Edge of Tomorrow

I am not a fan of Tom Cruise.  I used to like him in the Top Gun and the first Mission:Impossible era, but now his personal life and political/religious beliefs have loomed so large as to overshadow any character he might play.  So whenever I see a preview of a movie starring Tom Cruise, I generally automatically dismiss it as unwatchable, no matter how interesting the rest of the story may be.  However in this instance, I chose to watch this movie simply because I’m such a massive fan of Emily Blunt.  Because she was starring, I felt the presence of Cruise would be an annoyance, but not an insurmountable one.  Thus, I rented Edge of Tomorrow.

It wasn’t everything I thought it would be.  It’s what you might get if you combined Groundhog Day with Starship Troopers.  The script blatantly rips off the movie Mimic by calling the aliens Mimics, which I felt was a poor descriptive name for them.  But then, the script had a lot of flaws.  The beginning is very confusing, with Tom Cruise‘s character Cage waltzing about either impersonating a superior officer or actually being said superior officer.  It’s never clear exactly who he is, but he winds up being shipped off to the front lines to die.  No clue as to why.  The attack on the aliens goes poorly and courtesy of being slimed by a special alien, Cage is doomed to repeat it over and over, constantly re-setting whenever he dies.  Emily Blunt‘s character Rita observes him in action and discerns what is happening to him, as the same thing happened to her before.  She fills him in on her experience, dropping the information bomb that the aliens can control time and thus always know what’s going to happen in advance.  She never reported this to anyone else is because A) they’d think she was crazy and lock her up, or B) believe her and dissect her.  Fair enough, I wouldn’t want to be dissected either.  Rita begins training Cage (cue the montage) and together they set out to find and kill the ‘Omega’ alien that is responsible for time loop.

The opening sequence of the film makes you think somebody in the projector room must have accidentally done something to really mess things up, as the image skips all over the place with lots of static.  The end of the film had a kind of Prince of Persia twist to it, but as a whole I felt it was lacking substance.  Groundhog Day was a story of personal discovery and romance, but Edge of Tomorrow has no time for things like character development and instead relies heavily on CGI, special effects and action sequences.  If that’s all that interests you, but you’ll probably love the movie, but after numerous iterations of the tagline Live, Die, Repeat, I grew quite bored with the proceedings.  Every time things reset, you get to hear a rather pompous Master Sergeant expounding on the virtues of combat in a speech you come to absolutely despise. There’s a smattering of decent lines and the plot is as least nominally interesting, but in general I was disappointed.  It’s not terrible, but not good enough to earn it more than an apathetic two stars. – BETHANY

For more on this curiously titled film, visit the Internet Movie Database

Emily Blunt‘s Rita has literally become the poster child for the war effort.  She also has the unfortunate and rather offensive nickname ‘Full Metal Bitch’.  I do at least appreciate the nod to World War II era propaganda.

Meet a Mimic.  What they’re mimicking is unclear, but I’ve gotta say I’m getting really sick of movies that feel like video games.  This is even a first person shooter shot!

Get ready for lots and lots of scenes like this.

Really. a lot of them.

     And now for something completely the same …

Master Sergeant Farrell (Bill Paxton):  “Battle is the Great Redeemer. It is the fiery crucible in which true heroes are forged. The one place where all men truly share the same rank, regardless of what kind of parasitic scum they were going in.”

Fighting to get off a beach in France – hey, this sounds a lot like Saving Private Ryan.

Rita does yoga. (Emily Blunt).

She does it very well.

Look out, it’s an irradiated octopus!

Cage shucking his fancy battle suit.  At least they’re no longer on the beach.

                                                         By his own admission, Master Sergeant Farrell is not an American, he’s from Kentucky.  This is pretty weak as jokes go, and a sad commentary on the American educational system.  Evidently Farrell flunked Geography.

This guy is definitely toast.  Repeatedly.  (Tony Way)

‘Let’s have coffee’.                                                                                                                “And then I’m killing you.”                                                                                            “Fine.”

Why is it always tachyons?

 

 

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment, Viz Productions, LLC), Province of British Columbia Production Services Tax Credit and Dune Entertainment (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

Killjoys

Rejoice, fans of Firefly, because you will absolutely love this show.  Syfy hit the sweet spot with Killjoys, a rough and tumble space adventure featuring a trio of misfits that work as interplanetary bounty hunters.  Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), a smoking hot woman incredibly skilled in just about everything thanks to a mysterious and definitely hazardous past, and John Jaqobis (Aaron Ashmore, Warehouse 13) have worked as a highly successful team for the Recovery and Apprehension Coalition, or the RAC, for several years.  Commonly called Killjoys, RAC agents operate across the galaxy but our story focuses on the Quad, a solar system comprised of one planet and three moons.  Killjoys are licensed to fulfill warrants, which range from finding and apprehending people with bounties on their heads to transporting valuable and/or dangerous goods.  They have broad authority, but pride themselves on being neutral parties that do not get involved in local politics.  They have only one sacred creed – The Warrant Is All.  But things change radically for Dutch and John when a new warrant is issued, a level 5 dead not alive bounty on John’s brother D’Avin (Luke MacFarlane).

