Posts Tagged ‘sci-fi’

  • 06 Feb

    Posted by


    Category

    My Love for Film in a Snapshot #11

    3

    I could have selected one of hundreds of different frames from hundreds of different sci-fi and horror films of the last hundred years, but it was during a recent viewing of the original The Fly (from 1958) that this particular bright neon image reminded me of how much I love a great movie laboratory. From Dr. Caligari to Dr. Frankenstein (isn’t that rig that lifts the monster up during the storm the greatest movie prop ever?) to Dr. Jekyll to Doc Brown and onwards, there’s an abundance of incredible machines, gizmos and flashing doohickies in the labs of mad scientists. I particularly like the bright green and blue blinking tubes in The Fly that have no obvious use and look like someone re-purposed the gleaming beer signs from your local pub. I can only imagine the fun that set designers for those old Universal horror films or any of the Hammer horrors must have had in creating the many different labs – a bubbling liquid here, an electrical arc there and tubes everywhere. Another favourite is the duplicating machine in Terence Fisher’s The Four-Sided Triangle (1953) which is not overly removed from The Fly‘s contraption, but this time with its dual chambers lying flat like beds with semi-cylinders encasing the objects undergoing the experimentation and enough switches and knobs to put any room-sized 1950s computer to shame.

    That kind of stuff puts a smile on my face every time.

  • 12 Nov

    Posted by


    Category

    Silent Running

    11

    Director: Douglas Trumbull
    Screenplay: Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino & Steven Bochco
    Starring: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin
    Producers: Michael Gruskoff & Douglas Trumbull
    Country: USA
    Running Time: 89 min
    Year: 1972
    BBFC Certificate: PG

    (4/5)

    Sci-fi classic Silent Running makes it’s way to Blu-Ray in the UK this week and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy to review. Now I only watched the film for the first time last year and I wasn’t totally blown away by it, so would a second viewing grant it the rank of ‘classic’ in my eyes that it generally receives from others?

    For those of you that haven’t seen Silent Running or aren’t aware of it, let me fill you in. After the surprise box-office goldmine of Easy Rider in 1969, Universal Studios in a bid to emulate this success, signed up a group of five young up and coming directors to make them five ‘semi-independent’ feature films with a minimal budget, but a promise of no interference from the studio bigwigs. Those films were The Hired Hand, The Last Movie, Taking Off, American Graffiti and Silent Running, which was directed by first timer Douglas Trumbull, previously the special effects supervisor on 2001: A Space Odyssey.

    Silent Running is set on a spacecraft (the Valley Forge) drifting through space with the last remaining forests from Earth, which has been decimated by nuclear war. When the crew are contacted and told to abandon the mission, destroy the forests and return home, one crew member, Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern), refuses and murders the other three crew members, flying the ship and it’s final forrest pod off into the black of space with only two robot ‘drones’ as company.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 15 Nov

    Posted by


    Category

    Battle: Los Angeles [Trailer]

    29

    We’ve seen the Monsters on the Skyline. Now it seems Los Angeles must face the onslaught for a third time in six months – though in the trailer it clearly shows that this is a world wide phenomenon.

    How the film (Battle: Los Angeles; directed by Jonathan Liebesman) will turn out remains to be seen, but this is a pretty awesome looking trailer. No sound effects or dialogue, just a haunting, robotic-sounding musical queue and imagery of world wide devastation and interplanetary war. It gives off a really great vibe and gets my excitement brewing. I’m not holding my breath for cinematic mastery here, but as of now, this looks pretty killer. It’s also got a cast full of recognizable faces, including Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Aaron Eckhart, Noel Fisher and Michael Peña.

    Take a look…

     

     

  • 13 Nov

    Posted by


    Category

    Colin Farrell: Get Your Ass to Mars

    0

    Colin FarrellThis household (at least the female contingent) is a happy one this morning with news that Colin Farrell has been asked by Sony Pictures to play the lead role in Columbia Pictures remake of Verhoeven’s 80′s new classic, Total Recall.

