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science fiction

Gravity * Alfonso Cuarón (2013)

However everybody says this film is great, it was not very high on my wishlist. Then there is this new theatre in town that we wanted to check out and “Gravity” seemed like a logical choice (I did not expect to find it in a filmhouse though). Well, “Gravity” is great!
I suppose the big screen adds to the experience and perhaps the 3D did as well, but this film is a magnificent spectacle. Three people are sent to space in a spaceshuttle to add something to the Hubble telescope. One is the doctor Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), another the seasoned astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). The first part of the film the viewer is given magnificent images from space and a glance at the hard work without gravity. Things do not go as planned and Stone and Kowalski find themselves in space with only their spacesuits to protect them. Kowalski’s plan is to get to the ISS (International Space Station) to find a way to get back to earth. Of course this is not something they easily accomplish and some drama and action unfolds.
A large part of the film is just you watching Bullock and Clooney, but a considerate part is all about Bullock. With everybody who says the same, I can tell you that inspite me not being a big Bullock fan, she really manages to carry the film and get most of her emotions accross. What is more, inspite of being born in 1964, Bullock looks very good in her out-of-spacesuit-outfit. There are some little annoyances and especially some dramatic elements are overdone, but “Gravity” definately manages to raise the tension to high peaks and brought me a lot of ‘what would I do?’ moments. Story-wise there are a few elements that I am not too sure about they are factual, but however I tagged this film as ‘science fiction’, I think the director probably had ‘science fact’ mind.
Yep, “Gravity” has the grandeur and magnificence of a big Hollywood production, but the tension and emotion of a classic. A great movie indeed.

Thor: The Dark World * Alan Taylor & James Gunn (2013)

Obviously a follow up of the 2011 “Thor” film, but with other directors. Reading back my review of the other “Thor” film, I was not too enthousiastic, but this time I was! I do not know if it was the big screen, the 3D (which did not add all that much, but still) or the alcohol consumed prior to and during the film, the “The Dark World” is a true spectacle. The actors are the same so/and ‘mythological wise’ there is a lot to complain, but there are also nice, subtle mythological references. Besides, since the heathen Gods are victorious, this is a nice way to introduce new folks to the old ways, or…?
This time the dark alfs (leaded by a character with an unnorse name Malekith) try to take advantage of an allignment of the nine worlds. Thor’s earthly girlfriend of the first film stumbled upon the powerfull force called “aether” and Thor has to come and save her. Jane is taken to Asgard where war is waged.
Impressive scifi computer graffics and a lot of spectacle make “The Dark World” an entertaining Hollywood production. Do not get annoyed too much about the mythological inconsistancies, just enjoy the references that are there. Not a must-see, but a good option when you are up for some action spectacle.

The Thing * Matthijs van Heijningen (2011)

It must have been decades since I saw the original film, but I remember the story to be roughly the same. Looking at the IMdB information of both films, I wonder if that is really the case. In the new film there is a young, female scientist taking the lead, while the 1982 version does not mention a female scholar at all. Also the names of the characters differ greatly. The new version has Scandinavian scholars, the original not. Perhaps both films are just based on the same story, the new version not on the old? The story remains known and has been told numerous times. Scholars run into the remains of an alien which appears not to be dead and starts to take the lives of the scientists one by one. The original “Thing” was (as I remember) quite bloody for its time, the new one is not so much if you compare them to films of today. The tension is not always great, but there are a few nice scenes. Of course there is a new level of special effects with a pretty damn weird alien. Just an alright sci-fi.

Sunshine * Danny Boyle (2007)

Boyle goes from good films (“Trainspotting”, “127 Hours”) to boring films such as “Slumdog Millionaire”. “Sunshine” falls in the latter category. “Sunshine” is a blabla moralistic scifi film in which a spaceship is sent to the dying sun in order to blow it up and create a new star. The ship is called “Icarus” so the destiny is clear from the beginning. Of course the crew has to make the choices between their own lives and mankind and changing and debunking their mission for minor purposes. The entire film plays on the spaceship with a small crew which naturally consists of men and women, scientists of different professions. The story contains a bit too many ‘why’s and ‘yeah right’s. Nope, scifi is not really my genre. Boyle does not make “Sunshine” an exception either.

Scanners * David Cronenberg (1981)

An old Cronenberg featuring Patrick “The Prisoner” McGoohan, what more do you want? The “scanners” from the title are people with a psychic abilities. The story reminds of Cronenberg’s more early films “Stereo” and “Crimes Of The Future”. McGoohan is a doctor (Paul Ruth) who is specialised in the scanners and who works for the government. The government had no program for the scanners and thus an underground has been formed. An old acquaintance recruits scanners and those who refuse do not live to tell. Ruth finds the last unrecruited scanner and wants him to infiltrate the underground group. “Scanners” is not as dark and weird as some other of Cronenbergs oldies, but it contains some funny horror elements and an interesting story with a couple of twists that would later become obligatory in modern cinema. Also he managed to film at some futuristic locations and the use of computers is wonderfully dated. Recommended!