Killjoys greatly resembles Firefly, featuring humans spread across the galaxy on a myriad of different worlds, but no aliens.  A space ship named Lucy, whose A.I. has a dry sense of humor, and a crew of merry rogues zip all over the place, having fun and often getting into trouble.  The Quad is monopolized by a nefarious, shadowy and corrupt entity known as The Company, but the real source of power is the planet Qresh.  Home to Nine old, inbred and exceedingly rich families, who dealt with the problem of overpopulation by sending the middle classes to rural moon Leith and dumping all of society’s leftovers on poorly terra-formed moon Westerley, leaving Qresh to become the haven of the elite, an obscenely opulent planet devoted to scheming politics and pleasure.  It’s a perfect set-up for a wild, rip-roaring and outrageously fun story with intriguing sub-plots and well thought out back stories.

Dutch is a fabulous character, the leader of her Killjoy team who can switch in the blink of an eye from a highborn lady to a leather-clad fighting machine, always poised and in control until it comes to her messy emotional past. Raised in a royal harem and trained to be a lethal assassin, Dutch is on the run from forces that have a different agenda for her life.  John and D’Avin have their own history and there are a host of other great characters spread across the Quad.  Alvis the Penitent (Morgan Kelly) is a monk from an interesting religious sect whose practitioners seek faith and salvation through physical pain and suffering.  Sarah Power plays Illenor Pawter Simms, a disgraced Company doctor banished by her Qreshi family to live on Westerley, a moon home to beggars, sinners, pirates and other disreputable elements.  Scariest of all is enigmatic Khlyen (Rob Stewart), the man responsible for Dutch’s unorthodox upbringing, from whom she thought she had long since escaped.

Killjoys is a sleek and sexy show, full of grit and glam.  Each episode is an exhilarating thrill ride, rich with fine-tuned characters and incredibly detailed backdrops.  It’s a rollicking adventure cleverly seeded with deeper narratives, beautifully balancing lively humor with compelling drama.  I was a huge fan of the first season, devouring each new episode with tremendous enjoyment and was ecstatic when it was announced on September 1, 2015 that Killjoys had been renewed for a second season.  So go ahead and indulge yourself in a fabulous show, safe in the knowledge it will not suffer the same fate as Firefly.  The Warrant Is All!  – BETHANY

For more on the awesomeness that is Killjoys, swing by the Internet Movie Database

For even more in depth detail, visit the Killjoys Wiki site.

Left to right:  D’Avin Jaqobis (Luke Macfarlane), Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) and John Jaqobis (Aaron Ashmore).

The Killjoys chasing a warrant in Westerley’s Badlands.  Look at all the fun toys!

                                          Dutch effortlessly blends in, no matter her surroundings.  Fantastic dress, but it’s the necklace that’s deadly.

A view of The Quad.

D’Avin looking decidedly out of place at a high society gala.  The costume design for this show is beyond exquisite.

Lucy, voiced by Tamsen McDonough.  Shiny!

Young girls from Leith earn money for their families by being surrogates for highborn Qreshi women who do not wish to sully their bodies by going through pregnancy.

     Wild child Pawter Simms (Sarah Power) runs afoul of The Company.  Again.

Tough as nails Bellus Haardy (Nora McLellan), a Killjoy warrant broker in her establishment on Leith.

  John and Alvis (Morgan Kelly), a Scarback monk who occasionally works with the Killjoys.

                                              Dutch is equally at home in low places as she is with the upper crust and is a force to be reckoned with in both.

             The beautifully rendered set of a party at a wealthy estate.

John sweet talking jaded bartender Pree (Thom Allison) at his dive in Westerley’s Old Town, where anything can be had for a price.

Dutch flawlessly morphs into a Qreshi aristocrat while searching for a man gone missing on Leith.

Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary) guest stars as a military doctor from D’Avin’s past.

