Movie Review: Tron Legacy

    The first ten or fifteen minutes of the Tron Legacy are designed to quickly get you from where the first film ended, up to speed with where this new film’s story begins.  It’s fast paced and packed with a bunch of exposition that isn’t too weighted down with character names or extraneous info.  Basically, Kevin Flynn had a kid, his wife died, he got really weird and started talking about lots of crazy stuff, then he disappeared.  Years later, his son Sam is something of a trouble making recluse.  Kevin’s old partner Alan is only nominally involved in their Microsoft/Apple type tech company, and everyone is living in the shadow of Kevin Flynn.  It also features the most wonky bit of CG in the film, which is made worse by the scene not being totally necessary.  CG ‘younger Flynn’ looks awful.  When you see him again on the Grid, it works because it’s supposed to be a digital representation.  But when he’s in the real world and talking to his kid, it just looks creepy and weird.  Combined with Sam’s rebel without a cause attitude, the wonky effects made me wary.  30 years of waiting for a sequel was starting to look a bit like Star Wars all over again.  But after these problems, things improve dramatically.

“You’ve done enough, already.  Sam, you’re really…You’re messing with my Zen thing, man.”

    A mysterious message leads Sam to his dad’s old arcade where he gets himself shot onto the Grid.  The original film created a fantasy world, this film builds on some concepts and takes it to whole new places.  This isn’t the same world we saw in the original film.  It’s a new Grid that has been left to its own devices, without outside input for 20 years.  Cities, arenas, badlands, and more.  It’s gorgeously designed and flawlessly executed.  The images remind me of book covers from classic science fiction novels.  Dramatic black buildings with intense lines of light, alien landscapes and unusual vehicles.  It looks amazing.  After a run-in with the authorities in this digital world, Sam is rescued by a Jules Verne loving program, the adorable and knowledge-hungry Quorra.  And through her, he finally comes face to face with his father.  The distance between the two remains, and each struggles with their past, with the crisis at hand, and with world views.

“Every idea Man has ever had about the universe up for grabs.  Bio-digital Jazz, man.”

    While the villain of this piece is ostensibly a computer program gone mad, Clu isn’t evil.  He’s a reflection of Kevin Flynn’s own quest for perfection in a world of chaos.  With the help of Quorra and Sam, Kevin comes to understand that chaos is an essential element, that perfection is a trap.  But Clu is incapable of accepting that.  There is a tendency in people to compartmentalize.  The physical or intellectual.  The visceral or the ethereal.  Science or art.  Good or evil.  Emotion or logic.  But that’s not what life is; it’s synthesis, not antithesis.  One can strive for perfection while embracing imperfection, just as one can be logical and passionate.  Too often we’re trapped in a post-Zoroastrian dualism, propagated by the religions of Abraham, that dictates an either/or situation in all things, and this infects the general zeitgeist of our culture.  Where I see it most often is in the spiritual person asking how I can feel awe or wonder when my worldview is dominated by science.  But for me, there’s more poetry in a sunrise or a nebula than in all the sacred texts of all the religions that have ever been.  And I think that’s what this movie is striving for, a vision of a world where order and chaos, light and dark, logic and emotion blend and fuse.  Not a conflict between body and mind, but like the moral of Metropolis, both brought together by the heart.  Even the final conflict isn’t about crushing an enemy, or destroying a monster, it’s about coming together, blending, and rebirth.

“The Old Man’s gonna knock on the sky.  Listen to the sound.”

