Day Zero

I caught another movie on Netflix.com tonight. It's another movie I have never heard of. The synopsis said it was scifi but it's not really. It's more speculative fiction. That's nitpicking though. The movie is Day Zero.

It's a very near future biopic of three friends who are New York City residents. In this near future America, the draft has been reinstated so that we can fight the war on terror all around the world. All three friends lose the lottery and are drafted. They have 30 days to present themselves for induction.

The three friends handle the issue very differently. The successful lawyer, who has just been made a partner, doesn't want to go and asks his father to try to get him out of it. The successful writer, who hasn't actually lived at all (but has been to Malaysia), completely freaks out and goes off the deep end. The not successful cabbie, the fighter with a troubled life, handles it the best. He supports the draft and while not eager to go, accepts it as his duty.

They picked some really good people for this movie. You can get the entire cast list at the wikipedia entry above. I just want to say that Elijah Wood puts in another excellent performance. He plays Aaron, the writer. He sees a psychiatrist, is afraid of his shadow and has never really lived. He is so meek it's almost painful. Most of the funny scenes are his. By the end of the movie, he is creepy scary as he descends into his top 10 list.

This is another movie that I expected to suck that surprised me. This movie is definitely worth watching. Regardless of you political views, if you wonder at all where the "war on terror" might go, you should watch this. The gamut of political viewpoints are shared in the story but the director does not preach. No view is made to be "the truth". This isn't a liberal or a conservative movie. It's just the story of three people and how they respond to being drafted.

LewisC

Technorati : draft, movie, movie review, war

Primer: A Movie Review

I had some free time tonight and decided to hit Netflix Instant View to see what was available. I've watched just about everything that has any interest to me. There are quite a few documentaries that I haven't seen yet but I have to be in the mood for one of those.

Anyway, I noticed a 2004 flick called Primer. I didn't really think I would like it as I had never heard of it. I like B movies though so I was hoping it would be one of those classically bad movies that I can enjoy.

It is not a B movie. It's a movie written and produced (for USD7000) by an engineer. He wrote the movie like it would be engineers watching it. At times I was a bit lost but the movie proved to be incredibly intense. Much better than I anticipated.

A couple of engineers decide to make a room temperature super conductor. I don't think that was the goal. I think they were trying to do something with gravity but I'll have to watch it again to be sure.

They finally get a proto-type working and one of the engineers happens to notice a slimy film on the weeble they are using as a weight/test subject. The film turns out to be a fungus that could not possibly have grown in the amount of time it did. After some tests with watches, they decide that they really have built a time machine.

Hilarity does not ensue. They decide to travel themselves and make some cash. Things happen. Watch it.

What I liked about this movie is that it is a zero action movie. I don't mean that in a bad way. There is plenty of tension. There are multiple mini-plots arcing around the main plot. There are a couple of mini-plots I got completely lost on but that was still unimportant to the overall story. I'm sure I will get those on the next watching and I will be watching it again.

If you don't give a rat's ass about science, time travel, super conductors or casuality, don't watch this movie. You have to already understand, at least conceptually, the finer points. If you want everything explained and wrapped up for you, definitely don't bother. It just does not happen.

This is a movie like I might make in my head while day dreaming. The writer just happened to think of a few things I might not have. There is plenty of dialog and the dialog sort of replaces action. That's normally a bad thing but in this context it works.

The quality of the film is amazing for how much was spent. I mean USD7000! The actors had to have done this for free. Speaking of which, while no Oscars will be won, the acting was pretty good. Sound quality was good, too.

All in all, two thumbs up.

Check it out.

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Heroes Season 2, Episode 6

It starts off with Peter and hottie at the bar. She wants go to Montreal with Peter. She wants to kill veronica Mars.

Claire is trying out for cheerleader. The chief cheer chick slams Claire and basically says she sucks.

Monica is watching gymnastics and replicating them. Suresh is watching. Creepy Bob comes in and tells Monica how special she is. He asks Suresh to step out with him.

The company is experimenting with a virus that takes away abilities. They want Suresh to inject Monica. He calls Noah and tells him about it. Noah tells him that if he doesn't go along with the plan, the Company will get rid of him and he'll lose Molly.

Noah and the Haitian sneak into a house where a man and woman with a boy are speaking russian. I don't recognize them. Noah calls the man Ivan, says he's "an old friend" and then smacks him.