Dutch faces Khlyen (Rob Stewart), the mentor/tormentor from her childhood.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Temple Street Productions, Bell Media, Universal Cable Productions and Syfy (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

Interstellar

‘Mankind was born on Earth.  It was never meant to die here.’  Overpopulation and a ferocious blight attacking crops is driving humanity ever closer to extinction.  Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper, a farmer like everyone else, but also an ex-NASA pilot and engineer.  Their world now resembles the 1930’s Depression era dust bowl, with drab clothing and utilitarian farmhouses.  While society regresses technologically, there are a few who realize the salvation of mankind isn’t on Earth but out in the stars.  Once again, it’s the ‘NASA saves the day’ cliché, but since I wholeheartedly support the space program, I don’t mind one bit.  Interstellar is a rather magnificent combination of incredible cinematography and a lot of cool real scientific stuff, and a story of family and what makes us human.  Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, with which there are a lot of parallels, you will most likely love it or hate it.  I’m one of the few who fell right in the middle, able to appreciate all the good qualities in director Christopher Nolan‘s work, but still conscious of the stretches in logic and other faults.

Interstellar has undeniably spectacular visual effects, but it is exceedingly long.  With a run time of almost three hours, I did find myself checking the clock quite a bit.  It’s highly appropriate that the space vessel is called The Endurance, because it’s a trait you will need to get through the overly long and dare I say it, bloated film.  The most I can tell you about the plot is it involves a space mission to find other habitable worlds in order to save the human race.  Pretty much anything else is a spoiler.  Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, a walking Rubix cube wise-cracking robot and a few red shirt extras, including Seneca Crane from The Hunger Games (Wes Bentley, unfortunately minus the crazy beard), set out via a convenient wormhole on a quest designed to assault you with dumbed down but valid science, and copious quantities of stunning visual effects.  The whole movie is a paradox with most everything eventually tied up in a neat bow, so be prepared for a lot of mind bending stuff as well as some rather ridiculous plot devices (the solution to everything is “solving gravity”?  And what was up with that bit resembling that Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace?)

Despite the annoying absurdities, there are quite a few marvelous things about Interstellar that I must acknowledge.  The cast is beyond impressive with the aforementioned stars as well as Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon, Ellen Burstyn, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck and Topher Grace.  The soundtrack is wicked, with a nice use of pipe organ and I especially liked the subtle tick-tock motif used on the water planet to illustrate the urgency of time passing.  I might actually forgive composer Hans Zimmer for the Gladiator incident, wherein he failed to give credit to Gustav Holst after blatantly ripping off Mars: The Bringer of War from the collection The Planets.  With highly charged emotional content, many tangents regarding high-minded philosophy, quantum science, metaphysics and other conundrums, my personal favorite was a fascinating discussion about the nature of love.  You won’t believe the number of plot twists and while the ending might not be the most satisfying, it certainly fits with the outré thematic comportment of the film as a whole.  Undeniably idiosyncratic thematically with a lot of just plain weird stuff, but also including deeply personal character studies and some shrewd commentary on a number of subjects, including being good stewards of the Earth.  Interstellar doesn’t quite live up to the hype, but definitely has enough going for it to merit a solid three stars. – BETHANY

For more on this slightly bizarre space drama, visit the Internet Movie Database

Movie features lots of cool images like this one.

“We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down, and worry about our place in the dirt.”  – Cooper

“We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that. Or perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we’ve barely begun. And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us.”  –  Cooper

It’s all about Cooper’s relationship with daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy).  Evidently he couldn’t care two pins about his son Tom.  (Timothée Chalamet and Casey Affleck, thanks to the dime differential.)  “After you kids came along, your mom, she said something to me I never quite understood. She said, “Now, we’re just here to be memories for our kids.” I think now I understand what she meant. Once you’re a parent, you’re the ghost of your children’s future.”

As a book lover, it’s deeply satisfying to have a book shelf play such a lynch pin role in the movie.

“When I was a kid, it seemed like they made something new every day. Some, gadget or idea, like every day was Christmas. But six billion people, just imagine that. And every last one of them trying to have it all. This world isn’t so bad. You’re the one who doesn’t belong. Born forty years too late, or forty years too early… My daughter knew it, God bless her. And your kids know it. Especially Murph.”  – Donald (John Lithgow)

Some spectacular visuals of The Endurance about to penetrate the event horizon of the wormhole.

    An oversimplification of the theory of wormholes.

A planet orbiting ‘Gargantua’, the somewhat asininely named black hole.

Jessica Chastain works to ‘Solve Gravity’.

“Very graceful.”  “No, but efficient”.  Landing on Miller’s planet.

The disappointing truth about Miller’s planet.  But think of the surfing possibilities!  ‘Dude, I went to ride the waves on Miller’s planet for a few months and when I got back, it was, like 10,080 years later!’

Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and David Gyasi.

