Sci-fi films

Gonna keep my eyes peeled for that one!

Not a film per se, but I really dig the dystopian UK series "Black Mirror". Seven episodes that leave me wanting more. Can't hate the genius Twilight Zone meets Tales of The Unexpected twists regarding man's dark interactions with technology. Looks like Mr. Iron Man himself has even optioned an episode for a future film project.

Don't forget Linklater's "A Scanner Darkly" courteousy of PKD's paranoid genius.

Altered States... enough said.

So did anyone check out Mad Max on blu-ray yet? I haven't looked into it, but I am actually curious because I know that Miller intended to have it released in B&W, and when I watched the movie, I could see it, and also see how that would really have worked for the film and his vision, but naturally the studio wouldn't have it - because, you know, audiences and all. But anyways, if they released a version of it on the disc that would be pretty interesting I think. And before some people start saying it, no, you cannot just adjust your screen tone appropriately to achieve the same settings. I am not sure it is even possible based on what they shot, but just thought it was worth mentioning as the film seemed to have some other fans as well.

Finally got to see Interstellar this weekend. Looking back, I see a lot of mixed reviews. Personally, I really, really liked it. Kind of depressing and all, and crawled a bit, but by the end, I was pretty happy with it.

Also saw The Pyramid (maybe more horror?). Kind of crappy. Had a good premise, and could have been cool, but they blew it big time. It ended up looking and playing out like a typical SciFi channel movie.

Ex Machina
Wow, what a great movie. See it, avoid all trailers before you do.
9/10

I think Interstellar actually garnered generally positive reviews, even if I didn't care for it too much. I think a lot of these movies I think just too critically about, without being able to full leave my brain at the door (which, I do easily for 'B' movies) - so it is probably my own fault. But also, when things get overly positive reviews, I also think you have to look at it objectively. So many movies were incredibly "popular" when they came out, but so many people in hindsight claim to have never liked them, once that becomes the popular opinion. I just think, you either like something or you don't; stick with that and nevermind the bollocks about other people's judgements.

Haha, yeah, I would probably classify Pyramid into the horror category as well, and was going to bring it up there. It almost fell into the 'so bad it's good' category, with the horribleness and cheese, but in the end didn't really get there either.

I think that's a very good point Steve. I loved 2012 because it did not take itself seriously - it had buildings crumble and people running away. It was great. Interstellar tried to be epic but only managed to be grandiloquent. Like almost all "serious" sci-fi movies, it failed by compromising between the science (which appealed to geeks?) and the mushy nonsensical (which appealed to some producer's idea of "the general public"?).

This makes me very curious about the approach they took for The Martian. The book is a masterpiece in achieving the perfect balance, and by being funny on top of it. I hope they didn't expunge it from the film version.

In other news, as you've probably seen, Black Mirror has been picked up by Netflix for a third season! Woot!

Anyone try watching Turbo Kid yet?

I think it would qualify as sci-fi.

Anyone try watching Turbo Kid yet?

I think it would qualify as sci-fi.

I posted about it a page or two before. Great film!

Double-post, but I watched this a few nights ago, and it was pretty great! I think the tagline "Mad Max on BMX" is sort of accurate. Definitely low-budget, B-style, and gory, it was nonetheless tons of fun and had an amazing soundtrack to boot. It has just started its theatre run. Go and watch it!

Missed this one!

I loved the movie. Had just enough cheesy stuff to be funny like a kids movie and then tons of over the top gore which felt so out of place in a perfect way. So much fun.

Hope that makes it to Netflix or Amazon.

Just saw this is now on iTunes, going to rent it tomorrow for sure.

Missed TurboKid, too. Looks kinda like a feature-length Kung Fury:
https://youtu.be/bS5P_LAqiVg

Turbo Kid doesn't come close to the pleasure of Kung Fury. It's kind of fun and cute. I think closer to Kung Fury is the fantastic series Danger 5.

In other news, as you've probably seen, Black Mirror has been picked up by Netflix for a third season! Woot!

This is pretty good to hear. I still need to catch up on season two, but I liked the ID of finally getting something decent in speculative sci-fi, especially in a well done TV show. Although they weren't all hits - I didn't particularly enjoy "Fifteen Million Merits", I thought the ideas explored in "The Entire History of You" were very interesting. For once something in which the writers applied real thought in something. I feel like we haven't seen this kind of great anthology-type show in decades, and it is much needed. Great, epic TV is good too, but sometimes you want something which has real depth to it, and which you can just ingest in small, distinct doses. I love marathoning tv sessions as much as anyone, but there is just too much connectivity now, with nearly all shows running storylines for multi-seasons. It's great (when the writers actually have an over-arching idea and how to execute it) for lasting stories, but also a commitment and limited to an established 'world' where you know more or less what is going on.

