I took the day off today, and met up with my friend Doug to see James Cameron’s big CGI epic Avatar.  Even better, we saw it in IMAX 3D. I’ve actually not seen any mainstream movies in 3D that have recently been released (the last being a kids “educational” 3D movie over at the Liberty Science Center last year.) I had time to watch some trailers for upcoming movies which were in 3D as well, and they looked great. Hey, maybe I should see more 3D movies.

The plot of Avatar plays out much like Dances with Wolves or The Last Samurai. From Wikipedia:

The film is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a fictional Earth-like world in the Alpha Centauri planetary system. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora’s reserves of a precious mineral, while the Na’vi—a race of indigenous humanoids—resist the colonists’ expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the Na’vi and the Pandoran ecosystem. The film’s title refers to the genetically engineered bodies used by the film’s characters to interact with the Na’vi.

So, without giving any big secret away, while the humans may see the Na’vi as savages, they are actually a sentient alien race with ties to nature, which we don’t.  Throughout the movie, there are some definite Native American themes, as well as the injustices done to them.  Nature is good. Humans are thoughtless and crude. We should be one with the world.

Overall, although the movie is long (clocking in at 162 minutes), I felt it went pretty fast. While the themes are nothing new, the movie itself is gorgeous. I read online that the movie is 40% live-action, and 60% CGI. I did hear previously that James Cameron had the movie studio executives nervous with the high price tag ($280 milllon?), but since he’s approaching (or reached) the $1 billion mark in sales, I guess he’s laughing all the way to the bank on this one.

I would recommend watching this movie in IMAX 3D. It’s a beautiful-to-watch movie, and entertaining. Watch it. Dive deep into it. Don’t spill your popcorn.

Avatar (2009)

It’s like a dream come true. Joshua is, I think, officially a Star Wars fan. He’s only 4.5 years old, but I think I can get continue my corruption, er, I mean, nurture his budding love for geekiness.  We’ve been watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars (I did say that it’s been pretty cool.) As I understand it, it’s the highest-rated show on Cartoon Network right now, and for good reason. The latest episode, Landing at Point Rain, was a phenomenal, engaging, action-packed war episode. I mean, it was really good.

We’ve also watched Star Wars Episode IV (A New Hope) and Episode V (The Empire Strikes Back) which are slightly over his head, but he asked a lot of questions.  He obviously didn’t get it all, and I did some minor fast-fowarding, but I kept him engaged in the main storyline.  I also made sure he thought Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Chewbacca are all pretty cool.  I think he just likes R2-D2 a lot. He’s already asking when are we going to find out what happens next in Episode VI (Return of the Jedi.) I was happy that at a birthday party a week ago where they had a Prince & Princess theme, he was amenable to the idea his sword was a lightsaber. 

This year, I’ve been embracing my inner geek. All these years, I’ve been too self-conscious to admit to it, but it obviously often showed.  Now, I feel secure enough to let myself…. um, be myself, I guess. I’m a geek.  Nothing wrong with that.  Why be a half-ass geek?  Go whole-ass, I say. Be the techno geek.  The sci-fi geek.  Why not, after all?  There are others out there like me.  As a matter of fact, Wired.com has a Geek Dad column, written by someone just like me. Enjoy it. Love it. Live it!

If I can make my kids enjoy sci-fi too, hey that’s great.  Their journey towards the Dark side will be complete.  I just hope they can get still dates in 10-15 years.

The movie 9 has finally debuted.  It’s getting decent reviews, and I would love to see it.  i09.com posted their review of 9. I don’t have any free time (sans kids) so I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Sigh. I wish I had more free time.

9

io9.com had a pretty neat list of their Top 100 Science Fiction / Fantasy Shows of All Time.  It’s a good list. Check it out.  A lot of good shows that I grew up on are on here.  Quantum Leap should have been higher.

Whoa. Now that’s what I call good sci-fi.

Over the weekend, my wife and I went to see District 9. I’m not sure why my wife agreed to see it, but I suppose she realized we’ve seen a number of rom-com movies. She doesn’t like sci-fi or action, so she really took one for the team here.

This movie had a lot of what love about good sci-fi.  Using a backdrop of science-fiction, you can explore important themes with a “what if?”  For just $30 million, you touch upon themes related to what it means to be human and how we treat others and discrimination.  It also had great (and believable special effects), and some very good action. The exploding bodies was a nice touch. I love when a sci-fi story does a great job with social satire.

$30 million. A complete cast of unknowns. Good special effects.  Great themes. Good action. What more do you want?

This was a good sci-fi movie. Director Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson did good.