The Rubix cube robot TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin) rushes in to save the day.  “Come on, TARS!”

Investigating a planet with frozen clouds.  This movie really would have been a killer viewed in IMAX.  That is, if you could sit still for three hours.

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should rave and burn at close of day;  Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”  Michael Caine (Professor Brand) delivering a poem written by Dylan Thomas.

                                            Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand.  “Cooper, you were thinking about getting home! I was trying to do the right thing!”

A rather blatant plot hole in the movie.  But who cares, because it looked awesome.

                Oh merciful heavens, now there are Lego Interstellar characters.  Such flagrant commercialism, not overpopulation and failing crops, might be the downfall of our civilization.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, Lynda Obst Productions and Syncopy (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

 

 

Big Hero 6

Disney goes anime with this charming film about the relationship between a gifted young boy and a medical companion robot, Baymax.  Since the setting is already a fusion of San Francisco and Tokyo (San Fransokyo), it won’t be surprising that the story is a bit of a mash-up of Real Steel, The Matrix, TRON, Iron Man, WALL-E, The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, plus a soupçon of Stargate.  But whatever, we’re in a comic book-inspired future, so pretty much anything goes.  Hiro Hamada, a tech prodigy, is wasting his talents on robot fighting (despite the fact that he wins a lot of money doing so).  At least, according to Hiro’s older brother, Tadashi.  So in a slightly sneaky move, Tadashi takes Hiro to ‘nerd school’, where he meets Tadashi’s friends and fellow nerds.  After basking in Nerdvana for a while, Hiro decides he absolutely must enroll as a student and thus begins the adventure.

It’s an imaginative and fun story, spiked with tragedy and loss that keeps the characters real and and accentuates the journey Baymax makes as he learns to understand humans.  Full of car chases, flying, a freaky villain, some very cool tech, the birth of super heroes and more, it also subtly underscores the process of handling grief and moving on with your life.  Tadashi built Baymax to be as non-threatening as possible, a robot that looks like an overinflated marshmallow.  He’s utterly adorable, waddling around trying to be helpful, a giant squeak toy.  So in order to right a wrong, naturally Hiro decides to transform him into a battle bot, complete with an Iron Man suit.  Why do movies have to take soft loveable robots and turn them into warriors?  I would have liked the story better if Baymax had learned to use his own skills to help instead of getting armor and learning martial arts à la The Matrix by simply downloading it from a chip.  But I do have to admit all the sweet gadgetry he gets is pretty awesome.

This isn’t anywhere near as good as Wreck-It Ralph or any given Dreamworks/Pixar movie, but it is entertaining and not overly saccharine.  I liked the comic book vibe with the sci-fi spin and the visuals, particularly of the city, are breathtaking.  The soundtrack was excellent and I really appreciated the way the script elegantly explored ethics, morals, emotions and what it really means to be a hero.  Parts of this movie will make you reach for a box of tissues and others will induce a smile so big it hurts your face.  One tiny nitpick is the title of the movie won’t make sense until the very end, but be sure to watch through the credits, as they’re riddled with epilogue type stuff and a few extra scenes.  I’ve never seen an animated children’s movie handle such difficult issues like grief, loss, anger, revenge and empathy with such finesse.  With an ending perfectly set up for sequels, perhaps there will be more of them.  Big Hero 6 is funny, engaging and thoughtful with a great message about being yourself, chasing your dreams and caring for the people around you and thus earns a solid three stars.             – BETHANY

For more on Big Hero Six, visit the Internet Movie Database

Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.), Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez), Hiro (Ryan Potter), Baymax (Scott Adsit), Gogo Tomago (Jamie Chung) and Fred (T.J. Miller).

Hiro’s older brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney)

Robert Callahan (James Cromwell) and Alistair Krei (Alan Tudyk): friends, colleagues, rivals, or enemies?

Hiro and Baymax getting ready to search for answers.

Answers in regards to this guy, who is obviously a super villain.

                            Aunt Cass, voiced by Maya Rudolph.

The Big Hero Six.

I dare you not to fall in love with this lovable huggable robot.

Does this suit make my butt look big?

You can always trust a robot who is kind to animals.

Tadashi’s lab, colloquially known as ‘Nerd School’.

Set in a Japanese fusion version of San Francisco, which is now San Fransokyo.  Not sure which Catholic saint had that name, but hey, it’s anime.

The Japanification of the Golden Gate bridge was my favorite.  Subtle, but cool!

