The Martian

2015

USA

Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Drew Goddard (screenplay); Andy Weir (novel)
Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Sean Bean
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA): PG-13 for some strong language, injury images, and brief nudity

Synopsis (from Rotten Tomatoes website):

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney's safe return.

My Thoughts:

A team of astronauts on a mission to Mars, forced to evacuate the planet, have to leave Matt Damon behind. How disturbing! This was a really good sci-fi flick. One of those instances where the hype was well deserved. No bug-eyed monsters or slime bombs, and no comic book style villains -- how refreshing is that?

My Rating at the IMDb: 7 stars out of a possible 10

Interstellar

2014

USA

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Mackenzie Foy, Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon, John Lithgow, Ellen Burstyn
Music by: Hans Zimmer
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some intense perilous action and brief strong language.

Synopsis (by Google):

In Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering the planet uninhabitable. Professor Brand (Michael Caine), a brilliant NASA physicist, is working on plans to save mankind by transporting Earth's population to a new home via a wormhole. But first, Brand must send former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and a team of researchers through the wormhole and across the galaxy to find out which of three planets could be mankind's new home. 

My Thoughts:

I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did. I'm not generally a huge Matthew McConaughey fan; but I do like sci-fi, and the rest of the cast sounded promising, so I took a chance. Glad I did -- it was so entertaining I didn't even mind that it was nearly three hours long. Of course, the "science" of time travel (if it might actually exist) is always going to be a little hard to nail down; everybody has a theory, and this spin was as good as any. And I even liked the idea of combining time travel and ghostly events -- something I thought would be annoying turned out to be very intriguing.

A few other stray thoughts:

• Loved the robots -- very original designs.
• Lots of visual references to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. I suppose that's to be expected, but when does "homage" become "rip-off"?
• Much more entertaining than that other recent sci-fi biggie, Gravity. 
• With her hair chopped off, doesn't Anne Hathaway remind you of the young Liza Minnelli? But not quite as irritating, thank goodness.

My IMDb Rating: 6 stars out of a possible 10

Transcendence

2014

USA

Directed by: Wally Pfister
Written by: Jack Paglen
Cast: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Paul Bettany
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA): Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, some bloody images, brief strong language and sensuality

What it's all about:

Johnny Depp plays Dr. Will Caster, the world's foremost authority on artificial intelligence. Dr. Caster is the leader of a team conducting highly controversial experiments, with the ultimate goal of creating a "sentient" machine -- a computer with a mind of its own. When extremists try to kill the doctor, they inadvertently give him just the chance he needed to turn his theories into reality. When Will is given just one month to live, his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) comes up with a plan to upload his consciousness into the advanced computer the team has developed. Will's best friend Max (Paul Bettany) questions the wisdom of this action and is eventually persuaded to join the terrorists responsible for Will's death.

Once Will achieves virtual life in the computer, Evelyn helps him to build a sort of technological eden in a remote desert town called Brightwood where he sets about remaking the world according to his own personal designs. Eventually Will's crazed thirst for knowledge and power cause all his loved ones to admit he must be stopped, but they also realize it may already be too late.

My thoughts:

Most of the critics trashed this film, so I wasn't expecting much. But I like Johnny Depp and I try to see every movie Morgan Freeman makes, so I gave it a try. Glad I did -- it's definitely watchable. Not great, but pretty good sci-fi with a thought-provoking theme, enough action to keep it from dragging, and no enormous alien slime worms blasting their way out of anyone's midsection. A lot of it doesn't really stand up to deep thought, but hey -- it's a movie.

My IMDb Rating: 6 stars out of a possible 10

Knowing

2009

USA

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.
Written by Ryne Douglas Pearson, Juliet Snowden, and Stiles White
Directed by Alex Proyas
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Rose Byrne, Lara Robinson

Synopsis (from About.com):

In 1958 [actually, I think it was 1959], as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one of the students, a mysterious girl who seems to hear whispered voices, fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fast forward 50 years to the present: A new generation of students examines the contents of the time capsule and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb [played by Chandler Canterbury]. But it is Caleb's father, professor Ted Myles [played by Nicolas Cage], who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As Ted further unravels the document's secrets, he realizes it foretells three additional events – the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve Ted and his son.

My Thoughts:

(I saw this for the first time a year or so after it first came out, but it was on TV the other night and I watched it again.  This review was written after my first viewing, but my thoughts really haven't changed much.)

Very confused and confusing film. I thought the first half or so was excellent – nice texture, interesting story line, well-built suspense with a slightly creepy feel. Reminded me a little (the general feel – not the plot) of The Mothman Prophecies (a much better movie). However, the second half of the show deteriorated into pretty standard apocalyptic sci-fi – not one of my favorite genres. It relied much too heavily on special effects, enigmatic "presences," and unexplained goings-on (I'm still not sure what was up with all those smooth black rocks that kept showing up everywhere). Another one of those movies where you end up hoping Fox Mulder will finally show up out of the shadows and explain everything for you ("Yes, Scully – I've seen this before. It's probably just a manifestation of yada yada yada.")

I think I'd only recommend this one to other Nicolas Cage fans. Probably not for everyone. The movie is rated PG-13, but I have to say if I were the parent of a very young child, I'd be wary of letting them see this one. A lot of the special effects are disturbingly realistic. And the whole end of the world scenario is scary and depressing, and might very easily inspire nightmares for some more sensitive youngsters – not to mention some more sensitive oldsters such as moi.

My IMDb Rating: 6 stars out of a possible 10 (mainly because I'm a huge Nicolas Cage fan)

Triangle

2009

UK/Australia

Written and Directed by: Christopher Smith
Cinematography: Robert Humphreys
Cast: Melissa George, Joshua McIvor, Jack Taylor, Michael Dorman, Henry Nixon, Rachael Carpani,  Emma Lung, Liam Hemsworth, Bryan Probets
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language

Story:

During a weekend sailing trip, a freak wave capsizes Greg’s yacht, forcing him, single mother Jess (Melissa George) and a group of his friends to board a passing ocean liner. Onboard the mysteriously empty ship, all the clocks have stopped, the ‘Shining’-like corridors are spookily silent, and Jess has an uncanny feeling that she’s been here before. Then a hooded figure starts hunting them down and killing them one by one. Shotguns are fired, fire axes are wielded and bodies pile up on the decks. Fiendishly constructed, this plays like a dark, disturbing ‘Twilight Zone’ episode. Events repeat themselves but are subtly different each time, so we share, as well as observe, Jess’s spiralling sense of dislocation. [--Nigel Floyd, Timeout.com]

My Thoughts:
This was actually not the waste of time I thought it would be.  There's something oddly karmic in the continual replay of events, with each iteration showing us the story from a just slightly different angle.  I generally don't like movies that repeat the same action over and over (with the glorious exception of Groundhog Day) -- but in this one it works. 

My IMDb Rating: 5 stars out of a possible 10

Super-8

So, new blog. Guess I'll jump right in and start with the latest movie I've seen (watched this one on DVD from Netflix).

Super-8
2011

Written and Directed by J.J. Abrams
Produced by Stephen Spielberg (among others)
Cast: Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, AJ Michalka, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Gabriel Basso
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language and some drug use

Story:

While making a super-8 movie in the summer of 1979, a group of middle school students in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly afterward, unusual and inexplicable events begin taking place. As the local deputy sheriff (father of one of the young film-makers) tries to uncover the truth, the kids begin to realize that something terrifying may have escaped during the crash.

My Thoughts:
Cute film. Sort of a marriage of Stand By Me and Aliens.

My IMDb Rating: 6 stars out of a possible 10