District 9 (2009)

Warehouse 13

On Tuesday, Syfi (here lie the old Sci-Fi Channel) premiered a new sci-fi series named Warehouse 13.  From what  I saw, it was a mash-up of Men in Black meets the big warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. You could call it a “dramedy”, but FYI, the executive suits at Syfi are calling the show a “thrilleromedy”, whatever that means.

The pilot went like this: two Secret Service agents do such a bang-up job saving the life of POTUS, they receive a mysterious job offer to work in “Warehouse 13.”  What is Warehouse 13?  It is this massive, top-secret storage facility in South Dakota (very reminiscent of the aforementioned big warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Turns out this mysterious warehouse maintained the the U.S. gov’t houses strange artifacts, mysterious relic, etc. in order to protect the world. The two agents are the newest recruits to a small, select group of government employees responsible for chasing down any reports of supernatural/paranormal activity, which may be as a result of some mysterious object.

It was somewhat entertaining as what I might call farcical science-fiction, so I intend to check out the next few episodes.  It could easily cross the line into sophomoric funny and become too fantastical to believe.  If so, forget it.  For now, I’ll give it a try.

Do you know what I don’t get? When I’m home, I watch very little TV.  Maybe I don’t have a lot of time at home, maybe there’s not much on.  I’ve at the TV on at 2am while I was doing work, and it’s just crap.  However, when I’m on the road, I can be up super late watching all the interesting stuff on TV. 

I want to go to sleep, and there’s an interesting documentary on the Korean War.  Maybe a super-interesting CourtTV-type of mystery/crime re-creation.  Here in Canada, do you know what they have?  Space, a 24-hour sci-fi channel.  Last night, I watched two hours of Star Trek, and Aliens!  It’s a better sci-fi channel than Sci-Fi in the States (soon to be SyFy in July 2009.)

Saturday night, I drove out to the Garden State Plaza mall to meet up with my friend Doug, and see Terminator Salvation. As you undoubtedly know, this is the latest sequel in the Terminator franchise, and the first not starring Ah-nuld.  I’ve been looking forward to this movie for months, but some of the negative reviews had scared me off for a while.  Also, I had no free time to see a movie!

We caught the 10:35 showing, as did many other people on a busy Saturday night at the mall.  I wasn’t sure why all the traffic surrounding the mall at 10pm, until I saw the carnival set up on the outlying parking lots, sponsored by D.A.R.E.  I lost a lot of time slowly moving through stopped-traffic, trying to get to the AMC movie theater parking garage.  I finally just pulled into another garage, and just ran through the mall to get to the theater.

So, now my review.  You know, I thought it was a good movie.  Usually, I’m tougher on movies than others, but I thought this one was pretty good.  Look, it’s not the greatest drama ever told, but for a Terminator movie, it was pretty entertaining on a summer Saturday night.  Great action, great special effects, a decent story, and scary Terminators trying to kill the characters.  What’s not to enjoy?  Both Christian Bale and Sam Worthington were good as their characters. I thought there was some corny parts near the end, and one piece at the every end that I seriously question the science of, but I’ll let it go.

Good movie.  If you haven’t seen it yet, and you like the Terminator franchise, go see it on the big screen.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Dang, tell me this doesn’t sound familiar?  Yahoo Japan and a Japanese billboard manufacturer are collaborating on electronic signage that photographs the faces of a passersby, analyses it using NEC’s facial analysis technology, and estimates his or her age. Once the demo is confirmed, the device spits out appropriate advertising content.”

Whoa.  It’s just like Minority Report.  I’m telling you.  People mock sci-fi, but imagination is an amazing ability.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Isn’t someone working on the same hands-in-the-air interface?  And you know they’ve been working on flying cars for a while.

On a Saturday night (when we can’t go anywhere fun with the kids), I had some quality geeky alone time.  I watched my latest Netflix movie, The Island, starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, among other well-known character actors.  It’s a sci-fi movie about the future, cloning, etc.  I remember when this Michael Bay movie came out in 2005, and bombed at the box office.  I didn’t stay away from it, so much as never got around to watching it.

I actually thought it was a good movie.  Good action, pretty decent sci-fi plot, and decent acting.  It’s no blockbuster, but I’m glad pleasantly surprised to learn that Michael Bay can actually make a decent movie. Who knew?

The only portion that raised my eyebrows was the rampant in-movie advertising / product placement.  Especially the MSN Search crap.  How much product placement? Did you know that Cisco Systems, MSN Search, Xbox, Puma, Reebok, Miller Light, NBC, NFL, Budweiser, Apple, Aquafina, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Mack, Coca-Cola, Speedo, TAG Heuer, Amtrak, Ben & Jerry’s, and Nokia are some of the sponsors of the film? That’s crazy, even by Michael Bay standards.

The Island (2005)