Dark Matter (2007)

A close look at the pressures of doctorate studies for foreign students in the United States and their choice to sell-out or give-up. The lead actor, Ye Liu, gave a riveting performance as the astrophysicist with a new idea.

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Monsters vs Aliens (2009)

Dreamworks animated flicks, while they possess impressive artwork and creativity, lack the heart and dramatic story-telling that flows from Pixar studios. Monsters vs Aliens supports this.

A codependent bride gets zapped by some freak radioactive beam and becomes a giant (really, really big) amazonian woman. She is taken captive by a secret government agency and then used with other "monsters" to fight an alien invasion. She finds inner strength through this process rather than finding her identity in her weather man groom.

The other monsters were funny and Ginomica (the big chick) will certainly cause some girls to fret about body image, but the story lacked resonance.

Forgettable.

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Avatar (2009)

In 3-Dimensions!! Despite my plan to boycott the film (because Mr. Cameron doesn't need my $10), I ended up caving and going to see it based on many people's recommendations.

Futuristic mining operation on a distant and inhabited planet is being run by the US military. The indigenous tall and naked blue people are resistant to the plans to turn the whole place into a mound of dirt, so a subversive method of sending in spy blue people in to learn how to convince them to yield is employed - a human controls the body of a void blue person (an avatar). A lame soldier controlling his avatar ends up falling in love with the indigenous and joining their cause (big twist!!).

So yeah, the visuals were pretty great, though I would have enjoyed more real life mixed in with CG (the final sequence has quite a bit). The 3-D element worked really well and it wasn't abused.

What wasn't terribly impressive was the story, the characters, and the overall challenge. It is clear that they are drawing a parallel between the blue folks and planet earth's indigenous population. The happy ending scenario is clearly a departure from reality and is clearly motivated to make money, not good cinema. The notion that the earth is a deity is lectured heavily too.

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Moon (2009)

When one thinks of sci-fi films, usually images of super hi-tech CGI, weak plot lines and equally feeble acting. But Moon is of a different breed and having Sam Rockwell as the centre piece makes all the difference.

Sam is the solitary inhabitant of the moon and is completing his third and final year in a mining contract. He begins to see things that don't make sense and his health begins to deteriorate. A mystery and adventure begins on the monochrome surface of Earth's moon.

The simple fact that the film is original makes this film terrific to watch. But the sentiment is startling does not abandon the viewer quickly.

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The Star of Bethlehem (2007)

The Star of Bethlehem is a surprisingly good documentary from the Christian community. Taking a rational approach, not without some skepticism, Frederick Larson seeks to find the mystery behind the wisemen's star in the nativity story.

Larson, a lawyer, is inadvertently drawn into solving what the star was that the magi of the east followed to Jerusalem and then Bethlehem at the time of Christ Jesus' birth. By studying the Old Testament and the nativity story and complementing it with software and extra-biblical historical records, Larson deduces the dates of both Jesus birth and His crucifixion and interprets the planetary positions among constellations at those moments.

The film is essentially an edited blend of an intimate lecture, interview, re-enactment, and Starry Sky software generated night sky images.

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The Fountain (2006)

After seeing Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, I knew I would have to ignore the terrible reviews The Fountain got and watch it anyway. After all, he'd also made Requiem for a Dream.

This art film blurs the lines between a novel a character is writing about the tree of life set in 16th century Spain/Guatemala, a modern day couple's struggle against cancer in the USA, and a 500 year leap into the future on a space craft near a dying star's nebulae. 

I liked it. While the story may not have gripped me as much as I would have liked, many of the conclusions and imagery lingered on in my mind after the credits rolled. Hugh Jackman was an on screen force that kept me awake through some slow spots. There was plenty of tension to keep the story interesting too. Ultimately, the contemplation of death, rebirth, dealing with loss, and the value of life was refreshing.

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Star Trek (2009)

I hadn't been planning to watch this film but many non-Trekkies kept recommending it to me and it was playing on the plane. So, I caved and was pleasantly entertained throughout.

A blackhole time warp causes a rift in the reality that the futuristic Star Trek world enjoyed. Viewers are taken back to when their beloved U.S.S. Enterprise bridge crew is leaving academy and joining the spaceship for its maiden voyage. Captain Kirk is a promising rogue who earns his stripes on the field in competition with his not yet pal Spock.

The story is not strong, but it serves as an adequate vehicle to see the young characters bumble along. Unfortunately, the two leads get generally boring and unimpassioned roles. The ones who really steal the show are ship doctor Bones McCoy, ensign Pavel Chekov, and pilot Hikaro Sulu as they deliver some stellar one-liners.

The visual effects are great and the symphony soundtrack is excellent. The hard rock tunes could have been omitted to enhance the experience.

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WALL·E (2008)

Pixar nails it again with a smart flick. It is amazing that the film succeeds even when the first half of the movie has virtually no dialogue.

