Sci Fi – Page 4 – Splatter: on FILM

JUPITER ASCENDING (2015) movie review

February 16, 2015October 25, 20153 Comments

What’s in a name?
Everything, apparently.
Channing Tatum lures an audience of lonely women, Step Up dance fans, and heart throb honeys looking to him to fill their Saturdays with shirts-off eye candy. In that case, Jupiter excels.
Mila Kunis‘s name promises dark eyeshadow dreams and daylight sighs. Her teen impressions are spot-on every time.
Sean Bean, ever Boromir, brings the sci-fi fans a quick thrill with his original accent and scenes of hard punching. Though he tries for the likable space-rogue status, he can never quite reach his inner Han Solo. Not enough comedy…even his smiles look angry.

And sweet Eddie Redmayne‘s big bang into stardom began with his role in Les Miserables and evolved into larger roles. He is currently up for an Oscar for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. In Jupiter, however, he whispers his way to the purest dark side as this film’s Hitler, trading bones for soap stones in effect by managing the factory that turns humans into liquid life. A sort of advanced anti-age serum.

And finally the big names: The Wachowski‘s, of the Matrix fame. Ironically, they wrote and directed this film in which yet another advanced life-form chooses to liquefy people into a product worth killing for. Decent plot repeat on the sci-fi syndicate.
I left feeling adequately sci-fi satisfied with endless kicking and sky-skating. My dad loved it. Aliens. Kicking. Explosions. Yes. Yes. Yes. He had to agree, however, that the dialogue was junior high driven, if not written, and when the plot lacked, shooting commenced.
You obviously won’t go for an intellectual boost. You won’t have to think at all, in fact. It feels very Men in Black minus the quirky duo and catch phrases.
“Say it again.”
“Your highness.”
“Yeah. I like that.”

Wow.

Oddly, the costumes and creature creations were almost worth the ticket. I enjoyed the sequence of alien waiting lines and red-tape best, even though it led to another poorly executed scene in which lycan bodyguards wrestled dragon dino slaves to free the helpless virginal beekeeping princess from a fate worse than death. Good thing they brought their flying boots along.

MAZE RUNNER (2014) movie review

February 2, 2015October 25, 20151 Comment

A short and sweet review for a thrill-a-minute futuristic Lord of the Flies with a Lost-esque flair. One character maintains the fight to stay and survive. One pursues escape at the risk of death. Both fear the Maze.

INTERSTELLAR (2014) movie review

November 22, 2014October 25, 20154 Comments

I like movies that take me a few days to process. Just as Inception was essentially a grand scale ensemble heist film, Oceans 11 without the humor, so Nolan’s Interstellar is an unlikely hero flick, Gravity add Star Trek sans quirk.

Wormhole space-time theories pre-date Einstein. String Theory represents years of mathematical probabilities working out into possibilities. Stories of space travel would be bland without wormhole potential, other worlds, the broadening of our galaxy.

Interstellar is intricate. Most sci-fi films feel heavy on the fiction and light on the science. This film makes the not-so-distant potential for a planet in crisis via natural disaster and global warming seem believable.

Interstellar is intriguing. I have always said that a good actor makes us believe that his or her totally unique world is real. Matthew McConaughey does just this. He’s good. We know he’s good. He knows he’s good. However, ironically, I kept waiting for him to get into his Lincoln and philosophize from the driver’s side. Anne Hathaway won me over by underplaying for the most part. Other phenomenal actors got less screen time than deserved: Jessica Chastain, perfectly cast, and Michael Caine, precious.

Interstellar is mystifying. Masterful. Like a sonata, notes on a page build to glorious melody evoking tension, future suspense, resolving with hope. Beautiful.

My one disappointment was the unnecessary humanist turn at the end. Spiritual hope is not ignorant propaganda. Most of the world claims some sort of spiritual and religious bias. Claiming humanity’s potential for evolutionary future and inevitable deification nullifies the mystery, cheapens it somehow. “It must be us. We got us here. We don’t know how, but we’ll get there someday, somehow.” (Loosely quoting Matthew McConnaughey here). Build up and let down. I prefer to hope in the unknown, not in humanity’s potential but in the paradox of hope in the unseen. I guess I choose faith.

POMPEII (2014) movie review

November 3, 2014October 25, 20151 Comment

My ritual theater attendance has been hindered by life events and lack of interesting plots of late, so I offer a shredding of a recent rental: Pompeii.

If the sci-fi network and the movie Gladiator had a love child it would be Pompeii 2014. It is the exact story set in a new location. Perhaps plagiarism is excused when hot people reenact epic film moments. Not really.

This film stars many models who try to act and Kiefer Sutherland as …well Jack Bauer dressed like Julius Caesar. You’ll also recognize Moriarty from the RDJ Sherlock 2 & Mr. Eko from the show Lost. Some have British accents, and many have 8-pack ab muscles...if these abs could speak.

Tons of killing…but no blood. Well, okay a little blood. The city of Pompeii burns at the height of its power and glory. And they never saw it coming…despite the ash falling from the sky and constant earthquakes throughout. Also, despite the lava flow. The giant volcano erupted …out of nowhere, destroyed everything …literally everything.

