RED

Bad Asses

Okay, I'm not very good at this.

The movie RED surprised me!  First, I didn't know that it was a comic book.  Second, it was probably one of the best movies I've seen this year!  And the press didn't even make a big deal about it.  If you haven't seen it, I suggest getting it today!  It is full of wonderful, talented actors!  The dialog, the writing, its just hilarious and very well done!

Its a story about all these former agents who are now retired.  Bruce Willis' character however is marked RED: Retired. Extremely. Dangerous.  I won't go into too many details, but suddenly Bruce is running for his life because someone is trying to kill him.  He ends up kidnapping the women he loves to keep her safe, getting his ole' buddies back together.  This is just an awesome movie!  I'm surprised they never got this bunch of actors together before!

Also:  Karl Urban

I know I've seen him before, but my husband and I had to look him up.  You know a good actor is a good actor when he isn't type cast and you have to look him up on imdb and find out that he's been in some awesome stuff!  And he does a dang good job at all his roles!

1. Star Trek as Bones-awesome!
2. Bourne Supremacy-the killer who get's Bourne's girl
3. Lord of the Rings!!   What! - Eomer!  No way!  You hardly recognize him with the long blonde hair and armor!
4. Xena
5. Okay Doom and Pathfinder were both horrible movies, but you get my point.

This guy was in RED as well, and he's just so good that you can't believe the movies he's been in, because he's so good at acting way a spectrum of characters!


Anyway, go see RED!

Do Not Sully My Beloved

The technology is so advanced that it can make "woosh" sounds in a vacuum!

Real science fiction bores most people if they're ever exposed to it. I'm not talking about the space fantasy stuff like Star Wars or the Space Opera stuff like the grotesquely under-appreciated Firefly/Serenity. I'm talking about stories which revolve around actual science.

True science fiction does not need space ships, extraterrestrial life, or even super-spiffy technologies in it in order to qualify as science fiction. In truth, those things can sometimes detract from the quality of the story.

Being true science fiction isn't a boolean, true/false sort of thing, either. There are shows with a little bit of science in their stories. There are shows with a lots of science in them.

Old-fashioned Godzilla movies may be considered marginal science fiction because they deal with matters under the purview of biology and sometimes paleontology or zoology but the involvement of the science is minuscule.

Uber-mega-hit Avatar was a little more science fiction because Cameron went to great lengths to involve engineers, astrophysicists, and other smart people in as much of the film as possible. However, the science had very little to do with the actual plot so it's more just an adventure story garnished with science fiction sprinkles.

Bold, dataless Ishpeckian claim: The degree to-which science fiction is good is the degree to-which actual science is involved with the story, the drama, the suspense, or the spiffiness factor.

Extra terrestrial or Civil War POW?

The reason why Star Wars prequels are bad is mostly because George Lucas writes like an alcoholic, Jr. High drop-out but also because he wouldn't be able to differentiate science from witchcraft.

Though this gets me thinking: Just once, I'd like to meet a Wiccan quantum physicist...

The sad truth about cinema is that it is terribly deprived of true, well-crafted science fiction. I'd like to say I don't understand why movie makers have so little faith in our ability to consume quality entertainment ... but I'd be lying if I did.

Because movies epic-fail, whenever I need a good science fiction fix, I must take refuge in text -- and especially the text of Isaac Asimov. Though he's no Victor Hugo, if you were to ask me "Is Asimov the greatest science fiction author in the history of the world?" I would answer: "Does Greek mythology depcit a lot of poor role-models for your kids?" and then say "yes."

Film adaptations of Asimov's books tend to favor the traditions of movies more than the traditions of Asimov.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Will Smith's I, Robot movie was... a Will Smith movie. It did nothing to capture the computer science (see that? SCIENCE!) aspect of the I, Robot stories as written by Asimov... it just left us with a more Steve-Jobs-inspired spin on the Terminator theme.

Robin Williams did alright in Bicentennial Man -- if you're in to movies all about atmosphere and copulating with microwave ovens. It fell more in line with the other tradition of SciFi (not to be confused with True Science Fiction) writing: Horrendously overbearing social commentary. Not that I have anything against social commentary, per se, but you don't go to McDonald's to get your oil changed and you don't go to Asimov stories to reflect on gay marriage legislation. Also: Screw Logan's Run.

I want a good science fiction movie that excites me as much as Asimov novels do. Last time I tried to be excited about a movie, I ended up watching The Last Airbender. Seeing how brutally Hollywood trampled my heart, I'm totally content to watch people NOT attempt science fiction --- especially if it happens to be the greatest work of one of my greatest heroes. As much as I'd enjoy seeing a good science fiction story on screen -- especially one as epic to the awesometh power as Foundation -- I know better than to think it could end not badly.

Roland Emmerich must hate me.

If you haven't read Foundation, you might want to see a doctor about that. It is one of mankind's greatest accomplishments. It also happens to be about mankind's greatest accomplishments.

