The Sci Fi Guy

Back in the 1990′s, Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, and Madeline Stowe showed up to put together a strange (soon to be cult) movie called 12 Monkeys. Thanks to a little On Demand magic, I cued it up, and was reminded of what a well put together movie they’d really invented.

For those that haven’t seen it – 12 Monkeys basically tells the tale of James Cole, a prisoner in a bleak future where man kind has been forced underground by the emergence of a destructive virus that’s wiped out 99% of the population. The remaining civilization (if you can even call it that) is relegated to bleak citcumstances, but somehow along the way they did invent time travel. Cole must now travel to the past – where he meets Madeline Stowe, psychiatrist extraordinarre, and where his mind begins to unravel on him. Part of his mind thinks he was sent to the past to uncover the secret actions of the “Army of the 12 Monkeys” – the political terror group that unleashes the virus on mankind. But the other part of him believes that he’s actually crazy – that the future he believes he’s from is just a figment of the imagination. Sure enough, we get a little dose of Stockholm syndrome on the part of Stowe, and Brad Pitt’s character accuses Willis’ of creating the reality by which Pitt is now enacting.

Overall, 12 Monkeys is a complex story, and has enjoyed reasonably good cult success since it’s release in 1995. The film features little in the way of advanced computer graphics or sophisticated special effects that are so often deemed prerequisites of contemporary science fiction. Rather, 12 Monkeys does much of what Kevin Spacey’s K-Pax accomplished by creating a sincere doubt in the mind of the audience as to the validity of the alternate realities that these “time travelers” (or in K-Pax, dimensional travelers) are explaining.

Could it be possible that time travelers are sitting in the worlds’ mental institutions? Sure, why not. We’re all sci-fi fans here, right? If you haven’t done it in a while, dust off your copy of 12 Monkeys and give it another go, and if you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and set aside a couple hours to rent this great 90′s science fiction story.

I have a bad habit of getting around to reviewing movies far after it becomes relevant. Cest la vie, this is another of those reviews.

Will Smith’s I Am Legend is a tale about a man and his dog… And zombie vampires. In short, Smith plays Robert Neville, a government scientist, who is trapped in the gritty future as a man alone in the city of New York. Set a few years in the future, Neville is working on both trying to stay alive and also on finding a way to save the victims of a mysterious plague that has befallen mankind. For some reason, Neville is immune, and tries to find a serum that can cure those that are already infected by breaking down his bloodline and granting that immunity to the plagued.

Visually, I Am Legend doesn’t disappoint. The CGI effects on the plauge-ridden people isn’t perfect, but it’s not bad either. You can definitely tell that they’re computer generated, but it’s not terrible. Where Legend really shines is in the production of a full New York City of the future, filled with animals and beginning to become overrun by neglect. The film maker, who also did Constantine (and, uhm, a bunch of pop music videos) – Francis Lawrence – obviously realized that the set for this film would be the maker or breaker for the audience.

All told, Legend is a good story that takes advantage of the fact that Will Smith is an incredibly charismatic actor. Like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, the bulk of the movie centers just on the one character, and like Hanks, he has slowly lost his mind.

Look for I Am Legend to come out on DVD and if you didn’t get to see it in theaters, make sure to rent this one and see how you like it.

Point blank: I don’t think I’ve done enough drugs to get this one. THX 1138 is a trippy mind bender set in a police utilitarian state where the workers build robotic policemen and have to stay sedated and / or medicated at all times (the workers, not the robots).

The audio is strange. The imagery is strange. Everything is backdropped on plain white canvases. I’m pretty sure there’s even a robot that jerks Robert Duvall off. Strange.

I tried really hard to understand what this movie was about, but throughout the duration (another quick movie – just 88 minutes) I kept asking myself, “Why the hell am I watching this?” Duvall doesn’t captivate me, and the way the audio is mixed makes it extremely hard to even understand which exact character I’m listening to. Then there’s the fact that everyone’s bald (including the ladies), except for a midget that shows up in an insane asylum room that’s all white. If you’re having trouble keeping up with my synopsis of the movie, you can see how frustrating it is to actually watch the movie!

Anyways, I’ll chalk this 1971 “classic” up to my standard response whenever I see a movie like this: I haven’t done enough drugs to get it.

In case some of you were wondering how / why I watch some of the sci fi movies that I review here (which are in no particular order except for how they show up in the mail) the service I use is Blockbuster Total Access. Sure, they’ve got the exchange-the-movie-in-the-store feature, but frankly I don’t really use it that much. Here’s the note I got from Blockbuster today:

“To continue to bring you the unmatched convenience of both online and in-store DVD rentals, your monthly subscription fee will change slightly from $17.99 to $19.99. This adjustment† will go into effect on your next billing cycle on or after December 27, 2007. The benefits of your subscription plan will remain the same…and it’s a value of $34.99!”

