Science Fiction

Lights Out

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Sunshine
  • IMDb: link

“Our sun is dying.  Mankind faces extinction.  Seven years ago the Icarus project sent a mission to restart the sun but that mission was lost before it reached the star.  Sixteen months ago, I, Robert Capa, and a crew of seven left Earth frozen in a solar winter.  Our payload, a stellar bomb with a mass equalivant to Manhattan Island; our purpose, to create a star within a star.”

sunshine-poster

50 years into the future our sun is dying.  One mission to restart the star has already failed; now the fate of the world and the entire human race rests in the hands of the crew of the Icarus II who will attempt a desperate mission to try and re-ignite the sun using all of the world’s remaining nuclear weapons. It’s an interesting set-up as we begin with the crew already 50,000,000 miles away from Earth when the discovery of the first Icarus spacecraft and a small miscalculation put the lives of the crew, and the entire population of Earth, in jeopardy.

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A Futuristic World of Black and White

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Renaissance
  • IMDb: link

Renaissance

Inspector Barthélémy Karas (Daniel Craig) is put on the case to find the missing IIona Tasuiev (Romola Garai), a leading scientist of Avalon, the largest and most powerful company in Paris in the year 2054 whose main focus is genetic research and the search for eternal youth.

With the help of Bislane (Catherine McCormack), Illona’s sister and a record keeper at Avalon, Karas begins searching for the missing scientist, but what he finds are half-truths and lies.  What was she working on that the company wants kept quiet?  Why was she kidnapped?  And once Karas learns the truth, what will he do with information that could change the world forever?

The film is both wonderous and quite brutal.  The hard look of the film’s stark black and white animation mirror the personality of Karas who is forced to make hard decisions throughout the film.  Seen here Pairs is a dark city, one without hope, much like Karas himself.

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Return of the Jedi

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Return of the Jedi
  • IMDB: link

Luke Skywalker has returned to his home planet of Tatooine in an attempt to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt.

Little does Luke know that the GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly begun construction of a new armored space sation even more powerful than the first dreaded Death Star.

When completed, this ultimate weapons will spell certain doom for the small band of rebels struggling to restore freedom to the galaxy….

George Lucas‘s last Star Wars film can be broken down into three acts.

In the first act C-3P0 (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), and later Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), are captured trying to free Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from Jabba the Hutt.  Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) shows up to kill Jabba’s pet beast and then use the pieces he has put in place to defeat Jabba at the Pit of Sarlaac.

The second act to the movie, after a brief interlude of Luke confronting Yoda (Frank Oz) and Obi-Wan (Alec Guinness) about the truth and learning another vital piece of information about his family, is the staging and infiltration of the Moon of Endor which houses the shield generator for the new Death Star.  On the planet the strike team meets a group of cute teddy bear warriors known as Ewoks (who believe C-3P0 is a god), takes part in a high speed speeder bike chase, and, along with the fleet above led by Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), fall into the well laid trap by the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid).

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The Empire Strikes Back

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Empire Strikes Back
  • IMDB: link

It is a dark time for the Rebellion.  Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy.

Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet a group of freedom fighters led by Luke Skywalker has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth.

The Evil Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker, has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of space….

star-wars-empire-strikes-back-posterThe rebels, after their huge victory at Yavin, are once again on the run.  It seems the Emperor is a little miffed about them blowing up the Death Star and has put all the forces of the Imperial Navy in Vader’s hands to hunt down Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

On Hoth Luke recieves a vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) who tells him to go to the Degobah system and learn from the legendary Jedi Master Yoda (Frank Oz).  On arriving Luke discovers an odd little creature who turns out to be Yoda and agrees, reluctantly, to instruct Luke on the ways of the Force.

Elsewhere in the galaxy Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) relentlessly pursues the Millenium Falcon through space, an asteroid feild, and to a mining colony owned by an old friend of Han’s, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).  Han (Harrison Ford) is captured and frozen in carbonite (but not before giving one of the greatest lines in movie romance history!) and turned over to the bounty hunter Boba Fett, and Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) are taken prisoner by the Empire and used as bait to lure Luke to a similar fate as his smuggler friend.

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