Where some Science Fiction tries to lock itself into the madness of quantum mechanics, cosmology, relativity, economics, chemistry, and all the engineering tasks related thereto, Foundation goes straight for the root of all things nerdily awesome: It's a story about math.

Sure, there are space ships and even epic space battles in it but those really are incidental to the story of math being the most powerful force in geopolitical conflict... (cosmopolitical? Remember, kids, you read that term here first).

When Roland Emmerich, sire of 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, that abominable Godzilla movie, and Independence "Let's Make Ishy Cry Himself To Sleep" Day tries to make his little Foundation movie, what's going to focus on? The awesome math winning by sheer force of Just True or the pew-pew-pew-layz0rz making splodies happen?

Sure, you might think that the original Foundation would make for a really boring movie and... you may be right. Genuine nerds are actually fascinated with things that other folks tend to use as sedatives. But most attempts to increase the common man's access to nerdy things has resulted in that nerdy thing losing its charm. Don't believe me? You should.

Making a movie based on Foundation would undoubtedly sully it. Trust me: There is psychohistoric math on this one. Roland Emmerich doing a Foundation movie would be like using pages of the Koran as toilet paper while dressed as a Hitler wearing KKK robes on a float in a gay pride parade in the Deep South and screaming "America deserves to be destroyed and Wiccans practice witchcraft!"

Tangled

The Story of Rapunzel with a Disney twist.  Loved it!  And if you've ever read the book "Rapunzel's revenge" by Shannon Hale it will remind you a little of that too.
I loved the characters, the music, the story, everything.  It was like watching a classic Disney Princess cartoon, and this Princess has a lot of character.  I would recommend seeing this one!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Since I don't think the latest Harry Potter movies have been that great.  Namely the first 3 were good, but then not after that.  I was happily surprised when this one was the best out of all of them!  I don't know if its because their splitting up the book into two part movies so they can do more or if its because they've learned to actually make a good Harry Potter movie.  But, there was no dead moment; it was very enjoyable and scary.  The actor line up is great and the actors are older and so it is for more of an adult audience.  I think its too scary for little kids.
So, I would suggest to you to watch it either now or later, but watch it.  If you are already a big Harry Potter fan I don't think you'll be disappointed.  Its good.  Not perfect, but good!
I won't talk about it because if you've read the books you already know.  If you haven't then you should :P

Toy Story 3

While Pixar is always my hero's and they always do a very awesome job with creating stories and movies, this one was their worst, which by all means...their worst is everyone else's best.  To give you an idea of my thoughts there.
A few years ago soon after Pixar had been bought by Disney, they go to Pixar and tell them they want a 3rd Toy Story.  Pixar refuses.  Then Disney threatens them that if they don't do a Toy Story 3 then Disney Studios would.  And Pixar couldn't have that, it would be like creating a work of art and having an immature teenager  try to copy it, it just wouldn't be good and Pixar is all about the art, so yeah.
It was a good ending to Toy Story, the movie seemed a little forced but the worst was the ending, it just wouldn't end!  Yes, Andy is going to college, yes he was going to keep them, but for some reason Woody thought it would be best to be passed on to a random neighbor girl instead of stuck in the Attic or go to College with Andy.  And I think Pixar wanted it to be a dragged out ending to send a message to Disney.  "Toy Story is DONE, there is nothing else to be done with it!  Leave it alone before you run it into the ground!"  At least, that the message I got.
I recommend seeing it, cause you might, I did;  I cried a lot.  It was a good, sad, ending, like I said.  And if you, like me, had any toys that you just loved you will cry too.

Splice

*Sigh*
Okay, so this movie was boring.  It was interesting at first, but just got bad.  It brings up all the Hollywood favorites of: "don't try to play God."  "Where are the boundaries."  blah blah.  So, yeah, they make life from DNA and these two married scientists are so obsessed and the husband can't learn to say "no" and the wife is crazy and deals with "mother control" issues, its just bad.  I was hoping for a good sci fi, but it was just bad.  I wouldn't recommend it, if you want a good sci fi thriller just watch Predator or something.
That is all I'm going to say about that, I already wasted time watching the movie so...yeah

Legend of the Guardians

My husband took me to this movie.  The previews looked good.  Yeah, I need to read the books, cause all the movie did was get me interested in the books.  It was well done, very pretty colors and etc.  But, they seemed to want to crowd a lot of things into it and it didn't help that the beginning was so slow!  The story is kind of same old, there are owls that have legends of these good and bad owls, etc.  And these two brothers get kidnapped by the bad owls to become their slaves or warriors what have you.  The brother that believes the legends is nice and gets sent to be a slave, the mean brother becomes a warrior for the bad owls.  The good owl escapes and finds the Ga'hoole, the mighty good owls, yata yata.  If the movie just flowed better and had good writing and stuff it would've been better.  I like it, wouldn't watch it again, i'll probably read the books though.
The whole time when they say "Ga'hoole"  It makes me think of Stargate and the snake aliens, Goa'uld.  Ha ha