Month: October 2015

‘Limitless,’ ‘Last Man on Earth’ pose intriguing questions

Posted on by earthtoshawna

There have been lots of movies about people who suddenly become smarter, or who use the part of their brain that normally goes “unused”: John Travolta’s character in “Phenomenon,” Scarlett Johansson as “Lucy,” and Bradley Cooper in “Limitless.”

These movies operate from the premise that humans use only 10% of our brains, and what would happen if we used all of it? This is actually a myth. But the idea that we could take a pill that would give us a photographic memory, and the ability to learn and analyze at a superhuman rate is intriguing, and inspiring.

I love these movies, and the idea that we are all capable of so much more – that we all have untapped potential.

We may not be wasting our brain power, but many of us do waste time. Maybe I could learn how to play the cello or speak Chinese, if I spent less time watching movies and TV. But that’s not going to happen. So let’s talk about the show:

“Limitless,” the TV spinoff of the film, passes the higher intellect torch to Brian Finch (Jake McDorman), who gets a job working for the FBI after taking the brain-enhancing drug NZT.

It’s a great hook, but I’m not sure it will be enough to hold onto viewers. It’s slipping rather quickly into the formulaic crime show category, which is what happened to the “Minority Report” spinoff. We want sci fi, not another “CSI.” Talk about untapped potential.

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“I swim in it, I drink out of it. There’s really no wrong way to use a margarita pool.”

The Last Man on Earth

“The Last Man on Earth” poses a different what-if scenario: What would you do if the world’s population succumbed to a massive epidemic and you were the last person left?

If you were Phil Miller (played by Will Forte) you would steal art and artifacts from museums and use them to decorate your new mansion. You would have an inflatable pool filled with tequila and margarita mix.

And you would become so lonely for company you would make friends with volleyballs à la “Cast Away” and get so desperate for love that you end up hitting on a mannequin.

This very funny post-apocalyptic comedy hits just the right notes of loneliness and hilarity to keep me coming back for more, even if the title no longer rings true (it turns out he’s not really the last man).

Now in its second season, I was a bit skeptical of its ability to maintain its momentum. It seems like the premise could run out of steam at any moment, but “Last Man” always has another trick up its sleeve.

In one moment it’s a comedy with heart, and in the next it’s completely heartless. It’s stupid and brilliant at the same time. It turns out it’s not about the end of the world at all, but about the human condition and our vulnerability.

(Photos: Limitless, CBS; and The Last Man on Earth, FOX)

Celebrate Back to the Future Day with time-travel favorites

Posted on by earthtoshawna

Happy “Back to the Future” Day! Today is Oct. 21, 2015, the day Marty and Doc traveled to the future to stop Marty’s kid from getting arrested. The Internet is abuzz with questions of “What did the movie get right?” If you’re not sick of hearing how close you are to having your own hoverboard, you will be soon.

I love the BTTF trilogy as much as anyone, but they’re not the only cool time-travel flicks in the universe. Time travel is a fun subject, even though it’s not possible – and thank goodness, because we really do not want to “unravel the fabric of the space-time continuum!”

Some characters get to go back in time, some go forward, and some just go back a day and are forced to keep repeating the same day over and over until they get it right. Here are some of my favorite time travel movies.

