Tag: SciFi

REVIEW: ‘Chappie’

Director:
Neill Blomkamp
Cast:
Sharlto Copley
Dev Patel
Ninja
Yo-Landi Visser
Jose Pablo Cantillo
Hugh Jackman
Sigourney Weaver
Rated: R

“Chappie,” like Director Neill Blomkamp’s first film “District 9,” takes place in the South African city of Johannesburg. The city is over run with crime and gangs seem to be everywhere. Because of this problem, a large weapons manufacturing company develops a new droid humanoid robot to add to the police force.

This is where we enter one of the film’s protagonists, a software developer for the robots named Deon (Patel). Deon has his sights set on creating the first artificial intelligence and pulls off the feat and uploads the program to a damaged police robot. Problems arise, though, when the robot ends up in the hands of a trio of gangsters (Ninja, Yo-Landi Visser, Cantillo) who begin teaching the impressionable droid criminal acts.

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 review

Director:
Francis Lawrence
Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence
Josh Hutcherson
Liam Hemsworth
Woody Harrelson
Donald Sutherland
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Julianne Moore
Rated: PG-13

The odds will certainly be in this movie’s favor at the box office this weekend.
“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1” is the first in a two-part finale for the whole book- based movie series. The film picks up not long after the events of the previous installment, “Catching Fire” with Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, taken to the mysterious District 13.

District 13 is the home of the rebellion against the oppressive rule of the Capitol of Panem. Upon her arrival, Katniss meets the President of District 13, Alma Coin, played by Julianne Moore. Katniss soon learns that the District wants her to be the face and symbol of the rebellion.

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Interstellar review

Director:
Christopher Nolan
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey
John Lithgow
Michael Caine
Anne Hathaway
David Gyasi
Mackenzie Foy
Jessica Chastain
Rated PG-13

“Interstellar” takes place many years in the future. The Earth has more or less dried up and much of the land looks like a dust bowl. There are constant dust storms and very few crops remain that can grow in the increasingly harsh conditions.

To ensure that humanity has a chance to survive and live on, an expedition is put together by the remaining resources at NASA to travel through a worm hole near Saturn and find a new home. The only problem is they still need a pilot.

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The Giver review

Director:
Phillip Noyce
Cast:
Jeff Bridges
Meryl Streep
Brenton Thwaites
Odeya Rush
Rated: PG-13

Based on a 1993 novel of the same name, “The Giver” follows the story of Jonas (Thwaites), a young man living in a society with no war, pain or suffering. This is made possible because there is no emotion or feeling. On the day when he finds out what he will do for a career in the dystopian future, Jonas learns that he will discover the history of his people from The Giver (Bridges).

As Jonas begins to learn from The Giver, he discovers emotion and passion in life, and he looks to share it with those around him. This is forbidden, though, and he becomes a target of the Chief Elder of the community (Streep).

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REVIEW: ‘Lucy’

Director:
Luc Besson
Cast:
Scarlett Johansson
Morgan Freeman
Amr Waked
Min-sik Choi
Rated: R

Director Luc Besson’s latest film “Lucy” follows the title character played by Scarlett Johansson. A young woman who is living in Taiwan, Lucy’s life takes a turn for the worst when her boyfriend gets her caught up in the world of drug trafficking.

Lucy soon becomes a drug mule, having a package of drugs placed inside of her. The package soon breaks and the drug enters her system, which results in her brain capacity increasing. Through the rest of the movie Lucy’s brain capacity continues to rise nearer to 100%, and she has to figure out what to do with the knowledge she gains and take revenge on the drug gang.

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes review

Director:
Matt Reeves
Cast:
Andy Serkis
Jason Clarke
Gary Oldman
Keri Russell
Toby Kebbell
Rated: PG-13

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is the sequel to the 2011 reboot film which followed the birth and childhood of the character Ceasar (Serkis), and how he rose to be a revolutionary leader for his simian species. “Dawn” starts off 10 years after the first film ended. Since Caesar and the apes escaped, a virus produced at a lab has spread across the entire world and has wiped out most of the human race. Meanwhile, the apes, led by Caesar, have established their own thriving community where they live in peace.

Tensions rise, though, as a group of humans from a colony in the remains of San Francisco step upon the Ape civilization to find a power source and an accidental death occurs. Just as the situation reaches a near boiling point, though, Caesar is able to communicate with the humans to calm things down and eventually, the humans get to do their work. Old hatreds start to rise up, though, and peace may not be a long term solution.

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Transformers: Age of Extinction review

Director:
Michael Bay
Cast:
Mark Wahlberg
Nicola Peltz
Jack Reynor
Kelsey Grammer
Rated: PG-13

Director Michael Bay just can’t seem to keep these movies under two and a half hours, and it once again becomes a problem for the latest “Transformers.”

The fourth installment, called “Age of Extinction,” follows Cade Yeager, played by Mark Wahlberg. Cade is a struggling, down on his luck inventor who is also an overprotective father to his daughter Tessa, played by Nicola Peltz. Meanwhile, the good natured Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are being hunted by the government for being too dangerous.

Eventually, Cade, Tessa and Tessa’s boyfriend Shane, played by Jack Reynor, come in contact with Prime and are forced into an adventure in which they are chased by an evil Decepticon bounty hunter and the government.

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Edge of Tomorrow review

Tom Cruise is continuing his recent streak of action and science fiction films with “Edge of Tomorrow,” and it might be one of the best films he has done in years.

Cage is the name of Cruise’s character in “Edge of Tomorrow,” an arrogant Major in the U.S. Army whose main task in the military is public relations and the promotion of new exoskeletal armor suits. The suits Cage is promoting are being utilized by humanity in a five-year war against alien invaders who have conquered much of Europe.

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Transcendence review

A good science fiction idea can only go so far without a good story.

Will Caster is the main character of “Transcendence,” played by Johnny Depp.

Caster is a brilliant computer technician who has designed his own artificial intelligence programming. His life and much of the technology industry is shattered, though, when a terrorist attack occurs by a group who fears artificial intelligence.

Disaster strikes when Caster learns the attack has left him terminally ill and he only has a few weeks to live. In response, Caster’s wife, Evelyn, played by Rebecca Hall, and friend and colleague, Max, portrayed by Paul Bettany, use the artificial intelligence technology to place Caster’s consciousness into a computer program.

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REVIEW: ‘Her’

Director:
Spike Jonze
Cast:
Joaquin Phoenix
Rooney Mara
Amy Adams
Scarlett Johansson
Rated: R

Good science fiction is all about creating a world that is different or perhaps farther in the future than our own, yet still is able to make strong social statement about our society and keeping it centered around a well structured story. “Her” manages to capture all of this and is the reason it’s one of 2013’s best.

The film follows a the character Theodore (Phoenix), who is in the going through the final stages of a painful divorce and now finds himself all alone. On one of the days that he is on his way home from work, Theodore finds out that a new operating system with fully functioning A.I. has been put out on the market.

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