    I would be remiss in my duty if I didn’t mention the kickass electronica score by Euro-club favorites Daft Punk.  I am curious to hear what they might do with other movies in the future, though I don’t know if that’s something they will pursue.  Director Joseph Kosinski certainly has an eye for stunning visuals, and the taste to skip the annoying shaky-cam syndrome that has so affected Hollywood for the last decade or so.  Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner return, Boxleitner as a sort of catalytic conscience for young Sam, and Bridges as the Yoda-like digital deity trying to reconnect with his son and save the potential of his creation.  And the wide-eyed, wonderstruck Olivia Wilde plays Quorra, the program with a game-changing secret.  I especially enjoy Wilde in her role.  It’s actually one of the better roles for women I’ve seen in recent films; curious, pro-active, self-sacrificing, and heroic, without being shrill, overly deferential, or faux-tough.  Garrett Hedlund is a serviceable pretty-boy lead, not especially interesting or charismatic, but not off-putting, either.

“We’re always on the same team.”

    Clearly, I do not have my finger on the pulse of a nation.  I frequently enjoy movies that are either hated or ignored by the general viewing public (Cloud Atlas, Robot & Frank, Hanna, Moon, Watchmen, Hulk, etc.).  This is no different.  It’s not even that people don’t like Tron Legacy, it’s that nobody cared enough to see it.  Tron was something of a cult favorite, which hardly lit the box office on fire.  But I had high hopes this new film would capture attention.  It’s slickly made, a story well told, and very entertaining.  However, it hasn’t achieved much success that I’ve seen.  And three years later, I think I’m the only one talking about it.  Alas.  If nobody else out there will get on board, I’m still going to sing its praises.  And if you haven’t seen it, I would recommend it.  While seeing Tron isn’t a bad idea, you don’t need to in order to enjoy this film.

“We were jamming, man.  Building Utopia.”

-Matt

Brad's Week In Dork! (10/28/12-11/3/12)

Yep.  This was another weird week for me.  Again, in year's past I would be blitzing through horror films at the point, building towards an epic marathon of classics on Halloween night.  This year, The Wife & I celebrated Samhain with Cloud Atlas & a sushi dinner.  Now Cloud Atlas provided some horror of its own, but more on that later.  Mostly this week was about comic books and Deep Space Nine...The Wife even came to the realization that her life is just a series of moments between episodes of DS9!  To hear her make such a revelation brought great gobs of joy into my life.  I truly have created a monster.  Now if we could only convince Matt that Sisko is the 2nd Greatest Federation Captain (numero uno, of course, is James T. Kirk).

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine Season 4:  Those pesky Founders!  Just a few months after discovering his people, Odo discovers new ways of self loathing as The Changlings puppet master a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.  Enter The Next Generations's Lt. Commander Worf.  Michael Dorn is a welcome addition to the cast, and thanks to great camaraderie with old pal Miles Obrien and the Klingon obsessed Jadzia Dax, Worf is put to far better use on DS9 than he ever was aboard the Enterprise.  Season 4 is also where I start my adoration with Quark's Ferringhi family.  No longer just cheap Jewish stereotypes; Quark battles the Federation assimilation of his soul via Root Beer and Roswellian time travel.  Season 4 still isn't the long arc storytelling I want (there are far too many unnecessary one shots), but we're one step close to the great Dominion War.

Daredevil by Mark Waid Volumes 1 & 2:  I finally gave in.  After months and months of fellow comic book nerds chastising me for not reading the current Mark Waid run on Daredevil, I dove in head first with the purchase of these two hardcovers.  Personally, this stuff still doesn't hold a candle to Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev's epic run on the series, but as he proves each month with The Rocketeer, Mark Waid knows how to have fun with super heroics.  But is "fun" what I want out of ol' Horn Head?  No.  I prefer Matt Murdock brooding and emotionally devastated.  Waid's take on the character reminds me a little of Grant Morrison's Silver Age obsessed Batman.  The writer pulls out all the lame-o characters from yesteryear (The Spot!  The Klaw!  The Mole Man!) and pits them absurdly against the Hell's Kitchen lawyer.  These are whackjob weirdo characters and its fun to explore the insanity behind their characters, but unlike Morrison, Waid fails to elevate these shenanigans to high art melodrama.  Funny books.  Good enough.

