Cocoon

Cocoon is a 1985 American science-fiction comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard about a group of elderly people rejuvenated by aliens. The film stars Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Jack Gilford, Steve Guttenberg, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, Herta Ware, Tahnee Welch, and Linda Harrison. The screenplay was written by Tom Benedek, from David Saperstein’s story. The film was shot in and around St. Petersburg, Florida: locations included the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club, Suncoast Manor Retirement Community, The Coliseum, and Snell Arcade buildings. The film earned two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Don Ameche) and for Best Visual Effects. A sequel, Cocoon: The Return, was released in 1988, in which almost all of the original cast reprised their roles.

About 10,000 years ago, peaceful aliens from the planet Antarea set up an outpost on Earth on Atlantis. When Atlantis sank, twenty aliens were left behind, kept alive in large rock-like cocoons at the bottom of the ocean. Now, a group of Antareans have returned to collect them. Disguising themselves as humans, they rent a house with a swimming pool and charge the water with “life force” to give the cocooned Antareans energy to survive the trip home. They charter a boat from a local captain named Jack, who helps them retrieve the cocoons. Jack spies on Kitty, a beautiful woman from the team who chartered his boat, while she undresses in her cabin, and discovers that she is an alien. After the aliens reveal themselves to him and explain what’s going on, he decides to help them.

Next door to the house the Antareans are renting is a retirement home. Three of its residents, Ben, Arthur, and Joe, often trespass to swim in the pool next door. They absorb some of the life force, making them feel younger and stronger. Eventually caught in the act, they are given permission to use the pool by the Antarean leader, Walter, on the condition that they do not touch the cocoons or tell anybody else about it. Rejuvenated with youthful energy, the three men begin to let the advantages of the pool take hold as they are relieved of their ailments. Meanwhile, Kitty and Jack grow closer and decide to make love in the pool. Since she cannot do so in the human manner, she introduces him to the Antarean equivalent, in which she shares her lifeforce energy with him.

The other retirement home residents become suspicious after witnessing Ben’s wife Mary climb a tree. Their friend Bernie reveals the secret of the pool to the other residents, who rush to the pool to swim in its waters. When Walter finds them damaging one of the cocoons he ejects them from the property. Later that evening, Bernie finds his wife Rose has stopped breathing and carries her body to the pool in an attempt to heal her, only to be informed by Walter that the pool no longer works due to the other residents draining the force in the rush to make themselves young.

Walter explains that the cocoons cannot now survive the trip back to Antarea, but will be able to survive on Earth. With the help of Jack, Ben, Arthur and Joe, the Antareans return the cocoons to the sea. The Antareans offer to take residents of the retirement home with them to Antarea, where they will never grow older and never die. Most of them accept the offer, but Bernie chooses to remain on Earth. Upon leaving, Ben tells his grandson, David, that he and Mary are leaving for good. As the residents are leaving, David’s mother Susan finds out about their destination and quickly drives to the retirement home, where they find the majority of the rooms vacant and contact local authorities.

While the police are searching for the residents, David notices the boat starting and jumps onto the side as it pulls away. The boat is being chased by the Coast Guard, so with little time left, David says a tearful goodbye to Ben and Mary before jumping off into the water. The Coast Guard boats stop to pick him up, giving the others a chance to get away. Out of nowhere, a thick fog appears and strands the remaining Coast Guard boats and they call off the chase. As the Antarean ship appears, Walter pays Jack for his services and the boat. Jack embraces Kitty for the last time and they share a kiss. He then says farewell to everyone before jumping into an inflatable raft as the boat starts rising up into the Antarean vessel. Jack watches as the boat disappears inside the ship and departs.

Back on earth, a funeral is held for the missing residents. During the sermon, David looks toward the sky and smiles. The film ends with the Antarean vessel going towards a bright-looking object, assumed to be a hyperspace entrance or portal, leading to Antarea.

A fun and touching movie starring some of some fine actors of a previous generation most of who have passed away. I loved watching this film again and reliving the fun. 8 outta 10!

Make Moving Day Easier For Yourself

Moving house is a pretty big deal. It is one of the stressful things that you can do in life, so it makes a difference when you can do it and still be able to remain calm. Planning ahead is what it is all about. You don’t want to be frantically packing and sorting out your final bills in a house before you go. So here is a checklist to help you move, so that it can be as stress-free as possible.

Removal Quotes

It depends where you are moving and what you are doing. If you are going into a rented property that comes with furniture, then you will probably manage to move with just a couple of cars and some friends or family to help. However, if you have a bigger house move, and have a house full of furniture to move, then you will need more help. You should book any help with removals as soon as you get a date to move, but it is important to compare prices before you do that. Then you can get the best deal possible for what you need. Moving house is going to be something that is expensive to do anyway.

Repair before you move

If you have been living in rented accommodation, then you will definitely have to make some repairs before you move out, otherwise it could cost you your deposit. So as a result, you need to go through each room and see what damage has been done. Some repair jobs can be as simple as taking out a nail and filling the hole in the wall. Some repairs might need to be much larger. Maybe you need to fix those vinyl windows. Either way, check what you need to do and do it in plenty of time; it won’t be something that you want to go around doing at the last minute.