  1. Back to the Future trilogy. But of course. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd are stellar as teenager Marty McFly and his kooky inventor friend Doc Brown. The DeLorean is arguably the coolest time machine of all time. These movies are so cool, we’ll forgive them for predicting we’d have flying cars by now.
  2. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter play a couple of rock ‘n’ roll-loving teenagers whose time-traveling mentor is an older guy (George Carlin). It seems that Bill and Ted copied BTTF – I’ve heard their time machine was originally a van, but they thought that would be too similar to the DeLorean, so they changed it to a phone booth. Apparently they never saw Dr. Who. It’s still a fun movie.
  3. The Terminator and Terminator 2. The time travelers in the Terminator movies are androids sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor and her son John, who becomes a leader of the resistance in the future. Arnold Scharzenegger’s catchphrase “I’ll be back” comes from The Terminator. Fun and action-packed. What more could you want from your time-travel movie?
  4. 12 Monkeys. Bruce Willis stars as a prisoner who is sent back in order to collect information on a deadly virus that has forced the survivors to live underground. I love this crazy movie, directed by Terry Gilliam, and also starring Brad Pitt and Madeleine Stowe. I think this was the first time we saw that Pitt was a versatile actor, and not just a pretty face. He won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his role as a mental patient.
  5. Groundhog Day. Bill Murray stars as a grouchy meteorologist who is forced to live the same day over and over. What would you do in this position? Commit crimes with no fear of consequences? Learn to play the piano? Phil Connors uses it as an opportunity to woo the beautiful news producer, played by Andie MacDowell. The first time I saw this movie, I hated it. I felt like I was trapped in Feb. 2, along with Phil. But after forced repeat viewings – it’s one of my husband’s favorites – it became one of my favorites too.
  6. Army of Darkness. OK, I know this one also made my Halloween Top Ten, but … it’s good. Bruce Campbell, as a discount store employee who has the worst luck, gets sucked into a time portal and ends up in the Middle Ages and has to fight an army of undead before he can go back to his own time.
  7. Star Trek: First Contact. The crew of the Enterprise travel from the 24th to the 21st century after the Borg destroy Earth by altering the timeline. Patrick Stewart, et al, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew, are wonderful, but I especially love James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane, who is famous for having created the first warp-capable vessel. The crew is delighted to meet Cochrane, because he’s a legend, but Cochrane doesn’t understand why they’re so impressed. “I wish I had a picture of this,” Geordi tells Cochrane. “You’re standing almost on the exact spot where your statue is going to be!” “Statue?” “Yeah, it’s marble, about 20 meters tall. You’re looking up at the sky, and your hand is sort of … reaching toward the future.” Cochrane replies, “I’ve got to take a leak.” Too funny.
  8. Men in Black 3. My favorite MIB movie sends Agent J (Will Smith) back in time to save Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) from a Boglodite (Jemaine Clement) who has gone back in time to murder him. In 1969, K is a young man, played by Josh Brolin. This is such a fun movie, also starring Emma Thompson, Will Arnett, and Bill Hader, with cameos from Lady Gaga and Tim Burton.
  9. Edge of Tomorrow. Tom Cruise in yet another futuristic action movie? But wait – this one is good. Think “Groundhog Day” meets “Starship Troopers.” Earth has been invaded by an alien race, and Cruise’s character gets caught in a time loop that sends him back to the day before, every time he dies. He teams up with a badass Special Forces sergeant (Emily Blunt) to hone his fighting skills.
  10. X-Men: Days of Future Past. This is my favorite X-Men movie. Logan (Hugh Jackman) goes back to 1973 to – what else? Save the world, blah blah blah. This could get old, but it doesn’t. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as young Professor X and Magneto are soooo great, and the cast also includes Jennifer Lawrence and Peter Dinklage. But arguably the best part of this movie is the prison break scene in which Quicksilver (Evan Peters) dashes around to the tune of Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle,” moving bullets out of the way and giving cops wedgies.

Vampires, ghosts, witches, werewolves, and zombies: Fun flicks for Halloween

Posted on by earthtoshawna

I’m much more a sci-fi fan than a horror fan. The “scary” movies I like are not very scary. At the theater, I close my eyes at the first few bars of that eerie piano music that tells you you’re about to watch a paranormal movie trailer.
A lot of my favorite Halloween movies are comedies. With that in mind, here are 10 of my favorite ghost, vampire, witch, werewolf, and zombie films to get you ready for All Hallows’ Eve – and to make you laugh.

  1. Beetlejuice. Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis star as a recently deceased couple who hire an obnoxious ghost (Michael Keaton) to help them scare away their home’s new tenants (Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones, and Winona Ryder).
  2. Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. Who doesn’t love these goofy movies with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson as scientists fighting supernatural entities like giant marshmallow men, balls of slime and demon gargoyles? I can’t wait for next summer’s reboot.
  3. What We Do in the Shadows. I’ve always been a sucker for vampires – I love “Interview with the Vampire,” “The Lost Boys,” and yes, even dorky “Twilight.” This mockumentary-style horror comedy, written and directed by (and starring) Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, is the story of four vampires who live in New Zealand, and it’s hysterical.
  4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kristy Swanson was the first cheerleader/slayer and although the TV series that was based on this movie was more popular, I prefer the campy original. And it has Pee Wee Herman, er, Paul Reubens. Luke Perry, David Arquette, Hilary Swank, Rutger Hauer, and Donald Sutherland also star.
  5. Practical Magic. This witchy romantic comedy isn’t super popular, but I like it. It’s an adaptation of Alice Hoffman’s novel of the same name, and stars Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as the nieces of witches played by Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing.
  6. An American Werewolf in London. Another classic, “American Werewolf” tells the tale of two American backpackers who are attacked by a werewolf in England.
  7. Teen Wolf. Would this silly werewolf movie have been so fun to watch if it was anyone but Michael J. Fox? I don’t think so. The new series is more serious, à la Buffy.
  8. Army of Darkness. This is the third in the “Evil Dead” trilogy, and you don’t need to watch the first two to enjoy this one. Bruce Campbell is awesome as Ash, an S-Mart employee who has been sucked into a time portal, winds up in 1300 AD, and has to fight an army of undead. “This is my boomstick!” he tells the villagers, holding up his shotgun. Good stuff.
  9. Shaun of the Dead. This Simon Pegg zombie satire has become a cult classic.
  10. Zombieland. Another great zom com, in which Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone play survivors of a zombie apocalypse. An entertaining, campy adventure.