 

 

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures

The Maze Runner

Think of this movie as the opposite of what Peter Jackson did to the Hobbit .  Instead of stretching things out, adding extraneous material and unnecessary new characters with absolutely no regard for the author’s original intent, this film of The Maze Runner apparently took the title too literally because it is like watching the book in fast forward.  Hurry hurry hurry, we don’t have time for character building, so we barely learn a smattering a few names and thus care absolutely not one whit when uh, that one, dies.  Nope, no time for all the little details that made the maze so freaky, no time to build up the suspense around the Grievers before you actually see one, no time to understand the society structure the boys established in The Glade, no time for Thomas to figure out the intricate code embedded in the maps made by all the other Maze Runners and definitely no time to show Teresa and Thomas can speak to one another telepathically (which to be honest would have taken absolutely no time at all.)

Now I realize a lot of you are going to say “gee, another bad review because the movie wasn’t exactly like the book,” and you do have a bit of a point.  However, it is worth noting that at no point will you be saying “hey, that wasn’t in the book”, except possibly when huge story arcs are condensed into a few seconds for convenience and to keep the speed of the story going because if it ever goes under 60 mph it will explode.  (Note:  in case it wasn’t obvious, that was not a spoiler but rather a reference to the movie Speed.)

I originally wanted to see The Maze Runner because Dylan O’Brien plays Thomas, and I love him in Teen Wolf.  I immediately bought the books and thoroughly enjoyed them.  The plot is an interesting one.  Thomas arrives via “The Box” into an idyllic green world called The Glade, surrounded on all sides by a gargantuan maze, with no memory of who he is except his name.  We soon find out that all the boys who populate The Glade arrived in similar fashion and have hammered out a working society of sorts.  Everyone has assigned tasks to ensure their survival, but the main goal is figuring out the maze in order to find a way out.  This is a tough job, as the doors to the maze close every night and the whole thing proceeds to change shape, plus it is guarded by the Grievers – giant bio-mechanical spider thingies that go around moaning when not trying to kill and/or sting one of the Gladers.  The main plot points are all present in the movie, but the book had a beautiful pace to it, with attention to detail and fabulous characterizations while still maintaining a headlong tumble towards the inevitable but surprising conclusion.  I don’t know why the movie feels so rushed, as the run time isn’t particularly short.  If you must watch this, I highly recommend you do what I did and heavily imbibe.  It gets much better then!  – BETHANY

For more on this unfortunate movie version of a great book, visit The Internet Movie Database

Gally, Minho, Thomas, Teresa and Newt.  But the important thing in the picture is the Maze.  It looks cool, but unfortunately contradicts not only the book but the movie itself, as a character says “the ivy doesn’t go all the way to the top”.  Even worse, it is botanically incorrect, as ivy will not grow on moving walls.  Hmmmm.  For the extensive list of all the differences between the movie and the book, plus quite a lot of factual errors, visit the Trivia and Goofs sections on IMDB.

The precious few characters actually named in the film.  Left to right:  Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Alby (Aml Ameen), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), Gally (Will Poulter) and Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster).  And one more below:

                                                                  Chuck (Blake Cooper), who stands like this in most every shot of him.

“It’s a girl.  I think she’s dead!”

How very Lord of the Flies.

Thomas and Teresa sittin’ in a tree …

A Griever in the film.  To see a bunch of other concept art that wasn’t used, visit this FilmSketchr page.

                                  Duh!

                                                                         There is no actual swearing in the book.

                                                                          Some of the excellent slang invented by author James Dashner, of which only one or two are used in the film.

 

(The trailer and the gag reel might be better than the actual movie)

Warning:  these hilarious bits from YouTube Screen Junkies, CinemaSins and How It Should Have Ended contain a lot of spoilers and poor language choices, but are extremely funny.  Probably best not to watch these unless you have already read the books.

 

Photos courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Gotham Group,  Temple Hill Entertainment, TSG Entertainment, Dayday Films and Ingenious Media (unless otherwise noted in clickable form)

 

Star-Crossed

This show had potential, but never really managed to hits its stride before getting cancelled after just one season. The CW ventured into the realm of science fiction while still maintaining their young adult drama formula that seems to work very well. An alien race called the Atrians that look suspiciously human except for some super cool tattoo-like markings crash lands on Earth, where a human girl saves the life of an Atrian boy when everything goes pear shaped. Ten years later, they’re in high school with the whole Romeo & Juliet forbidden love thing going on. I really liked that every episode was titled with a line from Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, but I’ve got to say that a lot of the conflicts in the show felt manufactured just to create drama. There was some interesting character development and a bunch of interesting sub-plots other than the larger “why can’t we all just get along” issue, but there were lots of inconsistencies within the narrative. A person would say or do something that was totally out of context with their established character, making the show plot-driven as opposed to character-driven. The writers did do a great job creating an entire alien culture, complete with exotic flora, way cool technology, social structure and even holidays. But at the end of the first and likely last season (unless it is resurrected by some miracle on a different network), I was left with way too many questions and puzzled as to the logic, or lack thereof, behind a lot of things. Peopled with beautiful actors and a premise that could have been great, I think in this instance the CW bit off more than it could chew. – BETHANY

For more on this not-so-epic romance series, visit: The Internet Movie Database

    This is a much used image of Emery (Aimee Teegarden) and Roman (Matt Lanter).  Does he look alien to you?

