37 posts tagged “scifi”
The film reminded me of a cross between the I Robot film and Wall-E. It is set in a world where something like 98% of all people stay at home and use lifelike robots that they mentally control to go out into the world for them. The main problem is that the world of the film doesn't go far enough into the issues of what a world like that would be like.
First, that 98% of all adults could afford a fairly realistic-looking robot seems highly improbable. There could have been more done with class issues but there really isn't. There is a group of anti-surrogate people but they mostly seem to be ideologically separated rather than economically.
Second, in a world where a robot is your representation of yourself to the world, the robots are surprisingly tame. There's that one scene which is in one of the commercials where someone has a robot body that is jet black with white hair but that's it. One would think that people would go a lot further with experimentation and have bodies that were more inhuman in appearance or with multiple limbs.
Third, in a world where it is proven that people can take over other people's robots, security is still biometric in nature with people getting face scans. Ummm... really? That doesn't seem like a big security risk to anyone?
I could go on but that really isn't the films downfall. What is the downfall is that the film tries to be raising questions about humanity but unlike Blade Runner, it doesn't really raise questions, it just gives answers. Like Wall-E it just takes for granted that a mediated, largely sedentary existence is bad -- even though they tell us that crime is practically non-existent and there hasn't been a murder in years. There's no evidence that sitting around all day hooked into these machines is making people fat (in fact one of the only people who doesn't use a surrogate is one of the few overweight people in the film. I'll let you guess what role the pudgy, unkempt guy plays. If you guessed computer guy you guessed correction...) So what is the problem?
They tried to make Bruce Willis look younger and the effect at times looks kind of plasticy but I couldn't really tell if that was on purpose in order to emphasize the artificiality of the robot or it was just bad. What was undeniably bad were the scenes where the surrogates go all Terminator and start doing super-human moves. It looks obviously like the stunt people are being pulled into the air rather than jumping.
one thumb up
Although Surrogates
Wants to be like Blade Runner
It's like I Robot
The film is really low budget but it has a great simple plot that doesn't need a big budget and is really well shot. The plot is basically that the friends, co-workers, and ex-lover of a woman are being killed. Less basically, the people are being killed by themselves. I don't mean that they are committing suicide. No, they are being killed by people who look just like themselves.
The question that is going throughout the film is "what the hell is going on?" and it is that sense of mystery that makes the film work so well. I really wish that they hadn't explained anything. It would have been a much more powerful film if it has just ended with everyone saying, "What the hell just happened?" Instead they do try to explain it.
Now they don't explain it entirely. There is a sense of mystery about it but they do explain it a little bit. The explanation they give, to get a bit spoilery here, is like The Forgotten but without any children which makes it better. Like The Forgotten the explanation is less than satisfying to me at least.
Four thumbs up
The killer in me...
Is disarming, so to speak
Just don't explain it
It is pretty entertaining if a bit slow. The mushroom people are actually pretty underplayed. I wish there would have been more of them in the film. As it is, the film is more about the people and how they deal with being shipwrecked and facing starvation. The problem is that none of the people are particularly likable. It is more soap operatic than it needs to be. There are people turning against one another, and people stealing food, but all the while you are just waiting for the mushroom people to show up.
One thing about it that is interesting is the framing device that is used to tell the story. It is really quite noir in tone. It reminded me of Sunset Boulevard in tone. I've seen a number of black and white Japanese monster films and this is teh first one I can recall drawing on the noir tradition in such a direct fashion.
two thumbs up
He's quite a fungi
Oh what a punster I am
I'm such a fun guy...
One thing you can say about Terminator 4 is that it is better than Terminator 3. Barely.
Some people have complained about the scene where an enormous loud and rather slow machine sneaks up on a group of people but in my opinion that is like complaining that someone didn't make their bed when a tornado has torn down the entire house. There's a million ways that the giant machine could have snuck up on them. -- Christian Bale yelled all the time when attacking the machines but does that mean that he isn't able to sneak up on them?
Most of the main problems in the film all revolve around the fact that the people in the movie are dumb and inconsistently dumb at that. For example, we have a character Marcus who shows up knowing nothing about the Terminators and starts asking lots of questions. The guy he asks notes that although he is wearing the arm band of a rebel that Marcus isn't one and so should take it off. However, the guy never stops to ask Marcus, "Why don't you know what is going on?" or any questions about why Marcus is so behind on current events like the destruction of all the cities in the world.
