I just ran across this excellent video on YouTube. I suggest watching in 720P if your connection can handle it. This music video parody of “Somebody That I Used To Know” sums up the feelings of a good percentage of fans that grew up with Star Wars, including myself. Check it out! Direct link or embedded below
The Star Wars That I Used To Know
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Surrogates (2009) Directed by Jonathan MostowSurrogates (2009) Directed by Jonathan Mostow
I wasn’t really expecting much when I heard about Surrogates, so waited to watch it until it came out on DVD. From the previews it looked like many other science fiction action films that seem to be pumped out by Hollywood. The main premise of the movie is that humans live their lives through “surrogate” (robot) bodies. I’m a huge fan of Asimov and his robot novels, so this was enough to catch my attention. The human interface is kind of like how control worked in Avatar, but instead of an organic body as the host, it is robotic. I would definitely not classify the surrogates as the cyborgs that Ray Kurzweil thinks we will eventually become. One of the main advantages to using a surrogate is that the owner is always protected, so in some ways they are better than cyborgs. There was no way for any harm to come to a user, until now.
Tom Greer, played by Bruce Willis, is in charge of investigating the destruction of a couple of surrogates. This is usually not that big of a deal, but one of the owners is found dead. Whoever wrote the script really wasn’t trying anything new as far as the murder/mystery approach is concerned. I was expecting a lot more action based on the previews that I saw. It felt like I was watching for 40 minutes before things started to get moving. This move was all around average in most respects. Nothing really stood out. It wasn’t bad, but not great.
One completely unrelated observation is that I found Bruce Willis’ upper lip (stash zone) alarmingly long. It looked almost twice the size I’d normally expect. I think of most of the roles I’ve seen him in, he’s got a beard of some sort, so that kind of hides that feature of his face. Am I alone here? Check out the pic on IMDB
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…)
28 Days Later (2002) Directed by Danny Boyle28 Days Later (2002) Directed by Danny Boyle
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I decided to watch 28 Days Later. I have had it for a long time, but never got around to watching it until now. I was surprised by how “old” the movie looked when it started. I could have sworn it was a rather recent film, but it took a quick trip to IMDB to verify. Although this was filmed in 2002, it seemed to me to be from the mid 90’s. I’m not sure if that was due to the DVD transfer or what. Anyway, once I satisfied my curiosity, I continued on watching the movie. (more…)