Cloud Atlas:  I appreciate the ambition.  I really do.  But the film never connected with me on an emotional level.  Sure, there were certain stories that I found absolutely captivating - Jim Broadbent's heroic quest to free himself from Hugo Weaving's Nurse Ratchet is seriously thrilling & Ben Whishaw's doomed composition is exceptional melodrama - but during the rest of the stories I just found myself anticipating the next makeup job rather than the narrative direction.  And at the end of the day, all this change-o-character new age mumbo jumbo feels like Hollywood community theater rather than actual storyteller payoff.  Still, Tom Hanks as cockney balcony shot putter is worth the price of admission.  So is Keith David's badass Shaft getup for that matter.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #16.1:  Ignore the mopey Miles Morales on the cover, this book is all about Betty Brant and her Daily Bugle investigation into the man behind Spidey's mask.  Don't want to say anymore than that, but Bendis continues to write the best Spider-Man book on the stands.  And the final page is quite a promise to long time readers.

BPRD #100 - Return of the Master Part 3:  Wow.  100 issues.  How can that be?  Bravo to Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Scott Allie, Guy Davis, Tyler Cook and all the men & women who've cranked away on this brilliant status quo smashing series.  The 100th issue might not seem like the catastrophic ground breaker you'd expect, but the bureau is just moments away from the Mignolaverse's big bad Rasputin returning to the earthly plane.  Just when you think this literal Hell on Earth can't get any worse, a trip into Hellboy's storm & the fury proves there are still plenty of monsters to thrust upon the good folks over at the BPRD.  CAN NOT WAIT to see where this latest chapter ends.  No where good, that's for sure.

Fatale #9:  The second arc in Ed Brubaker's Lovecraftian Noir is winding down, and it looks like 1970s Hollywood is going to barely scrape through this exploration of the abyss (you've escaped this time, Burt Reynolds).  The Method Church gets one step close to the mystical snuff film, Josephine stretches her mental man eater muscles, and poor Miles steps closer to his inevitable annihilation...but at the hands of who?  I'm voting for some friendly fire.

Happy #2:  I really wasn't so sure about the first issue, but I friggin' loved this latest trip into the foul mouthed excursion through the looking glass.  Hitman Nick Sax attempts to discern if Happy the Horse is just a figment of his seriously f'ed up cranium or a legitimate immaginary friend of a kidnapped girl.  Whatever the case, Happy knows how to navigate the gritty realities of mob hospitals and Santa Claus serial killers.  At the point, I'm sad at the thought of just a four issue mini.  Come on boys, I know you could stretch this wonderful filth into a 60 issue epic.

The Rocketeer - Cargo of Doom #3:  Remember that tiny panel from last issue depicting the madman's plan to strap rockets atop dinosaurs?  Well, issue three sees that dream come to fruition as The Rocketeer must take to the skies to battle jet packing T-Rexes.  Utterly gonzo and beautifully pulp, Mark Waid's Cargo of Doom is one of the most enjoyable bits of silly on the stands today.  Can't wait to see what hijinks Cliff gets himself into next issue.  At least he's got that nifty ray gun now.

Flight:  After 12 years of uncanny valleys, director Robert Zemeckis returns to the realm of live action.  The result is a dramatic if tired melodrama revolving around heroism and substance abuse.  Denzel Washington does his thing; it's impossible not to get wrapped up in his cocaine & alcohol fueled destruction, but the narrative strings are so played out that anyone not able to guess the climax is either an infant or recently freed from a cold war era bomb shelter (so you Blast From The Pasting Brendan Frasers out there get a pass).  Zemeckis doesn't even seem that interested in his usual camera trickery, with the exception of a couple nose candy zoom dollies and a little CG manipulation, Flight is handled with a rather boring steady hand.  Is this really the man who shot Who Framed Roger Rabbit and What Lies Beneath?

