Future-ish: Movie Reviews

Showing posts with label Movie Reviews. Show all posts

Curly Hair Mafia Reviews Lockout

What happens when a biologist, a chemist, and a mammalogist review sci-fi, horror, or fantasy shows? Nerdtastic hilarity! Join our three scientists – known as the Curly Hair Mafia – as they take down big films, popular TV series, and everything in between. In their latest contribution to science-minded movie reviews, the Curly Hair Mafia welcomes on a guest reviewer...curly bearded, jaunty-hat-wearing physicist, science writer, public speaker, and educator, Dr. Matthew Francis.

For this review, our mafiosi unlock the best and worst elements of 2012 space sic-fi thriller Lockout starring Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace, conceived and written by Luc Besson, and co-directed by James Mather and Stephen St. Legerand. Part Escape from New York and part Demolition Man, Lockout does offer some entertainment value...even though much of the film "defies all laws of physics, chemistry, and biology". From a space sky dive landing to which "even a German judge would give a 10" and machine guns working in the oxygen-free vacuum of space to how to kill off superfluous characters and a Han Solo-Princess Leia almost love story, Lockout certainly gives the mafia team a lot to work with. Luckily, Guy Pearce looked "damn fine" in the movie. The other redeeming factor of Lockout...it's very short. Final reviewer scores: Dr. Lee: 4.5, Dr. Francis: 2, and Dr. Burks: 3 (because Guy Pearce is hot).

Curly Hair Mafia Reviews Skyfall

Warning: spoilers, strong language, and a lot material that will make you laugh...HARD! Oh, and a lot of Bond Badassitude too.

Curly Hair Mafia Reviews Dead Snow

Warning: spoilers, strong language, and a lot material that will make you laugh...HARD! Oh, and Nazis, zombies, and crazy-ass Norwegians.

>> Dead Snow on IMDB
>> Dead Snow on Wikipedia

SeanChron | Suddenly-Sámi in Seattle

Serendipity indeed! Yesterday I discovered that a movie I had wanted to see for some time was playing at the Nordic Heritage Museum near my house in Seattle. The film was Suddenly Sámi, a 2009 award-winning documentary/autobiography by Norwegian filmmaker and writer, Ellen-Astri Lundby, that chronicles her exploration into her indigenous Sámi heritage, a fact that her Mother had hidden from her most of her life. It is a story about ancestry, culture, and traditions but also a story about identity and more importantly, self identity. Many themes in Sámi history are similar to other indigenous cultures around the world, such as historical trauma, but some elements are unique to the Sámi. The prospect of Lundby taking on her Sámi identity and heritage is treated with both sensitivity and humor that makes for a very entertaining story.

Below is the trailer for the movie...

SeanChron - TRON Time

As the founder of Future-ish, a website about the science, design, and culture shaping our future, I'm pleased to report I spent the first evening of 2011 viewing the much anticipated TRON: Legacy at the fantastic Cinerama in Seattle. As you can see from my previous post, the experience actually started in the lobby where costumes from three generations of scifi were on exhibit including Flash Gordon, TRON, and The Matrix...pretty darn cool.

I'm not necessarily the geekiest if scifi geeks, I've never been to a convention for example (yet), but I do get pretty excited about any new entries on the scene. So I was pretty 'lit up' to see TRON: Legacy. Given how groundbreaking the first TRON was, I went in with some pretty high expectations, especially after reading so many great reviews. That said, my thoughts on the movie are binary.

I did love the movie, I think it is worth every penny of the ticket price, and I would highly recommend that folks see it in the theater. The movie is entertaining, the acting good, the costumes and sets amazing, and the Daft Punk soundtrack was, shall we say, frackin awesome!

At the same time I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting to be wowed by the graphics and CGI, and they were good and even groundbreaking in some ways, but they failed to wow me. Perhaps it is because the first TRON did such a great job at creating another world, an 'inner world' if you will. In the first TRON, you could sense the restrictions of the digital world and the two dimensions. TRON: Legacy simply felt like any easily imagined futuristic city. The first TRON's costumers were, well, weird. But they jolted you. The costumes in TRON: Legacy were very cool indeed, but they felt related to all the contemporary superhero costumes one sees in movies these days. Furthermore, the plot was very predictable. The first TRON was pretty out there in its conception and story, whereas TRON: Legacy seemed to follow a pretty canned formula with many scenes that reminded me of other scifi treasures, from Buck Rogers to Fifth Element.

My favorite scene in the whole movie, by far, is when the sirens prepare Sam for the game grid...hence the image above. This scene felt was both original and 'inner-worldly'. The fact that it featured four fabulous sirens with stunning footwear and a catwalk that would make even Tyra Banks proud certainly scores points as well. Mind you, the sirens strut their stuff forwards and backwards (a simple effect but still chilling in that 'Number 6' sort of way). I could watch the scene over and over.

To facilitate that, here you go...

All in all, I give TRON: Legacy five out of five stars. I really did like the film. The fifth star just kinda flickers on and off.

Film Review | The Age of Stupid

Review by Alyssa Ballinger Johnson.

The Age of Stupid Global Premiere Trailer from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

I feel different after watching The Age of Stupid. I feel…. stupid. In the film, Pete Postlethwaite plays an archivist living in 2055, who puts together a montage of news footage documenting the “Age of Stupid” (i.e. now): the time when we still could have prevented a runaway global greenhouse, but didn’t take it seriously enough. The idea is based on sound science, science which is easily digested via clever animations and a killer soundtrack.

Even more valuable was the mocking portrayal of well-meaning people who don’t see the whole picture. Jeh Wadia has a grand vision of ending poverty by providing cheap flights for thousands of Indians who normally travel by train, which uses 90% less energy. Piers Guy tries to convince provincial neighborhoods in the UK to install wind farms, only to be blocked by locals who are worried that the turbines will ruin their view and lower property values. A woman who has just come from fighting the turbines says, “of course we’re worried about climate change; absolutely”, as if insulted by the question. Despite some hypocrisy, nobody comes across as a villain (although some, like Guy, are clearly heroes). The film leaves you with no excuses, and makes you realize that you, even with your reusable water bottle and hybrid car, are part of the age of stupid. You feel stupid, but not alone. You also don’t want to be mocked by an archivist in 2055. You want to take action.

The film embraces that there is no easy solution, no clear bad guys to fight, and that we need to approach the problem in any way we can. At the ridiculously low-carbon premier, director Franny Armstrong launched both 10:10 and NotStupid.org. 10:10 promotes reduction of carbon on an individual basis, while NotStupid.org is a guide to influencing political action. The film was released in preparation for the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December.
Since the DVD is in UK format, it’s going to be hard for Americans to watch this film before the copenhagen summit. The DVD will not be released to the US until January 2010. Although some of us were lucky enough to catch the live premier on 9/21, anyone interested in hosting another screening can go to www.indiescreenings.net.