Tag Archives: science fiction

The Weekend Five

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1. Monsters

A sadly underrated indie flick that gives a fresh face to the “alien invasion” genre. This is more than just excellent science fiction, it’s an exceptional little movie, and more people should see it.

 

2. The Social Network

If you don’t like Mark Zuckerberg now, you’re probably not going to like him much more after seeing this movie. It may seem a little premature to create a film about a website that’s only a few years old, but Facebook was a game-changer for social media, and The Social Network is a fascinating look at how it came to be.

 

3. Never Let Me Go

I read, and loved, Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go. I was very hesitant to see its screen adaptation, worried that it might be altered beyond recognition. It isn’t. It’s beautiful and devastating and unforgettable. You should read the book…but give this movie a chance, too.

 

4. Easy A

File this one under ‘very pleasantly surprised‘. It’s a teen movie the way that teen movies should be: sharp, self-aware and stocked with strong characters. It’s only major flaw is that it doesn’t always know how far to take the satire, and it sacrifices subtlety for broad stereotypes. But at its best it’s honest and witty and very, very funny.

 

5. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Studios that want to produce adaptations of graphic novels should look to this movie. Moviegoers who want to see incredible special effects should definitely go see this movie. I’ve never read the graphic novel, but I’ve heard this is a pretty faithful rendering. It certainly looks and feels like something out of a graphic novel, but never once did I think that it would look better animated. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a feast for the eyes. My only criticism – and having not read the book, take this with a grain of salt – is that these characters just aren’t likeable.

You look at the other four movies and you’ve got giant alien invasions, Harvard super-nerds, an organ-harvesting future distopia, and high school drama. And in all of those movies, diverse as they were, all of characters were at the very least relatable. I’m trying not to be too harsh; I’m a big fan of Watchmen, I understand the concept of the anti-hero. But Scott Pilgrim is kind of a loser and he wants to date a loser, and so he fights all of her loser ex’s, and we’re supposed to care because…? Well, it’s pretty. I will give it that.

space: the final homage

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Let’s just say that, hypothetically, you’re part of an international team sent on a mission to space to save the whole of mankind (or at least those from the countries funding your billion dollar field trip). The mission before you has failed, disappeared, never reaching their goal. You and your mixed gender, multi-ethnic friends: you’re the back-ups.


And so you’re out there in the void of space, atmosphere crackling with sexual tension and simmering machismo, and you hear it: a distress call from the first mission. You are stunned and amazed, and you wonder what you should do. So allow me to offer some advice:


NEVER, EVER ANSWER THE DISTRESS BEACON.


It’s a bad idea. It’s always a bad idea, and it will end in the death of the mostly minor, somewhat irritating cast crew members and severe angst for the rest of you. Don’t do it.


sunshine


I know this because I’ve seen Sunshine, yet another example of how the filtered oxygen of a spacecraft makes otherwise intelligent actors people stupid. I watched it because, though pacifist and abhorrer of violence that I am, I loved 28 Days Later and loved Cillian Murphy even more. If you haven’t seen The Wind That Shakes the Barley, stop reading this and go rent it. Now.


Are you back? Ok.


So with Danny Boyle directing and Cillian Murphy starring, I’ll admit that I very much wanted to like Sunshine. It wasn’t all that bad, of course. But great acting and directing cannot alone save what is essentially the regurgitated content of a dozen other space movies. Did I mention the distress beacon? There’s also the beautiful yet emotionally fragile female…pilot? (I don’t really know what she was supposed to do aside from sniffle). The zen-like Asian chick. The rugged and straightforward “flyboy”. The neurotic second-in-command. The ironically, though somehow not unexpectedly, psychotic psychiatrist. And of course, the bad guy with a God-complex. Literally.


Did I also mention the ship’s robotic voice? They have one of those too. I like to think of her as HAL’s wife, er, widow.


Danny Boyle managed to breathe new life and vision into the zombie flick, and yet can’t seem to break away from the force field-like pull of his predecessors. Until he does, he’ll remain the captain of the back-ups, answering the distress beacon of a ship that flew off long, long ago.