The Man With The Iron Fists:  Hey, it's a fun movie.  The Rza steps in front and behind the camera for this joyously silly homage to violent chop socky.  The Blacksmith's Jungle Village is invaded by a couple of metallic douche bag Lions and one bloated beastly Russell Crowe.  I mean, wow.  Crowe packs on the weight, dunks deeply into the sexual pleasures of Lucy Liu's whore house, and your eyes will never be clean again.  The Rza certainly has a long way to go as director, but he set out to make a goofy neo grindhouse flick and he succeeded.  The acting is all over the place (Silver Lion, your hair is not nearly as amazing as your screechy smile) and the violence is delightfully spouty (KNB does what it does best).  Maybe not the ultimate expression of the genre, but The Man With The Iron Fists is a perfectly acceptable entry.

BPRD - Plague of Frogs Hardcover Volume 1:  After having just consumed Mike Mignola's entire run of Hellboy and the 100th issue, I had a serious compulsion to reach back to the beginning and start afresh.  The deluxe edition collects the first three trades of the series, and even if the first two volumes are perfectly enjoyable, it's not until Guy Davis takes over the art duties in the third volume where this series really comes into its own.  Plague of Frogs picks up the three frog creatures from Hellboy's first adventure and spins a catastrophic saga that will crack the very crust of the Earth.  I've said it before,but it bears worth repeating, in BPRD there is no going back.  This is not the Marvel Universe; the world can not be turned on its axis and go back to business as usual after six issues.  No.  When Nebraska goes up in flames, green grass will not grow back again.  In fact, it's just the beginning of worldwide devastation.  And Hellboy sidekick, Abe Sapien takes center stage as team captain.  But it proves much harder for him now that big red has vanished into his Beast of the Apocalypse destiny.  And Abe don't just dream of fish anymore; his origin begins to darken his mind and it provides great fodder for fanboys.

--Brad

Matt’s Week in Dork! (10/28/12-11/3/12)

    By Sunday, the news was full of fear in the build-up to the media’s Frankenstorm.  They’re nearly orgasmic as they describe the potential damage and the various expectations of where it might hit hardest.  After several years of good weather when I first moved here, I will admit that the last couple of years have started to wear on me.  I’m feeling a bit like I’m back home.  Power outages, closed roads, cancellations, and hand ringing.  Nobody’s willing to do anything about building up the infrastructure to deal with inclement weather, but everyone’s more than willing to try passing the buck when things fail.

    And, to the movies…


The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor:  Hands down, this is the best movie of this franchise.  It’s still a pretty silly adventure movie.  But it’s well made, action packed, and has a pretty good story.  The script isn’t amazing, but it doesn’t suck.  And while I miss Rachel Weisz (and don’t care for having actors change for characters, generally), Maria Bello is still pretty good.  Plus, I genuinely do like the loving relationship between the O’Connells.  The post WWII race across Asia is fun.  Michelle Yeoh, Russell Wong, and Jet Li are all cool.  And I gotta get me some Yeti friends.

The Witches Mountain:  “The only thing I care about is my Jeep.”  A groovy dude with a sweetass mustache takes a trip into the mountains with a spaced out chick…to get away from a clingy chick who was attacked by a doll killing little girl…or something.  The editing and ‘plot’ progression make it more confusing than anything.  But I guess there’s a town full of witches or something.  Why does anything that happens in this movie happen?  No idea.  The locations are awesome, though.  And I’d love to see a good movie filmed there.  This is also another movie that keeps setting up for nudity, but never delivers, to the point where it becomes a bit conspicuous.  Was this severely edited?  It might explain, in part, why so much happens seemingly without reason.

Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride:  I’ve also seen this under the name ‘Satanic Rights of Dracula’ and I think it’s sometimes released under other names.  It’s certainly from the end times of Hammer Studios.  It’s boring, pretty shoddy, and just doesn’t work.  And one of my least favorite, somehow successful UK genre actresses Joanna Lumley is hardly a memorable Hammer Girl.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:  At the height of my love of martial arts films and Hong Kong melodrama, Ang Lee’s historic/fantastic epic came out and blew me away.  An old hero looks to retire.  His great love may finally be ready to let go of the past.  A young noblewoman yearns for a life of freedom.  A sinister assassin is on the loose.  A bandit king will give it all up for love.  And a powerful sword, the Green Destiny will bring them all together in blood and tears.  Sweeping vistas, intense fights, and beautiful music.  The actors are all in top form and the multi-layered story is captivating.  It took the insanity of wire-fu and meshed it with romantic grandeur.  One of my all time favorite films.

The Stepmother:  “My life’s empty without Dick.”  Murder, rape, and partying.  I guess that’s what men do.  If you’re hungry for random freeze-frames (and I know you are), this is the movie for you.   If you kill a guy in a blue suit jacket and white turtleneck, you just better be prepared for him to run at you romantically with one of those camera filters they used when shooting women on Star Trek.  But once you kill one dude, you gotta kill more (and then freeze-frame!).  The name is a bit confusing.  Heck, it’s almost an hour in before you even find out one of the characters is a stepmother at all.  Also, it’s just bad form to get your wife all revved up and then bail for a trip to Mexico.  It’s just not done.  It’s always weird when a movie totally changes tone and direction half way through.

The Madmen of Mandoras:  Nestor Paiva!!!  Kidnapping, murder, and poison gas brings two gringos (is that Stone Philips and Brian Williams’ lovechild?) to the mysterious Latin nation Mandoras, where everyone knows their name.  That’s where they discover the final act of those clever Nazi bastards.  Is this the first ‘Hitler’s head in a jar’ movie?

Nympha:  First, this is not a good movie.  It’s choppy, disjointed, and the reveal of what’s really been going on is totally lame.  But it does build some pretty good mood.  For quite some time, I was genuinely interested in what was behind that door, what was up in that attic.  Tiffany Shepis is a solid lead who doesn’t seem to have much problem with taking her clothes off (her tacky, cliché tattoos are lame, though…seriously, if she’s got a butterfly on her ankle, I’m done).  And I kept wanting to like the film more than I was able.  What could have been a really interesting demon/Lovecraftian horror film turned into an X-Files/serial killer thing that didn’t live up to the set-up.

Doctor Who: The Mark of the Rani:  Something’s up in merry old England.  Hard working men go in to a bathhouse and come out as soccer hooligans.  I immediately like The Rani, especially because you can really compare and contrast her with The Master in this story.  She’s not an idiot.  And her Tardis is way cool.  One of the better episodes to feature The Master, I think in large part because it calls him out for being pretty silly.

Godzilla Raids Again:  “Oh!  My factory!!!”  Some amazing science sets the stage for the return of Godzilla (here called Gigantus or something) and another giant monster.  They battle, people shoot ineffective artillery, and cities burn.  It seems a bit simplistic, even for a Godzilla film.  But it’s perfectly enjoyable.

Lair of the White Worm:  Ken Russell, thy name be subtlety.  The acting is exceptionally uneven, made that much worse by awful ADR.  And yeah, we get it Ken.  PAGANS!!!  The pen is his penis!  And snakes, snakes, snakes; everything looks like snakes!  But I love this crazyass movie and all its totally over the top melodrama, weird imagery, and vague history based horror.  Amanda Donohoe is frickin’ fantastic as the ophidian lady of mystery.  Balls out nuts.  And Hugh Grant is awesomely smug as the young lord with a surprising stripe of courage.  Plus, the bagpipes, the sword, and…that strap-on.