                                   Here they are as suitably adorable kids where Emery saved Roman’s life.

Grown up Roman is, admittedly, very hot.  What red-blooded American girl could resist?

Oh, but there’s trouble in paradise.  Not everyone is content with the status quo.  Drake (Greg Finley) and Teri (Chelsea Gilligan).

Oh, those tattoos glow when touched by water.  No clue as to why.  This is Sophia (Brina Palencia), a super-shy Atrian who just wants to be on the swim team, darn it!  (Episode titled ‘And Left No Friendly Drop’)

And because this is the CW, there is also be a less romantic but very hot human/Atrian couple hooking up.  Taylor (Natalie Hall), this high school’s queen bee and Drake.

Roman and his uncle Castor (Johnathon Schaech).  This guy is seriously sketchy.

Does this image really need any explanation?

   Emery and her sort-of-ex-boyfriend-it’s-complicated, Grayson (Grey Damon).

 

Photos courtesy of 360 Powwow, CBS Television Studios, Isla Producciones, Olé, Space Floor and the CW

Pitch Black

Scrumptiously scary with a well crafted story, this movie was just plain fun. It combines horror and science fiction, similar in tone to the Alien movies (not surprising, as it was developed from the director’s unused idea for Alien³ ).  A transport vessel gets tagged by a convenient comet, forcing it to crash land on an unknown and probably hostile planet.  There’s an interesting mix of survivors, some settlers originally bound for distant worlds, wealthy merchants moving valuable goods, mercenaries, members of the ship’s crew and even a stowaway,  but the most critical is remorseless killer and all around criminal, Riddick, who is missing from his cryostasis pod.  Now the characters have to not only endure the planet, which has its own hidden dangers, but also cope with a psychopath on the loose.

Riddick is tremendous, an anti-hero in every sense, and I have no idea why Vin Diesel has been bashed by the critics for his acting. I thought he brought a lot of dimension to a complicated character that really defies a pat categorization. It was also a treat to see Claudia Black, as I’m a huge fan of Farscape and Stargate SG-1.  I expected Pitch Black to be nothing more than somewhat mindless action and gratuitous horror, but what I got was an intense story of survival against incredible odds. It is rated R for a reason, with quite a bit of violence and some truly appalling language but there’s more to it than that.  I loved the interesting array of characters whose personalities were actually quite well rounded, keeping me invested in the fates of each individual. The story is not all that complicated but it does have value as an entertaining thriller. Also, the CG effects of the oncoming eclipse and the rise of a ringed planet are truly spectacular. A very satisfying adventure that is definitely worth seeing on its own merits but also because it is the first of a trilogy.  Just don’t plan on sleeping alone after watching this! – BETHANY

For more on this movie, visit:  Pitch Black IMDB

Riddick’s “shine job” eyes, courtesy of a doctor in “a slam, where they tell you you’ll never see daylight again.”

Jack, “the winner of the look alike contest.”

Abu ‘Imam’ al-Walid (Keith David) and Carolyn Fry (Radha Mitchell), the ship’s pilot.

William J. Johns (Cole Hauser) – “Murders aside, Riddick belongs in the a**hole hall of fame. He loves to jaw-jack and he loves to make you feel afraid because that’s all he has, and you’re playing right into it.”

                “Amazing how you can do without the essentials of life, so long as you have the little luxuries.” – Paris P. Ogilvie (Lewis Fitz-Gerald)

“Strong survival instinct. I admire that in a woman.”

                                  Claudia Black as Shazza.

    “All you people are so scared of me. Most days I’d take that as a compliment. But it ain’t me you gotta worry about now.”  – Riddick  (Vin Diesel)

                                Great scenery on this planet. “What could have killed so many great things?”  –  Wild guess, the things Riddick says you need to worry about.

Huh, this could be a problem.

Definitely a problem.  (But a gorgeous shot!)