    Here’s a case where I can see the argument for a remake. Sure the original is a fun ride with some memorable moments in a pretty interesting story originally penned by master, Phillip K. Dick. At the same time, it feels a little dated watching now.

    What concerns me isn’t the prospect of a remake (which I think might be pretty good time at the theater). What concerns me is that they’ve brought on board some pretty mediocre (at best) filmmakers for this reimagining: Len Wiseman to direct. Notable for such films as Live Free, Die Hard and Underworld I & II. To write the script Sony has hired good ol’ Kurt Wimmer. Yeah, the awesomeness of Salt, Law Abiding Citizen and The Recruit is still rattling around in my head.

    Other interesting casting rumors for the Schwarzenegger role were Michael Fassbender and Tom Hardy. All three of these prospects sound interesting to me, but with this assortment of film makers at the reins, as of now I don’t hold out much hope or have much expectation; which is a real shame since I think this could’ve been a pretty heady and wonderment-filled project.

     

    [via]

     

  • 08 Nov

    Posted by


    Category

    Awesome Photo

    1

     
    [via]

     

  • 06 Jul

    Posted by


    Category

    John’s 3 Day Fantasia Festival Preview

    9

    Running around Toronto the past week and a bit has been a blast but my real reason, at least non-work related reason for coming out east has been Fantasia and it is rapidly approaching. Fantasia will start up this Thursday with the opening night presentation of Sorcerer’s Apprentice along with IP Man 2 and Mandrill plus an opening night party at Club 1234 . I have been lucky enough to see IP Man 2 already and I will be catching Mandrill on Saturday so I’ve got the choice between Nic Cage in a Disney Flick and a party. I think I’ll do the party. My real movie going will consist of approximately 10 movies over two days. I’ll give a fairly brief run through of my two days and then in another post coming up I’ll provide a list of what I’m going to be missing later in the festival.

    My Friday will consist of seeing Phobia 2, Secret Reunion, Herschell Gordon Lewis – The Godfather of Gore and Rubber. Phobia 2 is the sequel to Phobia (4bia) which I was not lucky enough to catch but has been on my radar since I heard the good reviews from Toronto After Dark plus one of the stories in it (there are 5 different stories this time) takes place during the filming of the sequel of Alone which is really strong horror movie. I love the whole meta aspect of the fake sequel being the stage for a horror story within an actual sequel for a movie. Secret Reunion is the followup film of Jang Hun (Rough Cut) and stars Song Kang-ho as an agent tasked with tracking down a sniper in what is sure to be a stylistically strong thriller.

    It is always fun to take in at least one documentary and this year I am going to check out the Herschell Gordon Lewis documentary. Lewis was responsible for many of the 1960s sexploitation horror flicks that I have enjoyed in the past and I’m hoping that the documentary will be as fun as his movies are. Finally on Friday, I am truly looking forward to Rubber. If you haven’t heard about this one it is the horror movie about a killer tire. Yup, you heard me right a tire that kills people. The fact that this is a midnight movie tells me this one should be a blast with some good kills and lots of laughs. That is it for Friday but fortunately I will be there for another day which looks like just as much fun.

    On Saturday my schedule looks like this: Mandrill, First Squad, Evil: In the Time of Heroes, Down Terrace, Life and Death of a Porno Gang and either IP Man 2 or Mutant Girl Squad. Mandrill is the next movie from the director of Killtro and Mirageman. With each movie Ernesto Diaz Espinoza has been provided with a bit larger budget and more room to move in the action genre and I am curious to finally see one of his movies. I feel like I’m playing catch up with a lot of movies at this year’s Fantasia. Evil: In the Time of Heroes is the bigger budget prequel to the Romero-esque Greek Zombie flick Evil. Between this, Phobia 2 and Mandrill I have a feeling that I will be running out and tracking down the earlier works of all these directors.

    There were two movies that I was particularly looking forward to prior to finding out when everything was screening. Evokative Films has not let me down so far and I couldn’t wait to see their films Down Terrace and Deliver Us From Evil. Unfortunately the latter is going to play after I leave Fantasia. Fortunately Down Terrace is screening on Saturday. My favourite quote from a review for this movie is from the blog Little White Lies, “A brilliantly bizarre blend of kitchen sink realism, broad swathes of black comedy and a body count befitting a slasher flick.” I have pretty high expectations for this one.

