A friend of mine recommended that I watch Monsters. It was available on Netflix streaming, so I added it to my queue. The premise is that a survey mission to investigate extraterrestrial life burned up on reentry to Earth over Latin America. The “Monsters” appear later on, for what seems to be a seasonal basis. They terrorize the locals, and the main character is visiting to try and capture some photographs of the destruction. There is an invasion coming and Andrew, the photographer, is anxious to get some pictures so he can cash in. His plans get interrupted by a demand from the publisher to escort his daughter out of the country. She’s engaged to be married, but the fiancé has already made hit home. Why? Probably some type of fight. The movie came across as being a suspense, romance, and science fiction flick all at the same time. I usually like it when I see genres mixed, but Monsters was spread too thin. Nothing made me think, “this is a good movie.” The action scenes were rather intense, but I didn’t really get scared or startled. The awkward romance that blossomed between the photographer and the girl was predictable. The mystery behind the nature of the Monster invasions was interesting, but not enough to carry the rest of the movie. It wasn’t a bad movie, but not one that I’d recommend someone spend money on to see.
Monsters (2010) Directed by Gareth Edwards
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So I have been a bit behind with my reviewsSo I have been a bit behind with my reviews
I’ve been a bad reviewer lately. I usually try to write my reviews right after viewing or reading but I haven’t had as much time to write them lately. I’ve been playing World in Conflict quite a bit lately, which competes with my reviews here. I should actually do a review for that sometime, since I spend so much time playing it. It takes place in an alternate reality where the Soviets invade the US in 1990. For more information in the meantime just click the link above.
So, here are the things I have watched so far, but have yet to review:
- Blade Runner – The Final Cut
: (I’ve watched the movie, which was awesome, but I still have to work through the rest of the special features on the last disc)
- I am Legend (2007) – I’ve actually watched this twice, once with my Father while on vacation, and again with my wife
- Battlestar Galactica: Razor – Unrated Extended Edition
I’m also in the process of reading two books: Children of Dune by Frank Herbert, and The Age of Spiritual machines by Ray Kurzweil
. The latter is not really science fiction, but I’m about half way through it and many of the ideas probably seemed like fiction back when it was published in 1999. Many of the predictions Kurzweil makes in the first half are fairly accurate, so I’m interested to see what he will say in the second half.
My next major milestone will be to read Chaos Theory, Asimov’s Foundations and Robots, and Herbert’s Dune: The Fractal Aesthetic of Epic Science Fiction.
That should keep me busy for a little while.
Dune (1984)Dune (1984)
The 1984 Hollywood version of Dune directed by David Lynch could best be described as a poor attempt to cash in on one of the best science fiction novels of our time. I highly doubt that anyone that has not read Dune by Frank Herbert could possibly understand how bad the movie was compared to the book. I have only the vaguest of memories from the first time I’ve watched Dune back when I was a little kid. I don’t remember it being one of my favorite movies like the Star Wars Trilogy. Anyway, I decided to watch the movie once again after reading the novel, which I just reviewed.
I watched this movie last week with my wife who has seen approximately 10-15 times. She read the first three Dune novels about 10 years ago, and hadn’t seen the movie for at least 5 years or more. We didn’t realize how comical the movie was compared to the book until I started pointing out the blatant discrepancies. Still, it has a completely pointless gratuitous scene with Sting emerging from some type of steam shower in a speedo, which is one of the best parts of Dune according to my wife. I think that it looks more like Flash Gordon’s underwear rather than a speedo. Anyway, I’ll move on to the review, to be followed by a spoiler-filled list of major discrepancies with the book. (more…)
I, RobotI, Robot

Released July 16, 2004 (IMDB)
First things first, this movie has only has a few things in common with the book of short stories written by Isaac Asimov (also reviewed). Keep in mind that the NAME was licensed to the movie studio after the script was already written. Scenes were adjusted to include the 3 laws, Susan Calvin, and Alfred Lanning. That is about where the similarities between the book and the movie end. There might be a few concepts stripped from some of the stories, but by no means is the film “based” on the book. To give the movie makers credit, they only say “inspired” by in the opening.