Cloud Atlas:  I love the Matrix movies.  Yeah.  That’s right, there’s an ‘s’ at the end of ‘movie.’  Sure, the second film needs about 30 minutes mercilessly edited.  But they’re fine films (even all that crazy King Arthur stuff at the end of part 3).  Bound was great, too.  And (eat it, America), I loved Speed Racer.  Bam!  But, I’ll admit, the trailer for this film left me a bit cold.  Looked a bit too grandiose, a bit too…I don’t know.  Something not good.  However, I’ll give almost anything a try; and you know what?  It was actually really good.  Sure, sometimes the make-up is a bit creepy and I’m just not a fan of Halle Berry.  But each story in each timeline is engrossing (except the slave-trade one), and I found myself swept along with the various doings and goings on, be it the adventures of the old editor at the evil rest home, the love letters of the opportunistic young composer, the awakening of the revolutionary replicant, or the post Fall struggle of savages.  There’s a great cast, great music, some excellent visuals, and pretty grand ideas.  Plus, Jim Broadbent’s performance(s) alone is worth the price of admission.  As is Keith David in full Shaft mode.  Though I don’t believe in any kind of reincarnation or any of that mystical BS (yeah, that includes heavens and hells), I do enjoy the idea of souls and humanity’s connectivity.

Hugh Grant!!!

The Man with the Iron Fists:  “Gemini Stance!”  RZA and friends have thrown together a crazy wire-fu fantasy film with everything and the kitchen sink.  Plenty of punches, kicks, slices, bashings, stabbings, and maulings, and one unlucky inn.  It’s a love letter to the genre, and a great deal of fun.  And man, fat, sweaty Russell Crowe is wonderfully disgusting.  The climactic battles could have been a bit more climactic, but overall it was pretty good.

Doctor Who: The Deamons:  “Well that doesn’t look very traditional.”  Oh, The Master.  The more episodes I see with him, the less I like the character.  He’s just so danged silly.  I love that Doctor Who was a kids show, because this episode is super scary and weird.  It shows how different TV used to be, and especially how different British kids television was.  Like a lot from Jon Pertwee’s era especially, it doesn’t feel like it’s aimed at kids at all.  It’s a kind of clash between science and superstition as the nature of the Devil is revealed (bloody aliens!).

Doctor Who: The Two Doctors:  “Religion?!  I’m not interested in the beliefs of primitives; only in what they taste like.”  These multi-Doctor episodes are odd.  The actors from earlier time are so clearly older (much older) and forcing the different eras together is awkward.  But, it’s also fun to see people come back for another ride.  The second Doctor’s attitude on the essential nature of beings is rather disturbing and backward.  One problem (?) I have watching these Colin Baker episodes is that I can’t seem to concentrate on what’s happening, because I can’t stop staring at Nicola Bryant’s epic, almost Biblical cleavage.  It’s hypnotic, drawing in everything like a black hole.  How did anyone remember their lines?  The story is pretty good, and the location shooting in Spain is nice.  And I’m really warming to Colin Baker.

Der Fliegende Hollander:  Two gentlemen sailors meet, seemingly by chance, and find that each has what the other wants, one riches, the other a daughter for the marrying.  And amicable agreement is struck and everyone is poised to be happy.  But this is German opera, so you know s#!t’s about to go down.  It’s weird that the female lead is on screen (stage) for nearly an hour before she utters a sound.  It’s odd to say this about a two hour plus opera, but I think the problem with this one is that it’s too short.  The story feels to rushed, without giving a lot of time to the characters and relationships that need it.  Still, this 1985 staging was impressive.

Aeon Flux:  This film adaptation didn’t go anywhere near weird enough to capture the show’s essence, but sadly, it went far too strange for the general viewer.  It’s flawed.  Charlize Theron is totally miscast in the lead.  Not that she turns in a bad performance, she’s actually quite good.  She’s just wrong for the part.  There are some wonky bits to be sure.  It absolutely should have been rated R, with the creepy sex and extreme violence of the original.  But it’s still a pretty imaginative vision of a strange semi-utopian, almost post-human future.  All the crazy tech is super cool (and gross).  I wish more movies of this type were made so that this wasn’t one of the better ones.  Sadly, more extreme, more chance taking science fiction is so rare that this is above average.