I don't think anyone mentioned Spike Jonze's I'm Here, which is a great, great short film with an amazing soundtrack. It's available for free on Youtube. Actually, here it is:



If you like it, I recommend the There Are Many Of Us book/dvd/cd that bundles all this goodness together.

Kick it? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ba ... -wasteland

So did anyone go see/have any thoughts on The Martian? I wasn't expecting much, nor have I read the novel, and I have been extremely wary of any Ridley Scott pictures for s̶o̶m̶e̶ many years now. But, it wasn't that bad actually. Which may seem like damning with faint praise, but from me, that probably means it was an acceptable film. I wouldn't go so far as to proclaim it as science-y, which everything seemed to make it out to be, but compared to what usually passes for hollywood 'science' then yeah, it did an okay job. Wasn't anything surprising in it, or really key things I would highlight - and even if I discussed it, I am not sure anything about the plot could be spoiled - but the two and some hours didn't drag and were generally entertaining. I could see how die-hard novel fans might not enjoy the adaptation as much, but for a straight space flic, it was leagues ahead of Interstellar. I could even tolerate Matt Damon.

So did anyone go see/have any thoughts on The Martian?

I enjoyed it but it wasn't what i was expecting for a Ridley Scott production. It seemed like an attempt to make a much more 'commercial' bit of Sci-fi
that would appeal to the general public. More 'mainstream', perhaps. I thought the Disco exclusive soundtrack was an extension of that . . .

Everyone was very peppy and upbeat and breaking each others balls. I dont recall anyone in the film being a douche or acting unprofessional.
As i said to my brother after we watched it, it seemed like a very expensive NASA recruitment video . . .

I'd like to watch it again on DVD sometime and see how it stands up.

So did anyone go see/have any thoughts on The Martian?

I enjoyed it but it wasn't what i was expecting for a Ridley Scott production. It seemed like an attempt to make a much more 'commercial' bit of Sci-fi
that would appeal to the general public. More 'mainstream', perhaps. I thought the Disco exclusive soundtrack was an extension of that . . .

Everyone was very peppy and upbeat and breaking each others balls. I dont recall anyone in the film being a douche or acting unprofessional.
As i said to my brother after we watched it, it seemed like a very expensive NASA recruitment video . . .

I'd like to watch it again on DVD sometime and see how it stands up.

In these regards it was very true to the book. I liked both the book and the movie. The book had more science in it - or at least explanations for why/what was being done. I know some people hated how upbeat the main character is in the book (and movie?), but some people are just that way. Still, I personally don't believe even the most upbeat of people wouldn't freakout/meltdown at some point. Whatevs. I found the characters to be more believable in their undouchey professionalism than I found the douchey, unprofessional characters in Prometheus. You have to figure that NASA is only sending the best of the best of the best on such missions.

For the book being quite short, and the movie being quite long, it was interesting that so much of the book got glossed over. Either way, I liked it. But I also liked Interstellar and Prometheus.

I liked it, but I was also disappointed for very vague reasons... I loved the book, and the movie had been so hyped as science-y that it was a let down that it was still very, very much Hollywoodian. I mean, I'd still recommend it over most of the bland fare that passes as sci-fi, but... the book made me laugh out loud! Worry for the character(s)! But not in the film. Ah well.

I just finished Ex-Machina as well, which I thought was much better. The movie made great use of its small budget and wasn't afraid of having characters go through long, talking head scenes. I was just disappointed in the ending...

I mean, you're a genius AI developer and you don't have a killswitch for your creature? It's the umpteenth iteration of the AI and you still haven't input some sort of way to have it enjoy where it is and not want to go out? What are Ava's goals? Why does she want to go out? I loved that she was using Caleb, but why doesn't she kill him outright instead of taking the risk of him surviving. Actually, why did Nathan barge in there to confront Ava with a dumbbell? Hubris? Hasn't he read any of the numerous books on the dangers of AI and the impossibility of keeping them boxed? But again, great movie overall, and much more realistic than anything else that's been released on the topic.

First episode of The Expanse is available. Cool to see that the prequel novella, Drive, is available to read on the website, too.

Show starts out a little confusing, and isn't helped by poor audio. I also don't care for the casting (so far). But I'm still very excited to watch this series unfold.

http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/videos/101-dulcinea

Had my own look at Ex Machina tonight. I'll spare you my numerous thoughts on the picture, but I do have one related question: How long ago did the glass cage trope begin? Machina had the third one I've seen this week. Is there a cage zero?

I don't know, but there is a Cube Zero.

If you're talking of the AI Box, it has been around for a while. You can check its rationalwiki:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/AI-box_experiment
(it's pretty funny)

Its regular wiki isn't as funny:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_box