AVATAR

Saw it. Loved it. 3D wasn't bad especially for someone like me who has a hard time "seeing" the 3d effect. This movie will not, however "change movies as we know them." Didn't mind the derivative nature of the story but Cameron's dialogue can always be a bit corny. I mean if they can spend 4 hojillion dollars on the budget, can't they at least fork out for some one to polish the script?

Moon Rocks!

I'm back!

Saw Moon last Tuesday. Very cool. Sam Rockwell's portrayal of a "regular Joe" type space worker was amazing. He manages
to evoke sympathy for this regular guy who's finding out that he's not so regular after all. The special effects were excellent. They relied mostly on miniatures rather than CGI which had this old geek flashing back to the days of Gerry Anderson. Nods to other SF movies abound most notably 2001. There were also some vague similarities to blade runner and GATTACA. If you haven't seen GATTACA go out and rent it NOW! It is similar to Moon in that it is a serious SF film, that is to say NO EXPLOSIONS! That's right, no Beyhem of any kind. Just serious, challenging ideas. Who'd a thunk? All in all the film came across like an excellent episode of classic twilight zone.

Terminator Salvation (spoilers)

I finally got around to seeing the new terminator and I liked it better than most of the reviewers seemed to. One thing that annoys the hell out of me is some of the postings I've seen about the film on various online forums. Several different people were complaining how easy it was for Conner and Marcus to infiltrate the Skynet compound at the films climax. I watched the film prepared to be disappointed by this and HELLO! Skynet LET them in in order to trap them! It was not a minor plot point. Hell, the computer even explains it to Conner at the end of the movie. How freaking stupid are people? I think I'm beginning to agree with those who say that people should have to pass an intelligence test before being allowed to post on the internet.

Star Trek

This will be a spoilerless micro-review. Overall, I loved it. The writers definitely get the whole trek thing. Naturally, the FX were top notch and the casting was spot-on. My only nit-pick was the antagonist played by Eric Bana, who does really well with what the writers gave him, it's just that they didn't give him much. I'm also getting burnt out on the time travel gimmick but to be fair, the writers don't abuse it too much and also, it actually does serve the "reboot" aspect of the film very well. Overall, I think the producers pulled off the impossible- a trek film for classic fans and also for whole new legion of fans as well!

Watchmen

Late as usual. I won't give an entire review except to say I liked it. There was something about it that kept me from loving it though and no I'm not a slavish Alan Moore fanboy. I found an excellent review here that seems to crystallize some of my minor quibbles with the film. That said I did read and enjoy the graphic novel. I think the film is going to be one of those rare adaptations that simultaneously stands apart from and alongside its source material in the same way wizard of oz or the LOTR films do.

2009 - Year of Panic

One of my fave authors Bruce Sterling has an editorial up at the Seed magazine website entitled " 2009 Will Be a Year of Panic". In it, he addresses one of my biggest concerns as of late. That is the willful ignorance that more and more Americans seem to embrace. Of course, he expresses it better than I ever could: "By attacking empiricism, the world is discarding all of the good reasons to believe that anything is real".

Gundam!

I always wanted my own Gundam. I guess they still need to perfect it.