OK, so the guy Marcus runs into just isn't very inquisitive. Next Marcus runs into someone who is a rebel. Still wearing the rebel arm band Marcus ask some more questions and the woman is just like, "come with me I'll take you to John Connor, the savior of humanity" and not wondering -- like the previous guy who doesn't have nearly as much experience as this woman presumably does -- why this guy in rebel clothes doesn't know anything about the war.
The film also just happens to rely on tons of coincidences. For example Marcus just happens to run into the one guy John Connor is looking for. They try to explain it by saying that it is part of some plan but the plan was for the very first person Marcus runs into to be the most important person in the world? That's a pretty impressive plan. Then the next person Marcus runs into takes him directly to Connor so that Connor can save the day. Then there's also the fact that this plan with Marcus also involves a way to kill the Terminators that just happens to happen at the same time when Marcus is running around.
Let's not even mention that Marcus takes the time to not only change clothes but also to find some different cloths to wear when there don't really seem to be any around before he goes to try to help Connor out. Or the fact that they felt like they needed to have a character explain exactly what was happening even though it was pretty clear what was happening anyway. I guess they realized that the Terminators and Skynet doesn't really talk in the movie so they added in a talking head.
Another problem is that some parts seem to have been edited and assembled by a blind person. It feels like the movie was 15 minutes too long so they just cut scenes out randomly. There are a couple spots when it just seems like maybe I ran to the bathroom and missed a short inconsequential scene that would, none-the-less explain why some people got to the someone place else and look very different as when Marcus is all beat up in one scene and then next thing he is in what basically looks like hospital scrubs, is lying on a table, and is entirely healed.
The final problem is that not only is everyone in the movie dumb but apparently so are the people that made it. In one scene a bunch of things about the size of hand grenades which we are told are nuclear-powered, explodes while a helicopter is flying overhead and the helicopter isn't hurt at all. Then there's the end. Without spoiling it, let's just say that apparently in the future you can not only perform major surgery single handed in a tent in the middle of nowhere but you don't need to worry about things like blood type or other things like that.
The original ending was leaked online and so allegedly they changed it. Hopefully they filmed it and it will be on the dvd because the way it sounds the original ending was so much better. The rumor was that John Connor was going to die and be replaced by a reprogrammed good Terminator because Connor was too important to the future of humanity to allow to die. The ending that is currently in the film is not only worse but it means that someone has to directly and methodically kill another heroic character without any discussion of the moral consequences.
Finally, the world that this film takes place in is hard to figure out. So Skynet went rogue and nuked humanity but humanity is still able to resist enough to have an organized military which includes A-10s -- which are sent to attack air targets for some reason even though they are primarily used to attack ground units like tanks and such. -- and lots of helicopters (but apparently not tanks or ground units...) which are complicated machines and require lots of maintenance to be usable. There's also some talk about how the Terminators haven't gone "this deep" before which indicates that perhaps Skynet doesn't have control over the entire USA? (Of course later on we find out that there are Terminator water snakes right outside of the military base so who knows...)
There are some good things. There are some nods to the earlier films including some lines and a gas station that looks a lot like one in T2. The Terminators look pretty cool even though the human-sized ones are often obviously guys in suits.
two thumbs up
Whyare they so dumb?
Fuck's sake, man, you're amatuer
Fucking distracting...
This is a pretty entertaining, if not entirely successful little movie. The basic plot is that a computer programmer starts getting packages and the people in his apartment building start getting killed. It is a very stylish film but that is also one of its weaknesses. It is very Cyber-goth, The Matrix-y looking. The apartment building is very amber looking and rooms are greenish. Things seem old and run down (the main guy's apartment, while ran down, is really sweet with wood paneled walled and high ceilings) and there is some leather and bondage-style stuff going on. That part isn't the weakness. The weakness is the way technology is presented.
The world is some sort of future where there's some genetic engineering and nanotechnology. The main character is a computer programmer and yet, in this future world, all the computers are huge with green-monochrome screens. Even the video conferencing is low res and green. The apartment superintendent has cameras everywhere but the video from them is also green and low res. What is the deal? Is this the future or not?
Anyway, as the main character gets these packages, and the other people in the building start to go crazy, the film is pretty interesting if only because I was trying to figure out what was going on. Is the guy being spied on? Is he part of some conspiracy? Is he being followed? Why is everyone in the building obsessed with specific foods? The contents of one person's refrigerator consists solely of meat, another milk, and a third cola. Is that some kind of statement on consumerism by the filmmaker or is it part of the plot? Is the neighbor really dead? Who killed him?
