Micitype Pretty Good

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Steineded How sad is this?

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

born-giantsfan Being a Lake Bell fan I have known about Surface but not watched it until now. I really wanted to like it - sci-fi, mysterious creatures, Lake Bell, etc. And while I am working my way through the series (at episode 9 now) there are enough problems that I can see why it didn't get picked up for a second season.Overall it is a fun premise and a reasonably enjoyable show. There is family entertainment, strange creatures, mysterious sci-fi aspects, sinister government agents, good looking men and women, and "teenage" girls in bikinis (kudos for casting Leslie Fisher as Amber).I would say that the biggest issue is the sub-par writing, followed by the low budget CGI, inconsistent editing and directing, and the occasional mediocre acting.While I won't write any spoilers, I will mention a few plot points going forward.The script writing is filled with many issues, I found it distracting. A perfect example is episode 4 which is filled with numerous inconsistencies, totally silly situations, and other significant problems.For example, what is the purpose of Cirko's presentation at the beginning to to a room full of stereotypical clueless military generals and advisers when he really doesn't (or isn't allowed to) say anything about the discovery other than a few veiled warnings. Such a big assembly of the top brass for a ecological lesson? But a much bigger problem with the episode is the whole "stranded on a boat" section - when the creature pulses and fries all the electronics on the boat that Laura and Jackson "borrowed". This set of scenes demonstrates all the problems with the show and seems to be written just to get Lake Bell into a bikini and in the water (not that I am objecting to that).Three of the significant issues with that selection of scenes are: 1.They find a whole pod of dead whales, but they don't see it until they are right up next to the 2 of them - even though when they walk back to the rear of the boat there are 3 in the water behind the boat (and the ones in front of the boat are no longer visible). A little more CGI and better editing would have caught all the visual discrepancies with the viewing (or lack of seeing) the dead whale pod.2. the damage to the electronics caused by the pulse can't simply be fixed by cleaning some contacts and splitting the fused ignition wires. A pulse strong enough to cause sparks and smoke fried every bit of electronics on the boat, yet with a few hand tools they were able to get the boat running again. And the next morning they got the boat running just fine and all the electronics and computers on the boat were working well. The pulse would have shorted out all the IC's in the computer, fish finder, GPS tracker, etc.3. The final repair of the "prop is busted" is a sheered prop/shaft key that need to be replaced - this is a mechanical failure which could be caused if the engine was running at load when the pulse occurred. Yet the boat was idling and dead in the water when the pulse hit. So this would not have occurred. And the whole fix was completely bogus.The whole repair is badly set up to get Lake to strip down to her designer bikini (making it worth watching). The reason for her going in the water is because Jackson can't fit his hand into the area where the replacement of the sheered key needs to be done. But when Lake goes into the water to do the repair, all she does is fiddle with a bolt at the end of the shaft. There is no reaching into an area where a smaller hand is required and no replacing of any parts - no action validating the need for her to go into the water. Total inconsistency in the writing, directing, and editing.I can put up with the silliness in the scene such as when Lake Bell is "documenting the creature" she is actually pointing the camera at a downward angle towards the boat controls, or when the pulse hits Lake falls over as if she were knocked over by an EMT pulse, or when they are sitting on the boat at night watching guard against this massive creature Lake is holding an oar (completely useless in this situation).But the larger issues mentioned above are too off-pitting to ignore and show that the show was poorly done. With a little more CGI budget and a little bit better writing, directing, and editing - this show could have been a winner.And I watched that scene multiple times just to make sure I caught all the details - it had nothing to do with Lake Bell in a red bikini.One final issue in the episode that made me laugh - when Connelly takes his small boat out to the oil rig at night, he throws his anchor into the water. The anchor had about 20 feet of rope on it yet it was already determine that the water there was over 200 feet deep. A few minutes later the boat is seen being held in place by the anchor and rope where the rope is held away from the boat by the anchor - yet in 200 feet of water the anchor would be hanging straight down.So in summary, a fun little series that will titillate, entice, and promise, but will fail to deliver.

rich-andrews The writing and direction of the show is horrible. The lead characters are inconsistent, there are at least 6 scenes in each episode that are just plain wrong. The last 3 episodes are the worst of the bunch. The direction/writing of the last episodes is done so poorly that the characters become silly and laughable. There are more clichés in the series than I can count. The story as presented is too fragmented with far too much personal interaction between the characters. In addition there are far too many morons running around with active roles. The lynch mob scene is an excellent example. The lynch mob scene is overdone to the point that the viewer knows nothing will happen so it becomes boring.This series is filled with excellent examples of what a film writer should NOT do.

Jay Hayes I really think this was a excellent TV Series just wished The Series would have continued to more episodes. I'm going to buy the full Series for my Movie and Series Collections. I just watched this TV Series again and had to put it as one of the best TV Series I have ever watched. I love these kind of Series just wished was more to see. I want to say Thank You for making of what you did on this Series and all the Actors did such a wonderful Job in acting in this TV Series. I didn't like what some of the Critics said on the Acting is fair because I thought these Actors did a Excellent job. I guess I'm not a Certified Critic but I do know a good TV Series when I see one. Thanks for making The Show.Jay Hayes

screenman Well, here's another contribution for the prematurely lobotomised.With a child star in such a prominent role, you just know it's going to be one of those futile attempts to create something for adults and kids alike. Spielberg just about pulled it off with 'Jurassic Park' and one or two others, but mostly what you get is what you have here; an inadequate compromise reduced to the lowest common denominator of intellectual and emotional maturity. In short; even the adults react and behave as if they were just kids grown big. I'm very much reminded of Tom Hanks' movie of the same name.The characters are largely unbelievable. The situations are predictably implausible. Tension is minimal, surprises and scares few (don't want to upset too many juveniles, do we?). I was recently watching a young couple trapped in a sunken bathyscape. They were, apparently, doomed. Water was leaking in, air was running out, the electronics were playing up, the radio was on the blink, their survival system wasn't working. They're were gonna die. But - hey - they still found time to be delighted by the big sea-monsters just outside their porthole. Like you would. Of course; you knew they were going to escape actually - the young woman was pretty - much too pretty to die a grisly death in front of children. An ugly, fat man - well, that would have been okay. But not a pretty young woman. The old nursery-book stereotypes of gender and appearance must still prevail. Add to that, some third-rate 'Godzilla-esque' CGI imagery, editing so choppy it must have been done in a butcher's shop, a slow, slow denouement that enables the serial to be stretched out into infinity, and you have the perfect formula to please the sponsors.It's that sort of cheap, American hokum: made for kids of all sizes.Science-fiction fans, mature rational adults, and anyone with complete cerebral function should look elsewhere.