Blockbuster doesn’t have movies on demand yet. I’ll give ‘em 60 days to bring it on, otherwise, I think I’ll switch over to Netflix. After all, I’ve got an S-Video out on my video card, and my computer plugs in to my surround system. And for what it’s worth, where do they come up with the $34.99 price point? I don’t recall seeing that price listed anywhere by anyone. Sinister marketing ploy alert.

Reading some of the reviews of I Am Legend, Will Smith’s new post-apoc movie (which, I haven’t gotten to see yet but I will while it’s still in theaters), one thing stands as fairly obvious. Will Smith has the clout and character to stay on screen, by himself, for apparently an hour or so. Tom Hanks accomplished this same feat (successfully) in Cast Away, not even getting the chance to have a dog and a huge city, but rather a rain soaked island in the middle of nowhere.

Bruce Dern is not that actor. Silent Running is not that movie.

Okay, I’ll grant that Silent Running (released 1972) was written and created during a time when hippies were infiltrating Hollywood and were stating their pro-environment case without having chief advocate extrardinare Al Gore. Here’s the quick & simple of Silent Running: Space ships hanging out around Saturn house the last of Earth’s forests and nature resources (read: cute bunnies). Bruce Dern plays a gardener that cares for the forests, while his 3 cohorts on the space ship are just space jockeys, in space for the paycheck and rearing to get back home.

The plot really moves forward (sarcasm) when a radio call from the “central” somethingorother comes in announcing that the forests in the domes on the space craft are no longer needed. Jettison them, nuke ‘em, and come on home to Earth, where apparently the worldwide temperature is 75 degrees, there’s no disease, no poverty, and full employment.

Here’s where contemporary science fiction audiences everywhere should go “What?” I know I did. The writers basically gave us one sentence about the plight of Earth – it’s perfect. San Diego, worldwide. And for some reason, on Earth’s way to utopia, we shipped the remnants of our forests to outer space. Not even nearby space – Saturn. Way the hell out there space. Nobody-can-figure-out-why space.

So what does Lowell (Dern’s character) do when the call comes in? He murders his 3 spacestronauts, to save the last dome. Don’t mind the ethical argument this movie is making. Don’t mind the fact that the forest actually doesn’t serve anyone other than Dern.

Frankly, the only thing that borders on keeping this movie watchable for even a few minutes are the “Drones” which have more life and character motivation than the dimwittedness of our main (only) character. They plunk around sorta like R2D2 of Star Wars fame might have if denied his scooter wheels.

Moral of the story: Silent Running fails on so many levels. It’s not like Logan’s Run, which is arguably a bad movie but with great intentions, and basically an interesting story. No, I wrapped up Silent Running and was pissed off that our main character killed 3 people for his own personal cruise ship through space in the forest. Modern Science Fiction at least (usually) gives a better justification for it’s premise. My problem with Silent Running is that I can’t imagine a world where we’d all volunteer to ship nature to space. Apparently that was plausible in the early ’70′s.

The French have given us many great things. Sophie Marceau. French Fries (briefly Freedom Fries but who’s counting), French Toast (also, briefly, Freedom Toast). Sophie Marceau. Jacques Custeau. Snobbiness. And yes, Sophie Marceau.

District B13, sadly, does not have Sophie Marceau. What it does have is 1 pretty awesome chase scene, and some typical “Evil government scheme to blow up the poor” plotlines. District B13 is for people that aren’t quite sure if they want anarchy or just mayhem, and serves up a seedy underworld which is the district that our story is set in.

Here’s the basics. Our (first) hero, Leito, is a doer-of-good in the wrong neighborhood. Why he’s a doer-of-good, well, nobody quite knows, except that he is. He’s out to get the drugs off the streets of District B13, and our arch nemesis, Taha, wants to make everything bad. The tricky part is that District B13, set a few years in the future, is a totally contained pseudo-prison in the center of Paris. It’s not an actual prison, but it’s a ghetto that’s been fenced in and has police standing guard at all times. But remember, this is not a prison. Giant walls, guns pointed inwards, non prison.

Leito, fortunately, is like a freaking grasshopper. The best part of the movie is the first 10 minutes, where Leito is chased by a band of thugs through the slums of District B13, essentially only on foot. He hops around walls, he scampers up sheer ledges, he leaps 4 stories down rooftops, etc. It’s actually a really well choreographed scene, and the filming is done in such a way that you can actually enjoy the sheer athleticism put on display.

Sadly, the rest of the movie just drags. Fortunately, it doesn’t drag for very long: District B13 is only 85 minutes long. We get a second action hero, a super cop, and of course a horde of bumbling thugs to pummel. Oh, and somewhere along the line is a neutron bomb and a villainous government conspiracy. I probably wasn’t supposed to tell you that, but frankly the surprise is that the producers of this movie actually thought you would be.

Moral of the story: If you want a cool chase scene, tune in, and then once that scene is over play this in the background while you do something else. Like, download pictures of Sophie Marceau.

So our favorite Lost mystery man, JJ Abrams, is just putting the finishing touches on his new feature film, temporarily dubbed “Cloverfield” after the studio code name leaked on the web.

