Science Fiction

The Force isn’t strong with this one

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Fanboys
  • IMDB: link

fanboys-kristen-bell-posterI’m a self-admitted and unabashed fan of Star Wars and, as such, I really wanted to love Fanboys. Sigh. Sadly it felt like too many people screwed with this cute little project about Star Wars fans until the result was something jumbled and broken, which, is of course, what happened.

The film follows the reunion of young used car salesmen Eric (Sam Huntington) with his old pals (Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, and Kristen Bell) still rocking to Star Wars years later and counting down the hours and minutes to Episode I: The Phantom Menace. After discovering Linus (Marquette) is dying of cancer and won’t live to see the premiere, Eric and his pals decide to storm the Skywalker Ranch and steal a rough-cut of the film.

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I can think of a more appropriate four-letter title

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Push
  • IMDB: link

push-posterAs a critic you see quite a few movies that make you wonder, “What we’re they thinking?” Push, in all its convoluted whacked-out banality, is just such a film. The overwhelming reaction from the audience at the screening I attended can be summed up as “Huh?” (that is those who hadn’t fallen asleep before the end).

Hey, I’m not saying you’ve got to hold my hand through the entire movie, but how about having it make more sense than a random collection of clips taken out of order from any random sci-fi/action flick?

Just a suggestion.

The film (preceded by the lackluster comic of the same name) introduces us to those in the world with special powers. How did they receive these powers you ask? I’m glad you asked. Were they born with them due to some genetic mutation or evolutionary process? Granted them as a piece of some divine plan? Are they aliens sent from a dying world in hopes of a better life? Nope. Nazis.

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I can think of a more appropriate four-letter title Read More »

The Day the Earth Stood Still. Or Not. Whatever.

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Day the Earth Stood Still
  • IMDB: link

So I caught the press screening for The Day the Earth Stood Still remake on Tuesday, and while I would very much love to be able to tell you unequivocally that it’s a terrible, terrible attempt at a modern update of a beloved sci-fi classic I’ll confess that it’s just a little sad and disappointing. More than anything I felt slightly embarrassed for the film, as it was much like watching the not-really-that-bright kid in class who tries REALLY hard but still can’t wrap his brain around the science concept, let alone explain it in a presentation in front of the class.

Let’s get this out of the way first and foremost: I’m rather fond of Keanu Reeves. Intellectually I realize that he is at best a limited actor, but I just like the guy. That’s probably got more than a little something to do with the fact that on one hot August night in 1999 I spent the better part of my time signing autographs for the guy at a festival show Dogstar headlined with a band I was working with. While I’m the first guy to admit that Reeves is by far a more attractive man than yours truly, the confusion was mostly due to less than attentive fans and one very impish guitar tech who insisted to every fan that yes, I was Keanu Reeves. It probably didn’t help that I was wearing all black, had close-cropped short black hair, and was easily visible backstage. So for anyone at the Kansas City River Market Dogstar show in August of 1999 still possessing an autograph signed ‘Avoid the clap! – Keanu‘ or ‘Be Cool, Stay in School! – Keanu‘ I’m terribly sorry. Also, you’re an idiot, because that day he was wearing ratty jeans, and orange t-shirt and had a 3-week beard.

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The Day the Earth Stood Still. Or Not. Whatever. Read More »

City of Ember

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: City of Ember
  • IMDB: link

“In the city of Ember, the sky was always dark.  The city of Ember was old, and everything in it, including the power lines, was in need of repair.”

Hollywood has a thing for kids saving the day.  From Hoot to WarGames, in films it seems the only ones paying attention to upcoming disaster are the next generation.  In this same vein comes City of Ember.

For more than 200 years the city of Ember has substained life.  Now the generator which keeps the underground city lit has begun to fail and it falls to two young tweens (Saorise Ronan, Harry Treadway) to save the day.

Like most films about kids saving the world the film is a bit of a mixed bag.  The story, adapted from the Jeanne DuPrau novel, allows for some imaginative set design teen adventure, but doesn’t offer much more than an amusing ride.

Over the course of the tale we learn that children pick their life-long professions out of a sack at the age of 12, the mayor (Bill Murray) knows more about the increasing power losses than he’s saying, and that most adults (as in most films like this) have absolutely no idea what is going on.

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Flash Gordon #1 (of 6)

/ / Comics
  • Title: Flash Gordon #1 (of 6)
  • Comic Vine: link

“My name is Flash Gordon and I think I’m about to die.”

Recent attempts to revive Flash Gordon for the new millennium have been less than impressive (see the now defunct Sci-Fi Channel original series).  Now Flash is returning to the comic pages with a new series from Ardden Entertainment.

Written by Brendan Deneen with art by Paul Green this first issue reinvents the characters while also returning them to their roots.  Here Flash Gordon is a professor and adventurer, Hans Zarkoff is a mad scientist, and Dale Arden is a agent for the CIA.

Flash is approached by Dale and her gorilla-like partner who believe Hans Zarkoff is working on a Weapon of Mass Destruction.  The truth behind the circumstances is far more complex and Flash and Dale end up with Zarkov in his experimental space ship only to find themselves not in Kansas anymore as they travel through a portal to another world.

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