    A new wave of films have been coming out of Serbia and while I was really interested in catching A Serbian Film, I am also intrigued by Life and Death of a Porno Gang which tells the story of a traveling porno group that performs live sex acts in small villages. Things really heat up when they are offered great rewards for expanding their act to include murder. My final movie will either consist of IP Man 2 which I have already seen and is worth a rematch or perhaps Mutant Girl Squad. I am not a big fan of the whole over the top cheap special effect movies like Mutant Girl Squad but that may just be that I have seen most of the movies of this style by myself and I am sure it would play much better with a large audience.

    Even though I am only getting two full days of Fantasia I am more than sure I am going to walk away happy. One of the things that I haven’t mentioned is the social aspect of going to a film festival. I have been to TIFF and I’ve been to Toronto After Dark. I am currently setting up my own Film Festival and really half of the reason why I travel and why I want to run a festival is the good times I have just hanging and meeting fellow film fans. I’ve heard good things about past Fantasia Festivals and I cannot wait to relax and enjoy the down-time between movies.

  • 10 May

    Posted by


    Category

    Brave New Worldview – 30 Science Fiction Films of the 21st Century

    362

    A decade into the 21st Century and we have arrived at the future. The promise of Tomorrow. But instead we have looming energy crises, endless middle east conflict and more disappointing, we have no flying cars, Heck, for all the bright and clean future promised in 2001: A Space Odyssey, none of the real companies used as brands in the film even exist anymore. Even moving from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s, nobody makes DeLoreans (although they occasionally sell on Ebay), but cloning and tablet computing (as promised by Star Trek: The Next Generation) have more or less come to pass in this century. It is not the gizmos or the distopian aesthetics, that have brought Science Fiction into the new millennium, but the questions it asks of people or society in a future time or place and how they reflect on our own times. There have been a surprising number of excellent science fiction films to come about in the past decade that do this and do this well. After the 80s and 90s were more or less defined as CGI test-beds and blockbuster multiplex fodder, it is nice to see we are in a bit of a high point for lovers of ‘harder,’ ambitious science fiction. The films that tackle ideas in a significant and sophisticated way has actually risen dramatically even as cheap digital effects and mega-budgeted event pictures have also increased the number of bad films that are bad fantasy with science fiction trappings. If it seems there are fewer smart science fiction pictures out there, it is more a signal-to-noise issue than a reality.

    Below are over two dozen science fiction pictures that are worth your time. Fans of their respective franchise may cry foul on the lack of Star Trek or Serenity, but really those films are about the characters and plots and not really about the loftier ideals of science fiction. In an attempt to quickly go through the list, I will offer up the general idea of the film and how it relates to the ideals of science fiction, namely exploring the consequences of the fictional part of the science in a way that it relates to the real world.

     
     

    In the interest of talking about the films, it should be noted that *SPOILERS* are sprinkled through out the list.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 15 Feb

    Posted by


    Category

    Yup

    3

    Yup.

     
    MORE

     

  • 24 Oct

    Posted by


    Category

    Flyway Dispatch 1: “Ink”

    0

    We’re here at the Flyway Film Festival in Pepin, Wisconsin. Rather than writing it’s a lot easier to sit down and hash things out verbally. So Matt Gamble and I sit down and have a quick chat about last night’s awesome screening of Ink; directed by Jamin Winans.

    Standard Podcast [ 13:52 | 9.52 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

    LINKS:
    RowThree review
    IMDb profile
    Official Site

  • 15 Sep

    Posted by


    Category

    First Look at Andrew Niccol’s The Cross

    0

    TheCrossMovieStill

    Few filmmakers make an entrance the way Andrew Niccol did. Gattaca may not have broken box office records but the film was widely loved and for me, remains one of the most beautiful and favourite films about the near-future.