Claire has lunch with West. He says she's better than the cheer chick. He thinks she should take her down a notch. Humiliation! Meow!

Sylar is still traveling with Maya and alejandro. He really likes May's power. He really wants Maya's power. Alejandro wants to drop Sylar but Maya says no.

Ando meets up with the scientist decoding the messages from Hiro again. Hiro is love with Yeko. He's worried about her and her father in the coming battle with White Beard.

Ivan has paintings and works for the company. Noah wants the paintings. Noah says that if Ivan doesn't give up the info, the Haitian will remove all of his most precious memories, one by one. That sucks.

Noah gets a call from Claire. She wants to use the car. West makes a mask (or finds a mask).

Ivan tells Noah that if he comes back to the company, his family will be safe and he will be told everything. He seems to consider it.

Maya, Aljeandro and Sylar make it to the border. Locals with shotguns stopping them from driving across. I think i can guess what happens here.

Monica is back with Suresh. She doesn't wnat a shot. He convinces her though so she agrees. He can't do it though. He walks out of the room. Suresh destroys his research and says he's leaving.

Maya starts to "use" her power. alejandro tries to stop her but Sylar stops him. All the gun toters drop. Sylar starts bleeding from his eyes.

Claire goes to see the cheer chick. She tells her she wants another chance at the tryouts. Cheer chick is drinking (and is drunk). While they're talking, a masked man flies down, picks up Clairs and drops her on the steps (apparently killing her). Cheer chick runs off with the flying dude tailing her. Bwahahahaha.

The cops don't beliee the story about Claire being dead. Claire just happens to show up and denies everything.

Hiro, Kinsei and Yeko sneak into White Beard's camp at night. Kinsei lets a guard stab him. The sword smith won't leave until White Bear's arsenal is destroyed. White Beard wants to over throw the empire.

bob visits Suresh while he's with Molly. Bob apologizes for trying to make Suresh use the virus on Monica. Suresh is gullible.

Hiro stops time and gets Yeko away from the running battle. Kensei and the swordsmith aren't with them. Hiro tells Yeko that he doesn't know how they got there. She realizes he has pwer and that he was the person who said the "wonderful" things to her and saved her from the Brigandes.

She asks if he loves her. He says yes. She tells him she loves him, too. He kisses her and fractures time. Kensei sees them kissing. That's the last scroll from Hiro.

Alejandro and Sylar are fighting. Alejandro doesn't trust Sylar and tell Maya she has to choose, him or Sylar. She won't so Alejandro says that the next time Sylar is dying, he won't help save him.

Claire is upset that someone might have seen them. West is a lot more upbeat about it. Cheer chick got suspended for drinking on school grounds and was kicked off the cheerleading team. Claire is on.

Noah is still with Ivan. Ivan lost a daughter. Noah threatens to take his memory of the daughter. Ivan gives up the paintings. Noah can't take any chances so he kills Ivan. I don't like Noah.

Hiro tracks down Kinsei. Kensei tells him he saw Hiro and Yeko kissing. Hiro says that it was an accident that they fell in love. Kensei knocks Hiro out and turns Hiro, Yeko and the swordsmith over to White Beard.

Bob takes Monica home. He gives her an ipod type device.

Suresh meets up with Niki/Jessica. She's his new partner.

Noah finds the paintings. What do they mean?

Peter is in Montreal. They go to the place in the painting. It looks like an antique shop. The door is unlocked. Someone left a note for Peter. It's from someone named Adam. It says Peter was right about the "Company".

Peter closes his eyes and transports them to a future New York. He finds an evacuation order from June 2008, one year in the future. Suresh's virus maybe?


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Review: Doomsday - The Death of Superman

Close to a month ago, I blogged about Doomsday - The Death of Superman. As I said in that post, I really wanted to see it. I just finished watching it a little while ago. I planned to buy the DVD but I noticed that it was on pay per view so I watched it with my son.

He is 4 and he lost interest within the first few minutes. This is a very adult cartoon. Not in language or sex or anything but in themes. There were a few brutal parts, Doomsday crushes a soldier's head for example. The movie shows Doomsday grab his head, the camera angles away and you hear the crushing sound.