Check out graphic novels ‘Nimona,’ ‘Descender’

Posted on by earthtoshawna

I’ve been on a bit of a comic book kick lately. I especially like graphic novels, as they’re easier to get my hands on and take longer to read than individual issues.

“Nimona,” Noelle Stevenson’s graphic novel debut, began as a web comic. A fun read, the comic is set in the time of knights and dragons, but with convenient anachronisms like computers, TVs, and plasma cannons.

Nimona is a shapeshifter who shows up at villain Ballister Blackheart’s lair, looking to be his new sidekick. She can’t wait to do revenge! And science! She is an impatient teenager and she wants to overthrow the government – NOW!

Blackheart is methodical, though, and has plans, and he doesn’t want Nimona going berserk. Of course she does anyway, and chaos ensues, etc.

I love that “Nimona” subverts the traditional role of heroes and villains. It’s unpredictable and it has heart.

Stevenson also co-writes the comic “Lumberjanes,” about a Girl Scout-like troop who get much more than they bargained for when they explore the wilderness.

Plans for both “Nimona” and “Lumberjanes” to be adapted for the big screen are in the works.

Descender

Entertainment Weekly says, “Your new sci-fi obsession is here,” in the blurb on the cover of the graphic novel “Descender, Volume 1,” by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen. A bold statement which would seem a bit presumptuous if it wasn’t such a great comic.

A collection of issues 1-6, “Descender, Volume 1” definitely left me wanting more, and I can’t wait to see what happens next to Tim-21, an android child who survived the robot culls that followed the destruction of billions of humans by huge robots called Harvesters.

Tim was created by a scientist named Dr. Jin Quon, and then shipped to a mining colony, where his function was to provide companionship to a child of one of the miners.

I don’t want to give the whole story away. It’s dark, intense, and heartbreaking, and is also being made into a movie. Check it out.

Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson; HarperTeen

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Descender, by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen, Image Comics, Rated Mature

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Ten times real life reminds me of science fiction

Posted on by earthtoshawna

Do you ever ask your husband or wife, “When is second breakfast?” Or wish you could “beam up” to your destination when you’re stuck in traffic? I often find myself thinking of science fiction in my ordinary life. Here are a few examples.

  1. Whenever I have déjà vu, I wonder if it means something, like in “The Matrix” when Keanu Reeves sees that cat again and says “Whoa. Déjà vu.” I love it that everyone takes him seriously, because in real life no one cares if you have déjà vu. They also don’t want to hear about the weird dream you had last night.
  2. Every time my First World existence isn’t quite cushy enough, I wish for one of the nifty gadgets in science fiction, like the holodeck or the medical tricorder on Star Trek. And the food replicator. Pretty much anything on Star Trek.
  3. When I’m delirious from lack of sleep, I sometimes wonder if the world as I know it is a replica, manufactured to trick me, and that my life is really being broadcast all over the world. What if everyone can see me obsessively overplucking my eyebrows, or hear me talking to myself? And it is then that I wish I’d never seen “The Truman Show.”
  4. Lately, I’ve been thinking about Jadzia from Deep Space Nine. She was a Trill: an alien species who serves as a host to a symbiont called Dax. Jadzia retains all the skills and memories from the previous hosts. When I look back on my life 20 years ago, or even just five years ago, it hardly seems like I’m the same person, like I’m a Trill or something.
  5. Admit it – sometimes you wish you had a time machine so you could have do-overs, like in the completely nonsensical “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” “After the report, we’ll time travel back to two days ago, steal your dad’s keys and leave them here. … How about behind that sign? That way, when we get here now, they’ll be waiting for us!”
  6. A lot of us spend a lot of time online. Our world seems to be becoming more and more like that movie “Surrogates,” in which people in the future live in front of their computers, controlling robotic avatars who stand in for them in the real world.
  7. When I see news stories about scientists trying to recreate the woolly mammoth, or selling genetically modified pet pigs, or abusing science in some other similar asinine fashion, I think of Jeff Goldblum’s character in “Jurassic Park,” Dr. Malcolm, who said the scientists were “so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
  8. When I’m feeling lazy, I think maybe I should do some pull-ups, or learn how to drive a motorcycle, or hotwire a car, in case there’s some future emergency and I need to be strong and fast and skilled. Like, for instance, what if a cyborg from the future is sent to kill me? Oh wait, that’s the plot of “Terminator 2.”  Which is mostly unlikely to happen.
  9. As my kids get older, I am reminded of Sil from “Species,” who ages 12 years in like, three months. I keep doing double takes at my son, like, “Weren’t you a toddler a few minutes ago?”
  10. We all have our favorite movie quotes that we use conversationally. Most of the movies my husband and I quote to each other are from sci-fi/fantasy movies: “Aziz, light!” “Do or do not. There is no try.” “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” “You keep saying that word; I do not think it means what you think it means.” “I am altering the deal; pray I don’t alter it any further.” “My precious!” And my favorite faux curse word, “Frak!”