If there is nothing left to watch. If it’s this or Sharknado 3. It’s still a tough call.

THE GIVER (2014) movie review

October 2, 2014October 25, 2015Leave a comment

It is usually considered better to give than to receive. In this 2014 film, the man known as the Giver must bestow on his new Receiver the entirety of humanity’s hurt, fear, and sorrow as well as its love, joy, and peace. An emotionless society, set apart (but never really explained), lives in safety, secure from all issues brought on by squeamish emotions or daily discomforts. Climate controlled, policed, and vaccinated from human emotion, this society employs the keeper of memory, Jeff Bridges, to provide the wisdom of the ages when necessary. He is the only one capable of empathy, also the only one who lies. He is the one who can see through the thin veneer of the “perfect” society, run by evil silver-fringed Meryl Streep who organizes the ceremony of selection which allows for each member of the community to be selected for his or her . Of course, when the memory is passed on and the younger, hotter Giver knows the truth and is brave enough to follow his convictions, he seeks to end the cycle of servitude and drone work by dispersing the kept memories of the ages to the whole community.

The sheer innocence of these characters makes world peace seem possible and the film feel implausible. Disappointing. Jeff Bridges, illustrious talent, co-produced this film. Perhaps this is why the film feels overly emotional and forced…he was too close close to it. Bridges wanted this film to be made. It meant something to him. He is the Giver, the mentor, the bleeding heart, the true hero.

Accepting this film as a faithful adaptation would require more than “precision of language.” The Lois Lowry novel, written post “1984,” the novel, but pre-Hunger Games and Diversion is the original Gattica. The book is beautiful, subtle, disturbing, intense, mysterious. Jonas is 13. He is gifted. His “stirrings” are only ever hinted at and not the essence of a budding romance but of puberty. There is no boundary. The memories, once given, cannot be retrieved, so the Giver shares once then loses them. Jonas becomes a Giver as he transfers memory to the child. The ending is illusive, questionable, fearful, precious, unresolved. The book is a Jackson “Lottery”-esque thinker left open-ended allowing the reader to imagine a hopeful ending despite the very few vague hints at hope.

Despite my disappointments at the simple-fixes of the film, I still liked it. I liked the characters, the transfer from black & white to color, the stories created, the happy ending. I liked that. It was too easy to fix the whole world. The transition to color was brief. The long slide down the banister was a hard to connect with moment, obviously meant to make more impact. Jonas has innocence and power. Idealistic. Taylor Swift’s overacted cameo makes her portray, well, a dramatic musician. Stretch.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014) movie review

August 22, 2014October 25, 20153 Comments

This comedic 80s mix tape romp through a new Marvel universe takes on the big dogs by standing strong beside the Avengers series. It paints the Avatar honey green, suffers classic daddy issues, gives Lee Pace a full body makeover, and offers Kirk from Gilmore Girls more face time than he even got on the show. Written and directed by his brother, James Gunn, perhaps Kirk (Sean Gunn) had more to do with the success of this hit hero flick than we think.While Bradley Cooper continues to make his acting career more about his quirk than his face as the voice of Racoon Rocket, Vin diesel gets to make one line count as the new Chewbacca Groot. Yes, the quintessential Star Wars comparisons must be made, but I believe this new universe created a name for itself and a life of its own.

Chris Pratt takes center stage and owns every scene as the relatable, flawed, likable hero, still quirky like the kid from Parks & Rec. With more Star battles yet to come, we can expect Pratt to keep the physique for yet another season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHUBlv5_K8Y

TRANSCENDENCE (2014) movie review

July 21, 2014October 25, 20153 Comments

The autopsy reports for the slow death of this movie Transcendence are inconclusive.If I watch films that haven’t done well in the box office, I find I approach it less like a scientist hypothesizing accuracy and success and more as a coroner or homicide detective would. What caused this tragedy? I often agree with the Tomato rating, but this time I found a film with excellent actors, decent writing, great directing & effects, a thoughtful story and meaningful relationships. It wasn’t the haphazard train wreck that I guess I was expecting. It certainly wasn’t the schizophrenic Secret Window. And it wasn’t The Tourist.

The puzzle could be solved in timing. As with all things, timing is everything. Perhaps it was released too soon after the hype of Jonze’s Her since it may have a few similar themes but a vastly different story and outcomes. Ads also made it look like an action thriller. Not true. It’s a sci-fi drama – a thinker.

Blake Snyder, film expert, renowned teacher, and author of the book “Save the Cat” would perhaps call a film that seeks the co-dependence of the brain and technology a “double mumbo jumbo.” It’s like the movie Signs asking people to believe in both God and aliens. For some, that’s a stretch.My brilliant sister Annie Mae believes that people might have had a hard time accepting an intelligent film without sex or a ton of senseless violence. The marriage relationship in the film remains one of deep love and faithfulness. The best friend character is not out to sabotage the marriage or woo the girl. The plot makes you think.To seek the beyond… A higher power …to become …to achieve the enlightenment of soul…

…through technology?