Thor * Kenneth Branagh (2011)

The film is based on a comic which is (of course) based on Norse mythology. Losely based I might say. Loki’s mother became a father and he is a brother to Thor. The “white Ase” Heimdall became a negroid and there are some other ‘free interpretations’. Leaving them aside you get some sort of sci-fi action film with some names and themes from Northern mythology. The result is not utterly boring, but not really exiting either. Thor finds himself cast to the earth without his usual powers. He is picked up by a group of scientists and eventually won back for Asgard, which is located on some other planet. There are some funny findings, such as Bifrost as a worm-hole Thor’s ‘meteorite’ and however the ‘frost giants’ are a bit silly, the ‘fire giant’ looks great. You will get the expected spectacle, Anthony Hopkins as Odin and good-looking (computer) stages.

Bad Taste * Peter Jackson (1987)

Peter Jackson did not always make hip and slick films like “Lord Of The Rings”. In fact, his debut is an over-the-top horror-scifi-comedy. “Bad Taste” is actually a zombie-slasher in which the zombies are replaced by aliens. The acting is bad, the special effects corney. Jackson obviously tried to make his special effects as dirty as possible. Replacing brains, heads split in two, bloodsplattering and large heaps of intestines. The result of a level of the average zombie slasher. Laughs and chuckles, but story- and acting-wise not too interesting.

TRON * Steven Lisberger (1982)

Every now and then I run into some classic that I (think I) have not seen. This time this was a 1982 science-fiction. Watching “TRON” I was wondering how long there had been computers in 1982. I remember my father buying a Vic20, probably around that time, so I could not have been that long. Still “TRON” seems to contain computer animations and futuristic ideas about computers and their workings, such as “The Matrix” like story. The film is about a computer game factory where curruption made the originators to be secondary or even expelled employers. A security system is built which slowly takes things in his own hand. This system made some kind of “matrix” where computer programs are used to play deadly games and thus be killed. The computer world is a world with bright colours and game-like machines. In the film this world looks both awsome and cheap, thus making a wonderfull virtual world, especially thinking again of 1982. The surrealistic world has ways of communicating with “users” in the real world, ‘passed screen’ worlds, programs on the loose, “bits” that can only say “yes” and “no” and security. It all goes somewhere between games and a “Matrix” like computer world. A great classic!

Splice * Vincenzo Natali (2009)

This film was on my list, so I guess I read something about that that made me want to see it. Perhaps it was the producer, Guillermo del Toro? Unfortunately, “Splice” is not that good. Two young and too hip scientists work at a facility producing alternative lifeforms in order to find cures for diseases. Of course they take things a step too far. Actually this is already too much information, but anything you read about this film gives most of it away. “Splice” is a scifi, but not a fantasy, even though the creature that Else and Clive create is very fantasyfull. In any case, a slightly overrated film. The IMdB rating of 6.1/10 is already more realistic, but I give it a:

X-Files complete 9 series * Chris Carter (1993-2002)

In August 2008 I ‘blogged‘ about having bought the 9 series X-Files shoebox and now I can tell you we have watched it all. Of course I am not going to review the whole series. A fact is that just as when I watched the series on TV (from 1994 or 1995 on or so) I dropped out somewhere in what proves to be the 8th series, but I have seen several episodes of the 9th as well. It is quite clear why I stopped following the series, they were not getting better. On the other hand, even with Doggett and Reyes there are some interesting episodes. The part of Scully becomes more and more unsatisfying and in some episodes even irritating when Carter has her take over the Mulder role. In any case, overall you can see the series developing. Then less-serious experiments come in, unfortunately resulting in a complete series almost devoid of normal episodes, but initially refreshing. After a while the various directors and story-writers seem to get more of a free hand and some episodes become both amazing and fantasyfull. In general I can say that the X-Files remain one of the more interesting series of my time, but I do not grief that they stopped after a series or two too many when things were not getting better. Unfortunately the last double episode is quite the opposite a final blowout, it is even pretty horrible…
I am not interested in all the extras. Every series has extras on each disc and a separate disc with extras. I do not think I saw any of that, so I cannot comment on it. The box itself looks nice, but is not firm enough for weekly use over two years time. Not that I completely wrecked it, but let me say that I could sell it as “mint” any more. Each series has a nice booklet with information about each episode and a list with all titles (in English and French in my version). Nine times the size of a VHS tape by the way. The box is not cheap, but I do not remember the price after two years, so who gives a damn.