Unfortunately, it also drags on a bit and you wonder what the film's point is. The end isn't exactly clear but it can probably can be understood. The film is worthwhile if not great.
Four thumbs up
Be sure to drink milk
for strong bones and weakened minds
So what's in the box?
In the beginning, she isn't a woman at all but a young girl. I had totally forgotten that. There's probably a good 20 minutes at the beginning of the film where she is a girl and then she turns into a full grown woman. Sil, as the woman is known, is also a lot more cunning than I remembered.
I'm sure part of my distorted memory is because of Natasha Henstridge and her boobs. Her turning into a monster is pretty much all I really remembered. Henstridge is pretty good and does a pretty good job of playing Sil as she learns and begins to come to grips with what she is.
A lot of the film is spent on the people who are chasing her who I had almost totally forgotten about. One element in particular is kind of odd. ForestWhitaker plays a guy who is said to be an empath but basically is psychic and can tell things about people and can lead them to Sil. Why they included this paranormal aspect I'm not entirely sure. It is an extra element that isn't really all that needed.
Species is pretty good but it is really crying out for a remake rather than the endless direct to video sequels it is getting. There is a lot of potential here but the pace is just kind of off and the specifics of the plot aren't quite what it seems like they should be. In some ways if plays out like a detective story with the team trying to find Sil and prevent her from mating. The film needs more action and it really needs better computer generated effects. There aren't many scenes with cgi in them but the ones that do have it stick out like a sore thumb.
three thumbs up
I would mate with her
as long as I lived through it
and no space babies
I liked the series for the first few seasons. I eventually quit watching it though because, something I perhaps feared way back in the beginning, nothing ever seemed to happen. I remember watching an episode, getting pissed that nothing related to the core mythology actually got resolved only to see the teaser for next week which, the voiceover promised, would answer everything! Then I’d watch next week, get pissed that nothing related to the core mythology actually got resolved only to see the teaser for next week which promised to answer everything. After so many of those I got fed up and quit watching. It was also around that time that the film came out which promised to solve everything and then didn’t. Since then I pretty much avoided watching X-Files on reruns or on the Sci-Fi channel. Over the years the creator of X-Files has gone on to do… umm…. pretty much nothing? So when I heard that there was another X-Files movie I was less than excited and pretty much saw it as Chris Carter’s last gasp for money and a career.
With this in mind I was pretty happily surprised by X-Files: I Want to Believe. Now, don’t take that to mean that I liked it or thought it was great or anything. I think that part of me was happy that it had nothing to do with the series mythology (well there was some random, unnecessary mention of his sister which seemed included only to remind viewers that after a movie and ten series nothing had been resolved yet) because then I wouldn’t be irritated by that. However, because it has nothing to do with the core mythology it really begs the question, “Why does this exist?” and nothing in the film does anything to change that nagging suspicion in the back of my head that “Ol’ Chris needs the money!”
As I see it there are really 3 storylines going on here. 1)Mulder and Scully. 2)the murders. 3)the sick kid. I'm not sure that they work together all that well or that they are needed.
For me the Mulder Scully relationship stuff was the most interesting. It was nice seeing them deal with their relationship. However, Mulder is clearly a dick. He’s deep in his problem and seems totally oblivious to Scully’s problem.
The murders didn't need really need Mulder all that much. Once they found the body parts, or even the first arm it seems like they could have got some fingerprints and the lack of communication between people with cell phones and gps and such is a bit much. (I mean when they bust into the body part business and Mulder and Amanda Peet's character go running after the Russian guy they show that Xzibit's character is wearing an earpiece so why didn't Peet's character radio them for backup?) Oh and do female FBI agents commonly forget to button their shirts as much as Peet’s character did?
The sick kid was by far the weakest. Scully is doing stem cell surgery at a Catholic hospital? I don't know about that... And she reads some stuff online and the next day she is able to do the surgery??? I'm really not sure about that...
two thumbs up
Two heads are better?
Better go ask Rosey Grier
Why this film exists?
Basically, the movie is about this future war between the normal humans and these other humans who want to basically become Borgs. Honestly, I'm not sure what the big schism between the two is because our heroine has all these cybernetic powers just like the main bad guy. So what is it that makes her a regular human and him a wanna-be Borg?