‘The Martian’ celebrates teamwork, optimism

Posted on by earthtoshawna

You might think that if you were stranded on Mars, you would feel hopeless and depressed. Well, you wouldn’t if you were Mark Watney, the protagonist of Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s bestseller “The Martian.”

And who else could pull off a smiling, cheery astronaut, even as he is dying on Mars, but Matt Damon? Watney rarely allows himself to let his situation get him down. He’s much too busy calculating mathematical equations to figure out how he’s going to survive until NASA figures out that he’s alive and sends someone to rescue him.

If this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because Damon recently played another astronaut stranded on a planet, in last year’s epic space adventure “Interstellar.” (Jessica Chastain was also in both movies.)

I keep hearing this movie described as “a love letter to NASA,” and it absolutely celebrates the camaraderie, teamwork, and sense of adventure for which the space agency is known. But more than that, it is a testimony to the ingenuity and determination of one man who refuses to give up.

Throughout the movie, I couldn’t help thinking, “I would never have thought of that” and “Well, that would be the last straw for me.” I clearly don’t have the knowledge base or mental stability required to be a space explorer. I kept waiting for him to crack, but I guess they weed out all the sissies from the space program with psychological testing.

I also kept waiting for some flashback scenes of Watney with his loved ones back on Earth. They never mention a girlfriend, only his parents, and even though there are brief scenes with the other astronauts’ families, we never see Watney’s parents, even though he mentions them a couple times.

Perhaps this was to show us that Watney wants to live for the sake of living, because he has a zest for life, not because he wants to see his children grow up or because he’s made a promise to a girlfriend that he would come back, which is how this is usually done.

Or maybe, this just isn’t a movie about family. Not the blood-related kind, anyway. It’s more about the faith and trust and the love of science that bond all these people together – the stranded astronaut who says “I love what I do,” the Ares 3’s other five astronauts who have become his friends, and the entire ground crew at NASA, who are faced with making tough decisions without much time to consider the odds.

And most of all, it’s about optimism in the face of adversity – a quality we should all aspire to.

Get your geek on at your local science-fiction convention

Posted on by earthtoshawna

Admit it – you have always wished you could participate in a re-enactment of that bloody rave scene in “Blade.” Right? OK, well, me neither, but the New York City Comic Con is doing it so someone must be excited about it.

Blade Rave is actually a Comic Con afterparty and will recreate the scene in the 1998 vampire movie in which the sprinklers spray blood on the dancers. If that’s your thing, you can still get tickets for the event, which will be Oct. 9, at Terminal 5. The Crystal Method is headlining.

The New York City Comic Con will be Oct. 8-11, in the Javits Center in New York City.

Depending on where you live and how far you’re willing to travel, there are plenty of sci-fi conventions with lots of special guests, costume contests, art exhibits, and more. Here are just a few of the many, many science-fiction conventions:

Geek Girl Con, dedicated to “recognizing and celebrating the contribution of women in all aspects of geek culture,” is scheduled for Oct. 10 and 11, 2015, at the Conference Center in downtown Seattle.

Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, will feature guests Grant Morrison, Stan Lee, William Shatner, Mike Mignola, Elvira, Nichelle Nichols, Dita Von Teese and more.

Eucon, or Eugene Comic Con, will be Nov. 14 and 15, 2015, at the Lane Events Center in Eugene, OR. Special guests this year include John Rhys-Davies from Lord of the Rings, Jason David Frank, and Chris Roberson.

Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest, Dec. 4-6, 2015, at the University of Phoenix Stadium, is the winter version of the Phoenix Comicon, which will be June 2-5, 2016, at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Wonder Con, the sister show to San Diego Comic Con, will be March 25-27, 2016, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Emerald City Comicon, April 7-10, 2016, at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, will feature Nathan Fillion from “Firefly,” as well as Fiona Staples, the illustrator of one of my favorite comics, “Saga,” and many other special guests.

Comic Con International: San Diego is slated for July 21-24, 2016, at the San Diego Convention Center. Comic Con International is the home of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (the comic book world’s version of the Oscars), as well as several other awards.

MidAmericaCon II, the 74th World Science Fiction Convention, will be Aug. 17-21, 2016, in Kansas City, MO. Guests of honor will be Kinuko Y. Craft, Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Tamora Pierce, and Michael Swanwick. Worldcon is where the Hugo Awards, for the best science fiction literature, are presented.