 

 

Photos courtesy of Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Interscope Communications and Universal Pictures

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Gattaca

Good science fiction should make people stop and think about the implications and possible ramifications of advancing technology. Since this is great sci-fi, it shows us a world where eugenics has become the norm, each child engineered to be as perfect as possible. Your entire résumé is your DNA with your whole life and potential mapped out from birth. The writers of Gattaca posit an intriguing question: Is there more to a person than their genetic code? Is the human spirit, the will to succeed, greater than the sum of its parts? Wisely set in “the not too distant future”, this profoundly creative and disturbing movie came out in 1997 when the issue of cloning was a big deal and people were first thinking about the ethics of genetic engineering. It stars three human beings naturally blessed by the genetic lottery; Ethan Hawke, Jude Law and the coolly radiant Uma Thurman. I already loved Hawke from his stellar performance in Before Sunrise but this was the first time I’d seen Jude Law. Both of them play such beautifully conflicted and uniquely damaged characters, showcasing the price of such a theoretical future society. Everything looks good on the surface, a serene existence where everything is ordered and quantified, but there’s a dark side to it with a ruthless caste system based solely on a person’s genetics that determines who succeeds and who is doomed to a life of drudgery with no hope of advancement.

The idea of genetic engineering also looks good at first glance.  What parent wouldn’t want the best for their child? Interestingly enough, as part of the marketing campaign for the movie, fake leaflets advertising genetic engineering for children were distributed and thousands of people responded, wanting the service for their child. But if everything is pre-selected and pre-determined with “defective” embryos screened out as unwanted, where is the spark of creativity and the element of chance that can collide to give us, say, Mozart. He was, by Gattaca’s standards, defective but does that mean the world isn’t richer for his having been here even for a short time?  How about Stephen Hawking, Helen Keller, Leonardo da Vinci (he had epilepsy), Vincent Van Gogh (mental illness), Thomas Edison and Beethoven, who suffered from loss of hearing, or Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill, both of whom had learning disabilities?  Intensely thought-provoking while still being chic and entertaining, this is a spot-on exploration of a timely issue that merits careful consideration. – BETHANY

For more on Gattaca, visit: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Ethan Hawke as Vincent Anton Freeman.  “I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science.” (image courtesy of stephottosstory.weebly.com)

For a price, this man can change your life.  (Tony Shalhoub as German)

                                                               How would you like to see yourself described thus?

Jerome Morrow (the impossibly handsome Jude Law).

Vincent becomes Jerome – a rather painful process.

From one world to another.

Vincent with Uma Thurman’s Irene Cassini (an appropriate name for working at an aerospace corporation).

                            Can you spot the metaphor?

I guess micro-management is a constant. (Suddenly your cubicle at work doesn’t look so bad, does it?)

Gattaca’s creepy gym, where Gabrielle Reece appears as a trainer.

  Xander Berkeley as Dr. Lamar

Try Gattaca, a new perfume designed to make you more attractive at the cellular level!

Detective Hugo (Alan Arkin) and partner (Loren Dean).

The official trailer for Gattaca:

Photos courtesy of Jersey Films and Columbia Pictures

Continuum

Continuum is a smart savvy show not surprisingly about time travel. It’s also an incisive commentary on the slow loss of privacy and civil liberties that could happen if corporations supplant the government in the future. A “Corporate Congress” sounds laughable but the issues and ethics addressed by this show are anything but funny. The movie Avatar showed us what corporations can become without restriction or government oversight and this clever show takes that notion a step further while adding the sci-fi twist of time travel. Keira Cameron, a sort of cop called a Protector in the year 2077, is on duty at the execution of a group of anti-corporate terrorists from an organization called Liber8. But events take a bizarre turn when the prisoners activate a time travel device, sending them and Keira back to present day Vancouver.

The tag line of the show is ‘Change the Past to Control the Future’ and that’s just what Liber8 wants to do. The world Keira comes from looks peaceful and secure but it’s a technology-reliant dystopian police state where every aspect of your life is controlled by the government and free thought is an act of treason. Keira is desperate to get back home to her husband and son but in order for her future to remain extant she must stop Liber8 from changing the past. She teams up with young Alec Sadler, a techno-wiz destined to become a powerful tycoon in the future, who helps her try to thwart Liber8’s plans. A delicious conundrum with ambiguity muddling everything to the point that it’s truly unclear if any faction is actually in the right. The writers ask great questions and draw attention to the long term repercussions and implications of advancing technology. With plots, subplots, paradoxes and mysteries everywhere, this is a complicated show but definitely worth your time. I’ve seen three seasons thus far and it just keeps getting better, with a bombshell at the end of season 3 that has me salivating for season 4. – BETHANY

For more on this conundrum of Continuum, consult: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954347/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Keira Cameron (Rachel Nicols) and her City Protective Services future tech and cybernetic enhancements.  Her gun has a nifty trick:

When everything went kerflooey at the Liber8 execution.