Note: Of course we all know that NOTHING JJ Abrams does is “leaked” – rather it was “let out”.

So what is this film about? Well, it’s your typical New York City monster disaster flick, but I’m sure with a twist. So far there’s a pretty decent list of what it’s not:

• It’s not a Voltron movie. However, there is a Voltron movie in development, tentatively slated to release in 2010. Considering the huge success of Transformers as a proving ground for whether or not we’re ready for big robot blockbuster movies, I’ll bet Voltron’s stock just moved up these last couple months.
• It’s not a pure-play Godzilla movie.
• It’s not going to be named Monstrous.
• It’s probably not a movie about Cthulu, a mythical tentacle creature. However, this last rumor has been around the longest, and as far as I can tell from searching, there’s no official denial that this is our main baddy.

So, there you have it. A long list of speculation.

JJ Abrams, always playing games with his audience, continues to keep this one well in the dark, as well as the next season of Lost. What are we, the innocent audience member to do?

Hang tight.

Blockbuster has a promotion going on to offload their used DVD’s – buy 4 DVD’s marked $9.99 or less and they cost $20. Not a bad deal, considering a rental is like $4.00 anyways. So, I wandered through and picked up a few that I’ve been meaning to see and/or purchase (among them: Blood Diamond, Dreamcatcher, and Inside Man). Another title caught my eye: Idiocracy.

Here’s the premise: Cryogenic stasis goes awry, leaving our two heros (the most “average” man in the armed forces and a hooker) trapped 500 years in the future. A future where dumb rules as 500+ years of stupid people breeding nets a planet filled with morons. Our 2005 “average” guy, Luke Wilson, is now a certifiable genius, and the hooker… Well, she’s just along for the ride apparently.

You can’t watch Idiocracy without finishing it and asking yourself, am I stupider now? This is a remarkably dumb movie. It’s got a winning combination of bad acting, stupid premise, cheesier-than-thou special effects, and a cast of characters that you can’t help but want to wish their demise. Mike Judge, creator of such spectacular cult hits like Bevis & Butthead and King of the Hill, has proven that he has his finger on the pulse of dumbasses worldwide.

This is, perhaps, the worst movie I’ve ever seen. And I own it. Thanks Blockbuster! I’m inclined to put this in the same category as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which, up until Idiocracy was the definitive worst movie I’ve ever seen in it’s entirety. The sad part is, had they tried to tone down some of the cheap gimmicks in this movie, this might have been a half-entertaining movie. There’s one scene where an Army commander is explaining the “Art of Pimping” which actually delivers.

Sadly, what I’m sure Judge considers a farce turns out to appear like a real attempt to create a real movie. This one should’ve made the circular file at SciFi Channel’s Movie of the Week department, let alone actually have a cast and a budget and the chance to fall in to my shopping cart.

Looks like another remake of a popular Japanese thriller (a la The Ring and The Grudge). One Missed Call looks like it could be pretty interesting. It’s supposed to come out this January.

Personally, I like these types of thrillers – they’re usually pretty edge-of-the-seat (lets face it, if you’ve seen The Ring I know you jumped out of your chair during that TV scene…), and they also include a science fiction themed thrill.

Well, I’m always interested in finding out more about the people behind the movies that make science fiction come to life, and recently I realized that Christopher Nolan might be a screenwriter & director worth keeping a close eye on.

His work so far is limited, but extraordinarily psychological. His first mainstream success was found in Memento, a dark psych-thriller about a man that can’t form new memories. Visually Memento is a great film to watch, and the character interplay is definitely well written. It’s not scifi, of course, but the premise could fit extremely well in a Phillip K. Dick story as easily as it does this murder / memory thriller. However, since Memento he was also given writing credit for some interesting scifi: Batman Begins and The Prestige. I know what you’re thinking: neither of those count as scifi! Well, I disagree.

Batman, and in fact most comic-book based characters, are heavily rooted in science fiction themes. The alternate world, the unique blending of technology and varying history, as well as characters that are capable of things ordinary humans aren’t. Of course X-Men is far more science fiction than Batman (after all, Batman is just a man), but there’s definitely a scifi tilt to his work. Also, The Prestige, while set 100 years ago, definitely makes the cut as a scifi thriller. I won’t disclose much here, but I do recommend that you take the time to watch it. It’s a great movie, and once finished it leaves you saying, “I gotta see that again!”

Now Mr. Nolan is working on the Batman sequel, The Dark Knight, which I’m certain will be another great adventure for the black bat. I’m looking forward to seeing what he will work on after The Dark Knight, and I’m hoping he’ll continue working on dark psychological films.

As another note, make sure you keep an eye on JJ Abram’s “Cloverfield” project… Here’s a trailer if you didn’t happen to catch it during the Transformers. Rumors are spiraling, as our favorite Lost creator is known to do, and odds are throughout fall there’ll be lots of easter eggs peppered around the web. Who knows if we’ll even get a name for it!

Have a great and safe Labor Day long weekend!