Deep clean

On a similar note, it really helps to have a deep clean before you move too. You could hire someone else to come in and do it, or you could do it as you go along. You could think that you’re not going to live there anymore so that it is the new owner’s problem. But you want to move into a clean home, right? So if you make sure you leave a clean home each time you move, then the other owners should do the same.

Label boxes

Labeling up the moving boxes is something that is so important. When you pack room by room, it means that each box can just go straight into the relevant room, and then you can go from there to unpack it all. It can make the moving experience much quicker, as well as making it easier to find the things that you are looking for, like pots and pans. You might need to have things like tools handy when you move in, to put furniture together or put up shelves, so knowing where they are is really handy. If you don’t already have any tools, then that can be a wise investment pre-moving day, so you might need to look for some detailed info here about the kind of tools that you will need. It just helps you to be prepared and ready for anything.

Moving day bag

On a similar note, it helps to have a bag packed that you can have with you, full of all of the things that you will need for moving. When you get to the new house, you will want things like toilet paper handy, as well as things like chargers and plugs. You are also likely to want to have some snacks handy, water to drink, and anything else like diapers and wipes if you have children. A flashlight can be helpful too, as well as spare bulbs, as you don’t always know what time of day you will get to move in, and what the house will be left looking like.

Redirect mail

Something that is really smart to do, and can often get forgotten about, is redirecting your mail. When you redirect your mail, it helps you to not have to stress out about changing your address details with places like the bank, before you move. If you pay to redirect your mail for three months, for example, then you have all of that time where you can then change your address with everyone, rather than having to rush to do it before you move. Just a little thing that can help to make moving day less stressful.

Why X-Files Will Always Remain The Greatest Sci-Fi Drama Of All Time

From 1993 to 2002, the main bulk of the X-Files episodes were broadcast. If we forget the more recent revisit to the X-Files world, the 1990s were full of the greatest sci-fi drama ever made. With discrete tales of bigfoot, walk-ins, ghosts, monsters, and aliens, there was also a larger story-arc that allowed the X-Files to delve into the more emotional side of relationships, love and trust. With the two main protagonists of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, the believer and the sceptic, two opposing views of all things that appear paranormal were formed. What makes X-Files so special is that the relationship between this pair was constantly tested to its limits, and yet they were always there to support one another.

X-Files began when Dana Scully was sent undercover to spy on ‘spooky’ Mulder. However, the pilot episode quickly established a great partnership where Scully was the perfect voice of reason to Mulder’s more extreme ideas and theories. With Comic-Con attendees still dressing up as there favorite X-Files characters, it is clear to see that this is a series that transcends generations.

Stories

The X-Files covered a whole host of stories and concepts, many of which were rooted in real-life. The Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot were explored alongside more fanciful creations. Who can forget Toombs, the guy who came out of hibernation every few decades, didn’t age, and fed on the livers of human beings to create his nest of bile. Oh, and don’t forget, he could stretch through the tiniest of spaces and attacked Scully nearly making her his final victim. While many of the monsters were scary, they were also rooted in a more human existence. Very rarely did the X-Files go toward the Star Trek-style monster costumes – X-Files monsters were believable and lifelike.

Ghosts

Some of the more fascinating episodes told more ghostly stories. Taking their inspiration from The Fox Sisters, who were seen as the founders of modern spiritualism, Season 6’s episode, ‘How the Ghosts stole Christmas’ shows the more emotional tale of being a lonely ghost in a haunted house during the festive period. The loneliness of these ghouls transcends to the real world and Mulder and Scully are drawn into their quest for companionship.

In the poltergeist episode ‘Shadows’ of season 1, terrifying apparitions take place after a man was killed by his so-called friend after they covered up selling technology to a terrorist group. This man comes back in a ghoul-like form to seek justice. While ghostly episodes weren’t the bread and butter of X-Files, they were some of the best.

Mulder

Fox Mulder was the character that really held the series together. It was his quest to locate his missing sister that allowed the X-Files to become so emotional. Viewers became invested in Mulder and his need to find out what happened to his sister. Scully was passionate about helping him discover the truth too. Skinner, his boss, was the foil to his crazy theories. And the Cigarette Smoking Man was always in the background trying to prevent Mulder from finding out the truth.

There were many red herrings along the way but the story arc eventually came to a conclusion. Was she abducted by aliens? Was she kidnapped? Or did she run away? Mulder was adamant that she was abducted given his memory of bright lights and his sister floating out of the window of their home when they were children. His entire quest with the X-Files was to locate his sister, Samantha.

Humor

Another strong aspect of X-Files was the writing. As the seasons developed there was a Mulder and Scully will-they, won’t they story arc. They did eventually with William being born adding another level of complexity to the X-Files. However, a key facet of the writing that kept people hooked was the writing. There were many discretely humorous episodes, but there was also nuances in the writing that were laugh out loud funny. Scully began to tease Mulder every so often. They would share in-jokes as they became closer, and as Scully slowly turned from cynic to believer over the years, Mulder would cheekily make quips at Scully’s expense.

The characters within X-Files were beautifully written and it was a unique concept at the time. While many series have tried to emulate its success, they have inevitably failed. X-Files was a product of its time and has aged particularly well. If you have never seen an episode of X-Files, watch the pilot today. You’ll be hooked.