Tag Archives: Science Fiction

88:88 (2011)

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Many directors think that in order to lure in audiences, they have to have a pay off that reveals their menacing villain in their film. Whether it’s a short or a feature length film, they’re not often concerned with leaving things up to the imagination. The fact that “88:88” was filmed around a very small budget with only two set pieces, benefits the overall creative work to display a film and a premise that’s both terrifying and awe inspiring. Thankfully “88:88” doesn’t crowd the film with a lot of dialogue, nor does it need to explain everything that’s happened.

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The Gate (2011)

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the-gate-0021Director Matt Westrup is the latest indie success story as his 2011 directed short film “The Gate” is being turned in to a feature length film by Wayfare studios. As a short film it’s a product of a premise that definitely could benefit from a feature length treatment, because Westrup inadvertently serves up so much story for us and throws so many questions in the air, that eleven minutes just isn’t enough to keep us satisfied.

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Swelter (2012)

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SwelterOne of the most interesting aspects of “Swelter” is that even though the film is basically animated and without dialogue, you can sense the character’s struggles and efforts to survive. There’s not a lot of extrapolation on why the world is suddenly a sweltering wasteland at record hot temperatures, but that doesn’t need a lot of focus. We meet a father and a son in the middle of a deserted tundra who seek the remains of a well where they’re able to sap water that’s fit for at least half a day.

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Prometheus (2012)

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PrometheusBasically what’s hypothesized in “Prometheus” is what if the thing that created us sought out the answers to what created it? And what if in the process of figuring out its own creation, it managed to accidentally create us? And what would happen if the thing that created us in a mission to figure out what created it, actually really wasn’t a God, and pretty much hates out guts for being accidental spawns of its experimentation? It’s a dichotomy and a contradiction that’s worth exploring, because it’s a startling and absolutely crushing notion to comprehend, but not with “Prometheus.”

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Superman vs. The Elite (2012)

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I understand what “Superman vs. The Elite” is trying to say and what it’s attempting to convey. We’re in a world where the boy scout in tights in longer in vogue. Now we have a bunch of misanthropic homophobic thugs in colorful outfits who are calling themselves superheroes. And the public is eating that crap up with a spoon. I’m one of the few hold outs who actually love his superheroes like Superman and less like the cynical crapola Garth Ennis spews on to the page. Ooh, he said “faggot,” ooh his superheroes have sex with guys, ooh he’s mocking Batman, he’s so edgy and unique!

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Defending "The Happening"

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Out of the my top ten of 2008, without a doubt one of my favorites of that year was M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening.” Why? Well, it’s been a point of contention for quite some time now that’s granted me unabashed scrutiny and question toward the state of sanity, but as I sit here thinking it over, “The Happening” is one of my favorite Shyamalan films. More so than “The Village,” even. Because unlike other people, I’m still firm in my belief that “The Happening” is one of the most underrated and misunderstood films of the past decade.

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Our Favorite Bad Ass Chicks of Pop Culture

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Although folks like Quentin Tarantino and Joss Whedon have always pushed strong independent influential female characters on fans through their films and television series, they haven’t unfortunately been as widely accepted in pop culture as most of us would want.  But the last few years saw a major turning of the tides with many hit shows featuring strong female characters like “Nikita.” Not to mention what with Scarlett Johannsen kicking ass as Black Widow in “Iron Man 2” and “The Avengers,” Zoe Saldana dominating in “The Losers” and “Colombiana,” or Rick Jacobson garnering a cult following with three ass kicking sexy lesbians in 2010’s “Bitch Slap.”

There’s also Noomi Rapace winning the hearts of film buffs everywhere as Goth hacker Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish critically acclaimed murder mysteries “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Disney’s “Tron Legacy” putting the gorgeous Olivia Wilde center stage as the enigmatic game heroine Quarra, and Zack Snyder giving us a super team of tough warrior women in his 2011 fantasy epic “Sucker Punch,” we thought we’d pay tribute to the bad ass chicks of pop culture that we loved and couldn’t get enough of. For those among you expecting the obvious, you will not be getting the typical list as we took about as much precaution to pick the more unusual characters we relish in reading and watching, those women who could kick your ass up and down the street and look good doing it.

After heavy consideration and much switching and deletion, here are warrior women you’d want in your corner during a when the chips are down.

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