It's not just the insinuated violence that makes say it's adult-themed. The relationship between Lois and Kal-El is very adult and the show spends quite a bit of time on that relationship. The reactions when superman dies are equally adult.

I'm not complaining. Though my son lost interest right away, I thought it was a very good movie. Great graphics and animation. Good color. The story and action were well done. I would watch it again.

It wasn't the book though. The book The Death and Life of Superman and the Graphic Novels were much deeper and contained several concurrent plots. There were many characters involved.

This movie mainly concentrates around the initial fight and death of Superman and then into Lex Luthor, Clone Superman and Superman rebuilding himself. That was kind of disappointing; to know how much story there was and for the movie to be so limited.

I think the only way to really do this justice would be to make it a mini-series. And while I would watch it, I'm not sure how many others would. It's too adult to hold a small child's attention and not many adults want to sit through several nights of cartoon.

I can heartily recommend this DVD to any genre fan though. If you are a fan of Superman, which I have always been, this is a must have. If you are a fan of comics in general, this is a good addition to the collection. If you don't really like animated movies or if you are thinking of a movie for your child, I would say to stay away.

superman movie review

Heroes Graphic Novel

If you were not aware of it, you can get your Heroes fix on nbc.com by reading the Heroes Graphic Novel. Of course, it's a little late now. Heroes Season 2 will be starting in less than two weeks on September 24. I am so looking forward to its return. I started watching it last season but missed a few episodes due to other commitments. Instead of picking it back up in the middle, I waited for the Heroes - Season One DVD. I watched the entire season in a nightly orgy of heroing over the course of a week. I was tired at work but it was worth it. Heroes is just about the perfect series. I was slightly disappointed in the ending of season 1. Is Nathan dead? Dis Sylar escape to the sewers? Who is the man who can see anyone anywhere? I kind of thought the "saved by love" thin was a bit of a cop out. I will not miss Hiro in ancient japan though.

heroes scifi tv monday nighttime dvd

Doomsday - The Death of Superman

I have been a sci-fi freak for decades but even before that, I was a Superman freak. When I collected comics, I had a stash of about 3000 and many of those were Superman, Action Comics, Superboy and other superman related comics.

A few years back, there was a graphic novel called Doomsday where Superman dies. It was rewritten as a regular novel (which I have laying around here somewhere). It was a very good novelization with a very good story line.

Warner Bros is coming out, 9-18-2007, with a new animated movie, Doomsday - The Death of Superman. I don't have all the details but I believe it is a feature length animated movie. Check out the trailer:



LewisC



superman movie

New Star Trek Movie Coming

From Yahoo News, Nimoy to reprise Spock role in Trek film, it looks like a new Star Trek (with the Capt Kirk/Spock crew) will be out by Christmas 2008. JJ Abrams (Lost fame) is directing. Leonard Nimoy reprises his role as spock and the article says there will be a "young spock". The article also mentions that it is likely that William Shatner will play Kirk again. I wonder if this is the "Early Days" movie I have been hearing about? Why have old and young though? Hopefully, it will not be a flash back movie! I'll go see, though, regardless. LewisC scifi reading movie

Transformers: A Review (Seriously!)

This is a review of both the book and the movie, Transformers. I was recently in Books a million and saw a display for the new movie Transformers. Actually, the display was for a novelization of the movie by Alan Dean Foster. If you don't know Alan Dean Foster he did the novelization of at least the first Alien movie (and I think more), Krull, a bunch of original Star Treks, Pip and Flinx, Outland, the Spell Singer series, and about a bazillion more. If you read, you have probably read something from Alan. Transformers, the book:

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; Mti edition (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345497996
• ISBN-13: 978-0345497994

