If a Facehugger from the Alien franchise ever face-raped 2001: A Space Odyssey, the resulting Xenomorph bastard would not be unlike Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s long awaited return to the genre many claim he revolutionized. Prometheus is an ambitious science-fiction film with the lofty goal of presenting questions about the origins of life. Like all great science-fiction literature, it is a blend of thoughtful speculation, great story, awe-inspiring effects, and wonder. And because the Alien franchise is its predecessor the package also includes chilling rape allegories, a nauseating birth scene, and a good amount fetal imagery. All in the name of brilliant filmmaking.
Using human-to-alien relations, as a metaphor for human-to-human relations is nothing new. H.G. Wells first introduced the concept when he wrote War of the Worlds; in this book aliens do onto Earth as Europeans did unto Africa. For its time the book was revolutionary and it truly did change they way people views Europe’s role in history. More than 100 years later things have changed; no one is going to see District 9 and think much differently about apartheid in South Africa, most people wont even see the most obviously blatant parallels. For most District 9 will simply be another Sci-Fi action flick. Unfortunately this undermined District 9’s potential to the point the film does not know whether it is a serious metaphor about alien refugees in South Africa or if it is another Sci-Fi action flick done in a pseudo-documentary style.
So it might be a bit late for a review because Push came out in theaters a few months ago but it just came out on the iTunes store & rentals; so I think a late review is fair game in this case.
As a super-powered hero movie Push is not the best. But as a thriller it rocks… big time! Remember Minority Report? That movie kept you hooked because there was know way to know what was going on at any point. Yet at the end everything came together through a very neat and clever twist. Push plays very similarly to that other SciFi thriller… but with a big difference: this time the characters are actually interesting.
Do you remember how much silly fun you had watching the last Brendan Fraser movie? Which one was it? Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D? The Mummy 1, 2, or 3? Or was it George of the Jungle or Dudley DoRight? Brendan Fraser has always seemed comfortable doing cartoonish caracter in cartoonish movies. Sure he has done more serious roles, such as the pool boy in the James Whale biopic Gods and Monsters, but when you think of the next Brendan Fraser movie that is not what you think. Inkheart is a movie that in concept would have worked as the next Brendan Fraser adventure. It is a shame that it is only in concept because it does not even work on paper since is writing is one of the worst I have seen on adventure movies since the new Hulk movie.
The next movie from Dreamworks is Monsters vs. Aliens, a movie where a huge alien comes down to earth and the US military establishes a team of monsters (and a really tall girl) to fight it. It is made in the style a 1950's B sci-fi movie, full of every visual and vocal gag that anyone could ever imagine. I personally think it looks hilarious... almost like an animated Leslie Neilsen movie.
Lately Dreamworks has been making some awesome films (Kung Fu Panda & Madagascar 2) so, here's hoping that the trend continues!
Monsters vs. Aliens hits theaters March 27th, 2009
Cancelled science fiction shows have a way of perfectly working to come back as movies. Firefly came back with Serenity, X files came back with The X files Movie, and Sex and the City came back with Sex and the City earlier this summer. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. For Futurama, it is working.
Futurama was created back in 1999 by Matt Groenig (The creator of The Simpsons). It ran for four seasons and was an animated series about a guy named Fry who was frozen by cryogenics in 1999, and woke up in the year 3000. The show chronicled Fry's adventures for the next few years as he settled into New New York and his new job as a delivery boy for an interstellar delivery service.
The show was ripe with great humor, most of it being clever puns on our modern day activities, or great references to famous sci-fi movies or television shows (often Star Trek or Star Wars). Then it got cancelled, but DVD sales have led to it coming back in a new form - four feature length 'straight to DVD' films, which constitute as a 5th season and will hopefully lead to Futurama being picked back up for television broadcast for more seasons in the near future.
The most recent series to make a film based on DVD sales was the animated series Family Guy. Several years after being cancelled, they released a straight to DVD film which did so well that Family Guy was picked up for four more seasons. This is the plan for Futurama.
The movies are titled as follows: Bender's Big Score (Released), The Beast With a Billion Backs (Released), Bender's Game (Bender's Game), and Into the Wild Green Yonder (February).
Each film picks up immediately after its predecessor, making it very similar to a live action one hour drama on television. The most recent film - Bender's Game hits the shelves for purchase today, so go check it out. It should be pretty funny, though I recommend you see the previous two first.
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