      Keira and her Vancouver PD partner Detective Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster)

Alec Sadler (Erik Knudsen)-  Yeah, looks like a nerd to me.

Liber8 logo that’s popping up all over Vancouver

Peaceful protestors they’re not

Figures Liber8 would be into weed …

Erstwhile Liber8 member Matthew Kellog (Stephen Lobo), intent on manipulating the present with his knowledge of the future to garner money and power.

Tahmoh Penikett playing double-talking politician Jim Martin.  (Image found at popculturenexus.com)  A fan reference to Penikett’s time on Battlestar Galactica.

Photos courtesy of Reunion Pictures, Boy Meets Girl Film Company, Shaw Media, GK-tv and Syfy (unless otherwise noted)

Defiance

I wasn’t sure about this series at first but I’m glad I gave it the benefit of the doubt and kept watching. This is a sub-genre of science fiction that feels like a Western. If you liked Firefly (and frankly who didn’t? Well, obviously not the network that cancelled it) you’ll probably enjoy this one too as it has a gritty gunslinger vibe to it. The premise is quite unique and complex but I’ll try to break it down for you. A group of aliens, made up of a bunch of different races but collectively called the Votans, invaded earth and began terraforming it to suit their needs (for help sorting all of this out in detail, consult http://en.defiance-wiki.com/wiki/Defiance_Wiki). Humanity fought back and eventually a wary peace allowed humans and aliens to live together on a world that is largely unrecognizable as Earth. Defiance, née St. Louis, is the setting for the show and is absolutely bursting at the seams with aliens of all sorts as well as humans. It’s kind of Casablanca but with extra-terrestrials added into the mix, or the Cantina scene at Mos Eisley Spaceport from Star Wars: A New Hope made into its own TV show.  An ex-military drifter named Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler) and his adopted Irathient daughter, Irisa, land in Defiance where Nolan takes the job of Lawkeeper. It’s a rough town with all kinds of problems but the mayor, played by Julie Benz, is determined to make it work. The different alien races are very well done, each with their own language and culture. Datak Tarr (Tony Curran), a ruthless Castithan with less-than-legal businesses is interesting, but his wife Stahma is the real puppet master. She speaks softly and seems subservient and dutiful but she’s more than just a pretty face. Actually, most all the characters are not what they seem, which is always entertaining. Extremely creative with great writing, this is a wonderful and incredibly complicated show that appeals on many levels. There are mysteries all over the place which keep your interest, much like Lost in that respect. I have come to really care about these characters and it’s fascinating to watch them build a whole new society that fits their new reality. Full of ethical dilemmas, interpersonal relationships, romance and less than savory elements, this is really good sci-fi. – BETHANY

If you know you’ve seen one of these faces somewhere else but can’t think here, visit IMDB before your brain overheats, trying in vain to remember: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2189221/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Left to right: Datak and Stahma Tarr, Amanda and Kenya Rosewater, Joshua Nolan, Irisa Nolan, and Rafe McCawley

Stahma Tarr, played by Jaime Murray (Photo courtesy of Defiance: Behind the Makeup, http://www.denofgeek.us)

                          The cross-species Romeo and Juliet, Christie McCawley (Nicole Muñoz) and Alak Tarr (Jesse Rath).

                         Kenya Rosewater (Mia Kirshner), proprietor of the Need/Want, a bar/brothel.

   Linda Hamilton and if I tell you her character’s name, it would be a spoiler.

Jessica Rainier (Anna Hopkins), nicknamed “Berlin” because she makes propaganda videos for the Earth Republic, and Lawkeeper Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler).

Alak and Stahma Tarr.  Castithans have interesting bathing rituals (women wear costumes!) and it is deemed unseemly for a person to do so alone.

Doc Yewll, an Indogene doctor and the actress (Trenna Keating) without the makeup. (Photo courtesy of Defiance: Behind the Makeup, http://www.denofgeek.us)

Irisa Nolan, played by Stephanie Leonidas  (Photo courtesy of Defiance: Behind the Makeup, http://www.denofgeek.us)

Datak Tarr, played by Tony Curran  (Photo courtesy of Defiance: Behind the Makeup, http://www.denofgeek.us)

Irisa has a thing with knives and may or may not have some mystical power.

Pompous Niles Pottinger (James Murray) and his Bioman bodyguard.

Destroyed spaceships still in orbit, pieces of which sometimes fall to Earth.

Photos courtesy of Five & Dime Productions, Universal Cable Productions, NBCUniversal Television and Syfy