Renaissance:  In a world starved for adult animation, this is a rare gem.  Animated science fiction that doesn’t come from Japan’s crap factory.  Visually striking, this neo-Noir certainly owes a lot to Blade Runner as well as Sin City.  But it stands enough on its own to be an interesting watch.  The voice acting is a mixed bag.  The story is pretty standard ‘big, evil corporation covering up dirty deeds and plans.’  But as such, it’s good.

    I read The Storyteller, an anthology based on the awesome TV show.  It was OK.  Not nearly as good as the Dark Crystal prequel from the same company.  And I read a Spider novel.  I love the old pulps, but my second Spider book was less impressive than the first, and I’m not sure if or when I’ll be reading my next few (I own six).

    After seeing Cloud Atlas this week, and because of some books I’ve been poring over, I got to thinking about science fiction film, and how to this day, with all the technology at our disposal, there is still so little good stuff out there, especially when it comes to the big idea, grand scale, high concept stuff.  Now, I’m not saying there isn’t good stuff.  Not at all.  And there’s been some excellent science fiction film in just the last few years.  But where are the really wild, imaginative stories that take place in exotic locations.  Where are the new Star Wars films.  I don’t mean sequels, but equivalent space opera.  Since Star Wars, we’ve had what, The Fifth Element, Dune, and…and…what?  Nothing I can think of right now.  They tried to do a Halo movie, but it didn’t happen.  The Foundation trilogy has been bounced around for years, but nothing has happened.  James Cameron had all the resources, but ended up making a vacuous remake of Fern Gully.  He could have done anything, and he had cat people fighting marines in a jungle.  Come on!!!  Prometheus could have been fantastic, but they forgot the script.  TV has been home to some, at least.  Farscape and Battlestar Galactica, among others.  And while not quite what I’m talking about, the new Star Trek film was a step in the right direction.  Japan churns out science fiction…but it’s pretty much all crap (OK, that’s not true.  ‘Pretty much’ implies that some of it isn’t.).  So, let’s take up the slack and start doing good stuff.  Maybe combine the will to make science fiction from Japan with the script writing and technical know-how of Hollywood (or pretty much anywhere other than Japan…or Italy.  Let’s not tell Italy what we’re up to.  Though John Saxon might need work.).

    The guy who almost did Halo (doing the pretty good Alien Nation redo District 9 instead) has a new one, Elysium.  There’s a new Star Trek.  And Marvel is working on Guardians of the Galaxy (really?!).  But the only good science fiction film people went to see this year was Looper.  Everyone skipped Dredd, Robot & Frank, and Cloud Atlas.  And of those, only Cloud Atlas is anything like what I’m talking about.  Robot & Frank is the better film, but more of the kind of near future stuff that is pretty common in the genre.  It’s also the kind of movie that has people say, “I don’t like science fiction, but I like this,” which actually means, “I don’t know what science fiction is or that I actually like many science fiction films and books, but I thought Star Wars was silly, so I’ll say I don’t like it.”

    I’m not talking gloom and doom here.  I’m not raging against the dying of the light.  More, I’d like a call to action.  Let’s stop being so passive.  Demand more.  Go see science fiction films.  Seek out more unique movies.  Read more books.  And talk about it with friends.  Don’t fall in to the unhelpful, typical, cynical mindset that simply poo-poos whatever is new, whatever is different, while complaining that nothing new or different ever comes out.   And vote with your dollars.  Go out to the movies.  Pay for tickets.  Pay for DVDs.  Tell filmmakers that we want more of the good stuff.  Skip the easy, repetitive horror films (ParanormalSinisterExorcismHauntingStrangers in a Small Town) and go see something else.

-Matt

Trailer: Cloud Atlas

Okay, so I know nothing about the David Mitchell novel that this film is based on but this five minute trailer definitely has me curious.  Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, and Keith David...that's a crazy collection of actors.  Not to mention the time spanning CGI canvas this film seems to stretch across.  I don't think I'm in love, but I'm willing.

--Brad