    Niccol hasn’t exactly been slipping but his offerings since that 1997 classic have been few. I found S1m0ne a miss but loved Lord of War and yet, I found myself hoping that perhaps Niccol would return to sci-fi. My hopes were lifted when earlier in the year it was announced that he was working on a new project, a sci-fi project titled The Cross about “a man seeking to cross a mysterious border, something no one else has achieved.” Vague stuff but intriguing none the less.

    The film starts Orlando Bloom in the lead as the man on the run and the fantastic Vincent Cassel as the guard every foiling his plans. Olga Kurylenko also stars in the film likely as some sort of love interest. The original announcement of the project was very vague but our good friends at Quiet Earth have uncovered both an expanded synopsis for the film and some concept art.

    First up, what’s it about?

    Mylar (Bloom) and his younger brother Castro come to a town to cross the border in search of a better life. The two travelers, full of hope, all too quickly realize that their journey leads them to an inescapable world full of doom. The enigmatic border is strictly enforced under the command of a guard, Guideon, who prohibits anyone from ever leaving. Castro doesn’t make it alive past two weeks, but Mylar defies all odds and becomes the first to successfully cross the border. And he also becomes the first to come back… all for the love of a woman, Vera. Mylar must now devise a plan not only to set himself free, but all of his fellow citizens as well. But perhaps crossing the border is not the answer. Perhaps the key lies in altering the border and whatever it may represent…

    If it sounded promising before, it sounds even better now and taking a look at these images, I can’t help but get all giddy.

    Images tucked under the seat!

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 11 Sep

    Posted by


    Category

    Unlikely Remake: Plan 9 Gets a Trailer

    0

    Plan9Logo

    Considered by many to be the worst film ever made, Ed Wood Jr.’s Plan 9 From Outer Space has become a cult hit. I’ve never seen the film, after multiple attempts I’ve only managed to see twenty minutes of it, but who am I to begrudge millions of adoring fans?

    When earlier this week I spotted a trailer for a remake, I bookmarked it to look at when I had some more time and this morning, I decided to give it a shot. I was expecting to see a bad re-make of a bad film but instead, director John Johnson has taken Wood Jr.’s script and, if the trailer is accurate, created a serious and surprisingly proficiently made film. Plan 9 looks like it has some great potential.

    If like me, you have no idea what the original is about, it’s a zombie-like story about aliens who come to earth and reanimate the dead in an effort to overthrow the living.

    I’m curious to check it out. For once, the remake looks better than the original!

    Trailer is tucked under the seat!

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 04 Sep

    Posted by


    Category

    Review: Gamer

    3
    Gamer One Sheet

    Directors: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
    Screenplay: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
    Producers: Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Skip Williamson, Richard S. Wright
    Starring: JGerard Butler, Kyra Sedgwick, Michael C. Hall, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, John Leguizamo, Amber Valletta, Terry Crews, Logan Lerman, Johnny Whitworth, Zoe Bell
    MPAA Rating: R
    Running time: 95 min.

    (4/5)

    Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have made careers for themselves by making action films. Films with little plot but loads of heart pounding, non-stop, balls-to-the-wall action. They’re sometimes rude, sometimes crude and always unapologetic. Pathology was a deviation. Though the duo didn’t direct, their story had more thought crammed into ten minutes than both Crank films put together. Gamer is an all together different beast which attempts to marry ideas with the Neveldine/Taylor style of action and the result is sometimes messy but also smart while never forgetting to be a whole lot of fun.

    Gamer Movie StillThe near future is a crazy place. Advertisements are found everywhere, including the pyramids, and among the familiar brand names is a new beast: “Slayers.” In a world that features advanced and highly developed internet and gaming technology, Slayers is the brainchild of Ken Cable. The game allows players to control an icon in a first person shooter game except the icon is a real person partaking in real combat which results in real death. The icons are death row inmates who have “volunteered” for the opportunity to be set free – they simply have to survive through thirty rounds of carnage. Kane is the best there is: twenty eight games in he’s close to release except Cable will never let him go free because Kane knows too much.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

Page 1 of 41234»