This film poses the thoughtful and future plausible attempts at true AI: artificial intelligence via the symbiotic and simultaneous merging of tech with humanity. It’s bionic. The birth of AI is ever the prequel to The Matrix or Terminator, or RoboCop or IRobot. It’s the moral dilemma ever stemming from artificial creation, from plastic limbs and pacemakers to cloning technology: are we playing God? Can tech register or muster a soul? Will the corruption of pure motives always end in tragedy?

Don’t forget Shawshank tanked in the theater but blossomed into its cult classic status. There is still hope for these lesser loved post- release weekend.

TRANSFORMERS 4 Age of Extinction (2014) movie review

July 10, 2014October 25, 20153 Comments

a sonnet in 14 lines

The world may cry for Michael Bay to pay
For this atrocity Transformers 4
Explosive robot action sets the stage
For Autobots, Decepticons at war.

Mark Wahlberg plays the poor inventor dad
Who fights to rescue Optimus, the Prime.
Resenting daughter’s favorite Irish lad,
She cries, explaining all with “Dad, he drives.”

Your expectations low, you may survive.
No story. Endless end-of-world type threats.
The power swords bring dinobots to life
And oddly that’s when Stanley Tucci sweats.

Three hours of my life I can’t get back,
The age of MY extinction come to pass.

EDGE OF TOMORROW (2014) movie review

June 30, 2014October 25, 20152 Comments

Groundhog Day gets an action makeover with Tom Cruise. It’s about time a sci-fi alien-fighting action film got its epic day in eternity. This film is pure action, but paced well. It’s never Cruise ad nauseam.

Emily Blunt, no longer the frail secretary from Devil Wears Prada (2006), has turned in her stilettos for a pair of army boots and a hard to maneuver 100 lb metal weapons suit. The suit is much smaller than those circa Avatar (2009) and Matrix 3 (2003), but a little more throwback to Sigourney Weaver’s in Aliens (1986).

Tom gives his character the necessary arc beginning as the cowardly recruiter with no field experience and ending as…well as Tom Cruise. Audiences will love the mirror throwback moments ala Top Gun, Cocktail, Jerry Maguire. Less shake it crazy on Oprah’s couch, more show-me-the-money.

Very violent, but not a ton of blood. Though summer has just begun, I will dare to call Edge of Tomorrow the best action film of the summer.

DIVERGENT (2014) movie review

June 23, 2014October 25, 20154 Comments

One of my favorite people from my old clutch and brake days, Ellie, said of this movie’s book starter, “On a scale of Twilight to Harry Potter, it’s a Hunger Games.” – E.R.

Having seen the tween-focused trailer, I went into this film hesitantly with expectations of overplayed high school romance and war game whimsy. To my surprise, the story works, the actors act, the romance is underplayed, and I got sucked in by it all. I should’ve known that I could expect A-games from this cast. Ashley Judd and Kate Winslet don’t really make movies now unless they want to. They’re no slouches. In my opinion, they can wait to play great parts in potentially epic films with heart. Shailene Woodley first impressed the world as the anxty teen with Daddy Issues in The Descendants (2011). She’s not so far from that role in this film, but she starts soft and gains intensity as her character attempts to blend into a group that she was not born into. If actors in these films believe in the story enough, we believe in them. Then, voila’. Audience hooked.

Spielberg set us up with his film Minority Report (2002) to believe that the future is blue. This film caps the blue hue almost to colorlessness. Daunting as battle may be for a girl raised to be empathetic, her blood runs to courageous team Dauntless and therefore daily beatings and senseless seeming violence become routine. Take the hint. This film is too violent for children.

The army sector, though bold, does not allow for the bravery of critical thinking or selflessness. Once again, the post-apocalyptic scenario cannot seem to factor in faith. Why, with all of the Districts laid out by the Capital and the Factions divided by virtues and allegiance can writers never quite add more than the threat of the “human spirit?” Even the poverty laden and less civilized portions of our world nominate or relegate to a higher power either by choice or tradition. The set of “virtues” that each Faction bows to in this fictional fantasy are not enough to maintain allegiance. One group will seek the domination and worship of the rest. It is inevitable.So, a hero must rise up, mustn’t she? She begins as underdog, but fights to fit in and finally to find freedom. That is the essence of story. I see this story paralleled so often in the Bible as David fights Goliath and becomes King, as Daniel faces the lions and gains position in the kingdom, as Joseph is sold into slavery and eventually becomes second to the Pharaoh. I am always challenged when I read the Bible.

I am a Christian. By choice. And, it is not always a popular choice. At the heart of Divergent is the desire we all share: to be known and appreciated for our uniquenesses. Yet, culture too often demands elements of uniformity. The divergent is dangerous to the despotic. When humans are forced to agree and to lose anonymity, choice, diversity, we must recognize the potential for the power-hungry to abuse their power using fear as a weapon. Then, watch for the retaliation of inevitable revolt from those who value individuality. It is, as always, A Tale of Two Cities.

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