Entries Tagged 'sci-fi' ↓

Their pimp fascination notwithstanding, I've been a long-time fan of the Hughes Brothers. I admire the way they refuse to be pigeon-holed by the industry. One minute they're doing a gritty urban drama like Menace II Society and the next, they're off helming a graphic novel adaptation based on the killings of Jack The Ripper, From Hell. It's fun to hear about their coulda-been projects like a Batman reboot with Clint Eastwood, a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel or The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp.

You might not always like the work, but they bring a unique perspective to the table. Even their misfires are worth watching. After a self-imposed exile from Hollywood, it's nice to see them back on the scene with the Book of Eli. Below is a two-part motion comic prequel that does very little in terms of backstory, but sure does look cool...





This is starting to become the norm in the marketing of genre flicks. I have my doubts about their effectiveness, but they probably aren't that expensive to produce. More multimedia goodies: a link to a podcast interview with Book of Eli screenwriter Gary Whitta from 4 Guys 1UP here.

The film is set decades after a nuclear apocalypse. We've gone backwards. It's all about survival of the fittest. No time for stuff like readin', writin' and religion. In fact, folks blamed the Bible as the cause of their troubles and destroyed every last one of 'em... almost. Enter Eli, the wanderer from the desert with the last Bible. Corigan's (Oldman) been searching for the Good Book for ages. He knows the power it possess, to move masses -- for his own selfish purposes. Think there might be trouble ahead?

This isn't one for the ages, but when you have the likes of Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman on screen, it's certainly watchable. Mila Kunis is a lovely actress but I want to know who keeps casting her in these tough girl roles. First Max Payne and now this. Looks out of her element. Denzel is getting up there, but holds his own in the action sequences. Overall, the backstory feels a little hollow. A lot of telling and not showing. What they do show, looks great. Good score too.

Book of Eli is a slick faith-based drama disguised as a mindless action flick. The last 15 minutes drag on and there's a big reveal at the end that almost ruined the film for me -- others may love. Its Box Office take has been solid.

*shrugs*

Nice comeback.

Why does the Cup of Tears trailer look more interesting than Ninja Assassin?

I've always loved the concept of a claustrophobic action/thriller set on a spaceship, and Pandorum starts off with the best of intentions. Crew members (or are they?) wake up from hyper-sleep aboard the Elysium, suffering from temporary amnesia. Something's gone wrong with the ship and to top it off, bloodthirsty creatures are everywhere. Oh yeah, extended periods in space can lead to a condition called SPACE MAD-- er, Pandorum.

This is a dark film. Very dark. Is that a boob? No, it's her knee. Where are they!? WHO'S TALKING!? Pandorum isn't bad, you've just seen it before. Bits and pieces of other films like Event Horizon, Sunshine, Resident Evil, Alien, etc. stitched together into an uneven genre quilt. Hard to say more without giving away spoilers, but the performances were pretty solid -- newcomer Antje Traue has a Milla Jovovich vibe working really well for her. It's easy to dismiss this as a mindless sci-fi actioner, but there's a decent attempt at the thriller aspect, some okay twists along the way. The ending is alright. Gotta check out the script for a little compare and contrast.

The film's main selling point, the creatures, was probably the most unnecessary. I think it would've worked just fine with paranoid humans vs. paranoid humans. There were a couple of non-sci-fi scripts that used the temporary amnesia angle -- but ironically enough, I'm blanking on the names...

Even with its flaws, I was sorry to see the low box office returns.

Before seeing the film, I was lucky enough to hear a radio interview with Writer/Director Neil Blomkamp. He described how he wanted to combine his love of Sci-Fi with the experience of growing up in a "crazy" place like South Africa. In that regard, I'd have to say, mission accomplished.

It's incredible what Blomkamp was able to accomplish with a modest budget, under 40 million dollars. Okay, we're not exactly talking about a shoe-string production with Grandma doubling as cinematographer and chief stunt woman, but for the scope of the film, the final result is still pretty impressive. I'm not gonna name names, but a couple of the effects exceeded the work seen in a recent summer blockbuster or two *cough* G.I. Joe *cough*. Stuff gets blown up real good with lots of cool alien weaponry as our "hero" fights to regain his humanity -- it's highly debatable how much he had in the first place.

While entertaining, I didn't think the film had some deep, resonating message. "Alien Nation" already covered the oppressed-minorities-substituted-with-aliens-thing. Here, I don't think the aliens are supposed to represent anything but aliens -- who get high off cat food. There's a good bit of satire in the beginning, but aside from saying that earthlings of all colors are scum, "District 9" settles into your basic Sci-Fi actioner worthy of rabid fanboy adoration. Now it's more than possible that my American eyes didn't pick up on all the nuances, but I think I got the gist of it. I don't foresee a Best Picture nomination in its future, although anything is possible with ten open slots, but one for visual effects certainly wouldn't surprise me.

Had a chance to watch it a couple of times and while still enjoyable, I kinda wish there was more emphasis placed on story and dialogue -- might have to read that old scriptment floating around the net. Up to this point, I had been underwhelmed by the one-sheet and stills, but the visuals here are impressive. I don't think "Avatar" will be the game-changer that some predict, but it looks like a step in the right direction. I'm curious to see how folks react to the 16 minute preview that debuts tomorrow.