Regardless, our heroine is trying to stop the bad guys from launching a super-weapon but crash lands in the middle of a desert and the bad guy is trying to find her. Now, the super-weapon is in the middle of their city so I'm not sure why they just don't put a lot more guards on the weapon. They try to say that the bad guy is in love with her but it doesn't really make a lot of sense.
The heroine treks through the desert in a Tomb Raider-ish outfit that consists of short shorts and a midriff showing shirt with lots of guns and other stuff. While the woman is attractive the outfit doesn't really do much for her. She isn't really hot and the camera work doesn't objectify her overly much. There's no ass shots or cleavage so I'm kind of wondering why they bothered making her wear that outfit.
The most irritating thing about the movie is that there is a near-constant voice-over. Every thing is narrated. Every thing is explained for us. Apparently the creators have never heard the saying, "Show don't tell" or perhaps they misheard it and thought it was "You can show if you want but make sure you tell every little thing." The film spends a lot of time going on and on about the background of the conflict (except for the whole cyber thing) that isn't really needed. There's this whole deal about Watchers that once came and made mankind behave and gave them warp drives but then disappeared and that the Earth was destroyed and that our heroine used to be addicted to a virtual reality videogame and that she sometimes hallucinates and the Gaia hypothesis is correct and a lot of other stuff.
Now, it turns out that there is a reason why some of this crap is in the movie. After the heroine's story is over, there is another 25 minutes with her daughter. Then we learn that it is the end of the universe and the Big Crunch is about to happen and that another universe will be born. Possibly, the new universe will be just like the old one and the history of the universe will repeat itself. So the daughter of the heroine will make some kind of attempt to pass on the knowledge of what happened in the attempt to prevent it from happening all over again.
Whew. That's a lot for one movie. And it really is. Way too much. It really felt like the guy who made the film was trying to create a universe to tell multiple stories in or something. It isn't all that effective. It is pretty weird. Had it just been the Heroine in the desert trying to stop the super-weapon it would have been pretty good.
two thumbs up
What a weird movie
It needs more pumps and the bumps
As Hammer would say...
Other than that, it is fairly standard. The military base is using nuclear power to do experiments. Strange deaths start to happen and the locals blame the nuclear power. The military denies it. Turns out there is a reclusive scientist nearby who is known for researching paranormal phenomena. I wonder who is really the cause of the deaths...?
The "fiends" are pretty interesting in that they are brains with spinal columns that slither around and jump on people. I learned that if your nuclear reactor is going wild with no way to turn it off you can just blow it up without any danger radiation fallout or anything and that the best time to hook up with a woman is at her brother's funeral.
two thumbs up
Those Canadians
Why do they hate our freedom?
Let's "liberate" them
In some ways this 1968 television movie made by the BBC is both a precursor to reality television, especially Survivor, but also thematically similar to Mike Judge's film Idiocracy.
It starts off by telling us that the film takes place, "sooner than you think..." in a world where people don't do anything but watch television all day long. In fact, it has gone so far that rather than actually have sex themselves, all they do is watch people on television have sex as part of a competition. The main characters are the behind the scene people who produce the shows and judge the sex competitions in preparation for the upcoming sex olympics.
Because it was made for television we don't see any of the sex though. In reality, the movie isn't really about the sex but rather the fact that people have been dulled into passivity by watching television all day. The world is so passive that one character says, "Sex is not to do. Sex is to watch." and the characters regularly take drugs that are in tubes with baby bottle pacifiers on them. In the attempt to keep the people dull and entertained they eventually send some people out to live on an island by themselves where they have to try to survive without any television, electricity, or packaged food. As the participants encounter tragedy the television executives are more and more excited.
"The Year of the Sex Olympics" is really interesting because in trying to make a statement about the impact of television it very clearly predicts reality television. Now I'm a fan of most reality shows (although I really despise the current talent contests like American Idol and I've tired of Survivor) so I don't really buy into the message. It is also rather unevenly paced. Before they got to the Survivor part I felt it was getting pretty tedious. Then the survivor part moves kind of quick with a few things using a bit more explanation. Then it ends without a traditional Hollywood style comeuppance for society. In some ways I like the ending but in others it was a bit too sudden and lacked the real punch that I would have liked.
three thumbs up
reality shows
get a bad rap by some folks
I like them myself
