characters may persuade some to believe they are instead watching a bizarre drama as these characters are clearly all crying on the inside.When Jessica (Liv Tyler - Empire Records) newly arrives at Station 76 as a new mate, the men and women of the station aren't sure what to make of a woman wanting to "work". The station's captain (Patrick Wilson - Little Children) is unhappy with his new partner but also appears to harbor some resentment towards the one who just left whom Jessica is replacing. Matt Bomer (Magic Mike) plays the station's maintenance man whose wife (Marisa Coughlan - Pumpkin) has grown bored with both marriage and motherhood.Their lives unhappily float about in space ... and that is about it. Some will chuckle at their lives and misfortunes as presented and others simply won't get it; but we are laughing at tragic human internal suffering. It's black comedy ... and parts of it do work.The film clearly won't be for everyone. I enjoyed this for the most part but I know many others won't like it ... so I won't be going out of my way to recommend this to those I know.