Ever come up with what you believe is an absolute dandy of a premise -- only to discover that it's already headed to a theater near you? Pandorum is pretty close something that I've been kicking around for a while. Not exactly the same, but enough similarities to make me curse under my breath while watching the trailer. Amnesia. Creatures. Confined spaces. Feels a little Resident Evilish -- no surprise there, it's from the RE creators. I'm ticked that someone beat me to it, but I'm not about to give up on the idea just yet. It all comes down to execution.

Looking forward to this!

Here's where they screwed up: The "Terminator" flicks have always been about the chase. Unstoppable, killing-machines pursuing a human target, John Connor. Even the TV series understood that. And "Judgment Day" isn't a bad film, it just couldn't meet the impossible standards set by T2.

"Salvation" tries to be some kind of futuristic war drama. Bad idea. John Connor isn't the main character. Worse idea. Introduce a mysterious character, but give away the big twist in the trailers. WTF? I can appreciate the attempt to try something different, but the plot was a mess. Some of the dialogue is downright painful -- not to mention all the forced callbacks.

Even if 30-40 minutes of story really ended up on the cutting room floor, I doubt it would have made a big difference. On the plus side, the effects were great and it was cool to see Michael Ironside chewing scenery -- hope he gets a cameo on the new "V" series. Does this flop mean the end of McG? *sigh* Don't bet on it.

aka Timecrimes

Another clever filmmaker. This Spanish sci-fi thriller has only four characters, few locations and lots of time travel. Fun story to watch unfold, but you'll get a headache trying to sort out the details and the behavior of some characters.

I had my doubts about Morena Baccarin as the alien leader, but I like this softer take on the character. Lots of familiar tv sci-fi faces in the cast.

Wow -- movie’s not bad either. Brilliant way to reboot the franchise and not raise the ire of Trekkie purists. I enjoy shows/movies set in the Trek universe, but I wouldn’t consider myself a hardcore fan -- don‘t own a lick of Star Trek related merchandise. I didn’t have huge expectations/fears for this. More than anything, I was curious if Abrams could pull it off… he does.. mostly.

Some interesting choices: a surprise romance, Kirk with daddy issues and now the weight of great expectations -- kind of Luke Skywalkerish if you ask me. Not a lot of going boldly where no man has gone before -- major nitpick. More action oriented than previous films. Are we talking great storytelling here? No. The villain is a forgettable moron and some of the classic references feel forced. But non-Trekkies seem to dig it, so I guess it’s a mission accomplished.

Nowhere near amazing as some reviews are making it out to be, but “New Trek” is far more entertaining than recent event flicks *cough* Wolverine *cough*. A promising start -- the reboot method is a frickin’ master stroke. We’ll see what happens in the future.

Maybe I was too hard on the “Knowing”. At least it kept me entertained for a pretty decent stretch. This "Day the Earth Stood Still" remake is a straight yawner. I’m a fan of the original -- still holds up -- maybe that shaded my opinion just a bit. Nothing new here, except overblown CGI and a hokey, “save the earth” message. Don’t think I bought into any of the characters. Everyone acted so weird, I half expected them to pull off rubber masks and go, ‘Joke's on you, buddy! We’re aliens too!’

Entertaining sci-fi action flick. Spaceman Jim Caviezel crashes to earth and teams up with some Vikings in order to catch the “dragon” that killed his family. Kind of Predatorish, but fun. They milk the “monster in the shadows” for the first hour, then the pace picks up. Ron Perlman pops in briefly from a rival clan to bash heads. Love interest Sophia Myles has some cool girl power moments and is instrumental in the final action sequence. Overall, the action was fine -- not “300“ level, but acceptable. Certain parts of the story were more than a bit predictable. Wish they had shot the earlier version, where the creature talks.

With a wider release, I think “Outlander” could have pulled in numbers close to what “Pathfinder” did in 2007, 30 million. Doesn’t quite break even when you have a 50 million dollar budget, but heck of a lot better than $166,003 from 81 theaters. Maybe it’s one of those tax write offs that were once popular with German investors. Oh well, there’s always life on DVD and cable.


BTW, I'm on Twitter... well, because... everyone's doing it!

This looks Matrixy but intriguing...

I could've saved myself a lot of time by copying my rant about “Jumper” and pasting it here. Another case of “cart before the horse” syndrome. Overly complicated story, too many characters, lots of exposition and the futile tease of a sequel. We’ve seen this premise countless times: the big, bad government chasing average folk with special abilities -- someone ought to try that as a TV series. Wait…

The Hong Kong setting makes for a fresh backdrop and Chris Evans is fine as the lead, but the effects were kinda cheesy -- you can't do "X-Men" on a 35 million dollar budget. Not a bad film, just too ambitious.

I blame “The Matrix”. Before that came along and made a bajillion dollars, sci-fi thrillers were much simpler. Nothing wrong with an ending that leaves the door open for a sequel, but not to the point where the script references characters we barely see or fully understand their motivations. Bigger isn’t always better. Neither is denser. Something to keep in mind when writing. Gonna read the script over the weekend.

A remake of “Firestarter” with Dakota Fanning probably would have gotten more bang for its buck.