I was a fan of the transformers in my late teens when they first came out. I've always been a fan of comics and cartoons. As a fan, I decided to pick up the book and give it a read. My son wanted to see the movie (he is a HUGE fan) so I figured I could use "research" as an excuse to buy it. If you don't know the premise, it's fairly simple. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away a battle raged between intelligent cybernetic beings on a planet called Cybertron. The good beings are, being autonomous, Autobots. The bad guys, being deceptive, are Decepticons. Combined are they Cybertronians? Cybertrics? Cybertronner? The war between good and evil starts to destroy Cybertron so the All Spark, the special energy cube that gives life to inanimate (but only complex inanimate) objects, is ejected into space to prevent Megatron (leader of Decepticons) from getting it. Megatron goes after the cube and after thousands of years, both arrive on Earth. Eventually the good guys follow, followed by additional bad guys. The story is about the search for the All Spark, the battle between good and evil and two horny teenagers. Sam Witwicky, bumbling teenager, manages to, ineptly, steal the girlfriend of the ultra-macho, footballer bad guy. The girl, Mikela, is poor where Sam is solidly middle class. In the meantime, the Men In Black, are tracking Sam and Mikela down and the Secretary of Defense is trading witty banter with a green haired punk rock computer genius (in the book anyway, the same character in the movie is an attractive blond with an British accent). The movie ends in a crescendo of robotic violence of epic proportions. I'm not sure how many more cliches could have been squeezed into a single novel/movie. The weird thing is, it works. The novel is better than the movie but only because Alan Dean Foster is a master and he can spend more time building the characters. An example of the time spent on characterization is this bit from an early scene in the book:

Later, as they cruised back toward town, her voice rose above the hum of the Camaro's engine as the car coasted down a hillside road. Sunset muffled the light but did nothing to mute her continuing rant. "I cannot believe I am here," she was saying. "You can duck down if you want," Sam suggested helpfully. "It won't hurt my feelings." She flicked her eyes at him. "Duck down? Are you crazy? Not with you, in your car. Here, in this situation." Leaning back against the headrest, she implored the heavens. "This serves me right. God, I've got such a weakness for hot guys." So this is what grandma meant when she used to talk about someone making her feel knee-high to caterpillar, Sam mused as he mumbled a response. "Yeah, that, that is a weakness."

The story is enjoyable on many levels. My four old, whom I did bring to the movie with me, was only impressed with the last 15 or so minutes. I, on the other hand, read the book in about 8 hours and then two weeks later was held spellbound for the entire two hours and twenty three minutes. The other audience members, who seemed to range from young teen to elderly, were also spellbound. The theater resounded with applause in several places and the applause lasted for several minutes at the end. This movie/book combination has something for everyone. Drama (teen angst, alien invasion, politics, world war), humor (the way the autobots talk, computer geek inside jokes, Sam's slightly tipsy mom and his "special time"), special effects (transforming giant robots), military jargon, and so much more. Some of the humor is decidedly adult but much of it is straight at the teen demographic. Maybe it's just because I am an old fan but I would be willing to see a part 2, if there is one. Want to take odds that there will be? Alan Dean Foster has written a prequel to the movie, Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday (Transformers (Ballantine Books)). I plan to buy this the next time I am in a book store. If you need a book to while away a lazy weekend or if you have a few hours to burn on a movie, you could do worse than Transformers. LewisC

SCIFI Tech: Samsung makes HD, flash-based camcorders affordable

Sweet, sweet camcorder. I want one of these but my wife would kill me. From scifi tech: If there was ever a time to jump in and buy an HD camcorder, it's now. Samsung's just announced their SC-HMX10 camcorder, a svelte HD device with a whopping 8GB of built-in flash memory. No tapes are necessary with this guy; you've got nearly an hour and a half of 1080i recording time right on board. You won't need to worry about fast-forwarding or rewinding tapes with this guy, as it's 100% digital.

Living: BSG on DVR and Florida

Yesterday was a slow day. I slept late and woke up feeling bad. I went back to bed for a 4 hour nap. When I got up, my wife and son both decided to lay down for a while. I've been recording this season's battlestar galactica (BSG) on the DVR so I had a battlestar galactathon! Three hours of adama, starbuck and cylons. This season is starting off really well. I liked all three episodes. What's up with that nuke,huh? Today we got up and drove across town for an early lunch at our favorite vietnamese place. It's about a 45 minute drive but it's worth it. I always get the same thing: fresh spring rolls and pork and shrimp on broken rice. Good food. Afterwards we walked around the huge flea market on park blvd. I've heard it's the largest in florida. We got some books for my son and some big black sunglasses that fit over my prescrption glasses. I can't stand those little clip-on sunglasses. Now I look like a retiree. Oh well. The best part of all this? The temp was about 80 degrees all day. A little cooler in the morning but still warm enough for shorts, sandals and a t-shirt. I'd rather live in New Orleans but if I had to pick one reason to live in Florida, 80 degrees on Jan 22 would be it. Have a good one, LewisC