ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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I live science fiction that challenges the mind, and if it also dazzles the eye, and the thee movies below fit that description perfectly.

~ John Carter (2012) is a great movie that got a bum wrap — which I’m sure really pisses of filmmakers when it happens, and it happens all too often, dammit.

~ Gravity (2013) isn’t a movie I liked a whole lot, but the premise is intriguing. It’s really hard to get astronauts from the ground up into Earth orbit, but it’s not hard to get them down, because gravity does that free of charge, The hard part is doing it without killing them.

~ Pacific Rim (2013) is a wild and wooly sci-fi action movie, and it has a great sequel. The reason I don’t like Japanese monster movies is a because they do everything horribly wrong that this movie does gloriously right.
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John Carter (2012)




This movie might not be perfect, but it certainly deserved more respect than it gets. It really is a rousing yarn, with all the ingredients necessary for a big hit.

Unfortunately is was a big miss, an epic example of a box office flop.

I've seen it several times (and own the DVD) and I've enjoyed it very much. The big climax during the villain's attempt to marry Dejah Thoris gets a little confusing, but that makes for a good excuse to wait a while and watch it again.

The movie has some debatable story elements that are fun to discuss, like John Carter's surprising ability to leap so high he can practically fly. Naturally it's completely bogus from a scientific standpoint, but it's consistent with Burroughs' description in the novels, so I'm glad they put it in the movie.

My first few viewings were marred by some confusion concerning the mystic Therns and their puzzling powers. I still haven't quite figured them out.

Disney had planned to do three John Carter films, but all that just evaporated when the movie lost so much money. What a pity.
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Gravity (2013)



*____*____*____Spoilers____*____*____*

A movie made for exactly $100 million dollars that earned $716 million dollars . . . and it doesn't have enough story to fill a decent sized sentence. Sort of like this:

"Astronaut Sandra Bullock gets her space shuttle shot out from under her by orbiting debris, and she has to get down to Earth somehow . . . so she does."

I'm not saying that nothing interesting happens along the way, but I for one would have appreciated a few more characters along for the ride to give Sandra somebody to talk to -- and to give me somebody to listen besides her.

That would also give the audience somebody besides Sandra to worry about, because George Clooney checks out pretty early, and we know damn well Sandra isn't going to die. That would be just too depressing.

Because of this, I just didn't get really worried when Sandra made her desperate struggle to stay alive.

I'm glad the movie made a bundle of money, but it seems a bit unfair that movies with much better plots — like "John Carter" — didn't exactly earn back seven times their hefty budgets.
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Pacific Rim (2013)




Looking for a movie with giant monsters that fight giant robots piloted by two people whose brains are linked?

Boy, you certainly don't think small, do you?

Lucky for you, this one fits the bill.

This movie is a ton of fun with some left over, and it made a tidy profit for the film makers, earning back its budget ($190 million) and another $221 million as well. Not a bad haul indeed.

If I had to name something about this movie that might need altering, it would be to dial it back a few notches: making everything just a bit less large, less loud, less fast, and less visually cluttered.

Movies have been heavily influenced by the explosion of video games, so their pacing and scope exceeds the speed limit with wild abandon. I can't speak for all those bright young minds born in the 21st century, but for those of us who remember b&w TVs and Floyd the barber, movies don't have to contain five edits in the time it takes us to scratch our noses!

Hey, maybe they'll start offering altered editions of movies for various age groups — differently edited versions of the film, designed for the viewing tastes of target audiences.

Sound crazy? Heck, we've already got "theatrical versions" and "special editions" and "director's cuts". If Hollywood decides that their multimillion-dollar movies will turn a better profit if they don't keep trying to make them be one-size-fits-all, this idea just might take off!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)