WALL-E, a lone robot left on earth cleaning up garbage, passes his time crushing tin and discovering treasures that he stores in his shelter. Humans have been whisked away on survival spacecraft for several centuries now until greenery reoccurs. A probe, EVE, sent from one of the ships comes and meets WALL-E who gives her a plant. The two get picked up and they have an adventure on one of the giant survival ships.

The robots are hilarious as they tangle with other robots and people. The people are the definition of pity: incapacitated by weight, low bone density, and zero muscle strength - just globs really.

This is really a terrific film about the glory and necessity of the natural, something I've been mulling over for a few years now. The animation kicks butt too.

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

I'm enjoying my journey through great directors' early films. This is Steven Spielberg's precursor to E.T. and subsequently the Indiana Jones institution. What is clear in Close Encounters is Spielberg's tremendous use of camera angle and showing the audience the reaction rather than the action (seen best in Richard Dreyfuss's scene in his truck when a U.F.O. comes nearby). The effects are great, but some scenes drag on a bit (as they tend to in sci-fi flicks in the 60's and 70's).

The story is essentially being able to hang on to personal experience in the face of ridicule; it's a story of faith. How remarkable that faith is a focus of so many films, especially Spielberg's, when our society believes in so little.

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Koyaanisqatsi (1982)

This film is a visual sensation, a tone poem. The only words in the film are chanted in Hopi over Philip Glass's hypnotic soundtrack. We survey humanity through technology and inequality - the title means "Life out of Balance."

As the theme is something that I have been pondering quite a bit over the last couple years, I enjoyed much of the film. We confront the power and beauty of nature at the same time confronting the power and ugliness of what humanity has produced on the earth - most notably the urban landscape.

My favorite part of the film is the systematic demolition of tall, drab apartment buildings. The concrete is turned to dust in a matter of seconds.

Watching the film can be a chore if you're not in the space to be reflective. Long, drawn out scenes where little changes seem to never end. The last four minutes consist of a close-up of the fuselage of a rocket being launched.

It would seem that the filmmakers are trying to persuade the viewers to return to a more natural way of life where skyscrapers and factories are not the norm. As I'm already convinced I wonder how effective this film would be today as we have drifted even further into materialism over the two decades since this film was made.

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Chicken Little (2005)

This recent Disney cartoon flick features an original take on the classic tale of Chicken Little, and does it ever stray. It strays into a caricature American town full of consumerist animals and science fiction. In fact it completely abandons the themes of the original story.

But it's still fun.

The focus quickly becomes the relationship between the clucker and his rooster dad and the issue is trust. Then the themes move toward school politics. Then there is this kooky act to close the film which I don't think really worked. Does Disney think that it would not be able to market an animated film where the parents (at least one of them) don't die and where the child is not justified in the end - revealing the ineptitude of the adult counterparts.

The 3-D animation is rich, but everything is kept simple. The film is noticeably short at 75 minutes plus credits - the standard for cartoons I guess. Aside from an original pretty tune by Five For Fighting, the barrage of pop tunes was a bit much.

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Battlestar Galactica (2004)

I've just watched the 3-hour pilot episode. Based on a 70's TV series, this new adaptation is said to be more dramatic. Over the years, I've had a hard time taking many science fiction films seriously because the character development comes third after special effects (or focus on fictional technology) and story. I prefer films who go the reverse: character, then story, then effects.

In Battlestar Galactica, there is an attempt to cultivate the characters, but I still think the story has come first. Granted, this is expositional in type as it is to launch a TV series and so many archtypes - strong woman leader, errant father, rebellious son, rebellious soldier, British bad guy, evil temptress... In television you don't really have a choice as viewers need to have the option to tune in and out of the series without losing too much of who the characters are.

What does drive this show is the story - or rather the background to the story. Human civilization has come to an end (or very nearly) because of something humans created. There are only 50,000 folks around (500 of whom are imprisoned criminals). Now what? What do we try to hang on to? How important is each human life? How important is survival? What are we willing to sacrifice for the greater good? Battlestar Galactica does a fine job of presenting the questions in a compelling and dramatic way. I didn't get swept away emotionally by some of the sad scenes (leaving refugees behind, girl on a spaceship about to be zapped), but rather asked myself if I could have made those hard decisions.

A few things that disappointed me. I found the younger actors to be too good looking and very American. It's too bad a ongoing network series can't achieve success without it's George Clooneys, Katie Holmeses, and Jennifer Anistons. I can see the appeal, but it throws up a big red flag of "this is fake" for me. I was hoping also that the sets would look a bit more like the ones on Event Horizon - more earthy, lived in.

I did enjoy most of the acting, though as I mentioned earler, the typecasting sort of limits that.

Overall, I think it was a great set up for a TV series. I would follow it and I think the character development would grow to a point that I'd be disappointed that someone got snuffed out (lost their contract with the SciFi Network).

A thanks to Pat for introducing me to the series.

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