Ender's Game

Ender’s Game

Sometimes I still find myself stunned at how far visual components have evolved in cinema, the craftsmanship is noticeable and the attention to detail is impressive, Ender’s Game is visually, very well crafted and fun to watch. Ender’s Game is an Us vs. Them, military, shoot em up type of film, based in the future and Earth’s military is preparing for another attack from an alien species. Ender, a stand out student in battle school is exploited for his skills in simulated combat, except the military doesn’t let Ender know that his simulated kills are real. Lies, deception and all the other great qualities you would expect from an international military. This movie is very prevalent in our current times when you compare to drone warfare which is currently a hot topic, the detachment from a reality based fight into a video game type battle; adding a strange new psychological twist into combat, as if it needs another one. One aspect of this is when Ender finds out that his kills were real, he is regarded as a hero but he now views himself as just a killer, a savage. Seems like a lot of responsibility and pressure for a child to handle. This is another interesting aspect of this film, the exploitation of a child in order to gain an advantage over the aliens without him really understanding his own actions. Of course the movie exaggerates this idea to the extreme of combat but we are doing this to our children, some parents strip the most important developmental years of their child’s life away and replace it with over the top expectations, rehearsals, practice and tests. Movies like Ender’s Game are so interesting because they take some of the most uncomfortable aspects of our own society and blow them up to show them to us in this nicely package product, the same could be said about Hunger Games as well. And that’s what I really like about this film is that it went beyond entertainment and had some good social thought incorporated into it, giving the viewer the opportunity to think about larger social problems, instead of being just an action packed, eye candy flick.

Moon

Moon

What a film! Quite possibly my favorite sci-fi film ever, Sam Rockwell just nails this performance, he is so unbelievable in everything he does. He plays Sam, an astronaut that monitors & repairs a mining station on the moon; the moon has a substantial supply of helium 3 which earth uses to power 70 percent of the planet. That’s a big job for just one guy. Sam is injured while out checking a mining vehicle, he crashes and gets knocked out, it is because of the accident that we discover Sam is a clone and now there is another Sam, the one who saved him. The new Sam has a completely different demeanor and is pretty aggressive, which is cool to see the difference amongst the clones, and once again amazing work by Sam Rockwell for pulling this off so beautifully. The debate over who is the clone who is the original is great, the dialogue is strong enough to pull this off and it takes this part of the story to the next level by having these clones question their own existence. In a way Moon is a sort of collective of a lot of the films we have seen this semester. It deals with real vs. synthetic memory, it also has a science gone wrong element, it has been visual elements of Blade Runner and 2001, all the while having the dominant main character isolated in space like Gravity. Moon does a great job of drawing from substantial sci-fi influence while remaining a solid story of its own. Moon is a very impressive film and an excellent way to finish this semester.

 

 

 

Another Earth

Another Earth

 

Not a typical sci-fi movie, Another Earth borders on a romantic drama with a sci-fi twist. The main character Rhoda is riddled with guilt after causing a car accident that killed John Burrough’s wife and child. The discovery of another planet the shares all of Earth’s qualities and it is later discovered to be an exact replica of Earth, people and all. This movie is really slow after the accident and takes awhile to develop the relationship between John and Rhoda. Rhoda wins an essay contest to be the first civilian to go to Earth 2, which is really strange.  After admitting to John that she was the one who caused the accident that took the lives of his wife and child, he flips out, she offers her ticket to Earth 2 in the hopes that he can reunite with his family. I really like the concept of this movie but it just moves too slow for me. Another Earth left me wanting more interaction between Earth and Earth 2, perhaps developing character relations between Rhoda and Rhoda 2 or any character and their duplicate from Earth 2. Another Earth has a really cool concept but is a bit too dramatic for me.

Fanboys

Fanboys

Fanboys is a fun Star Wars fanatic comedy that chronicles the journey of a group of Star Wars nerds that are on a mission to see the new Star Wars movie before it gets released and their friend dies from cancer. The lengths these guys will go to is hysterical, committing crimes, getting into battles, lying, cheating and stealing; it’s a no holds bar movie, nerd style. Fanboys more than anything spotlights the rise nerds and geeks in pop culture, demonstrating the huge cultural impact of sci-fi and fantasy based stories, but more so the acceptance of imagination and technology. This movie is pretty simple and its execution, nothing is too abstract; in fact it's a straight shot with plenty of laughs and ridiculous outbursts. A fighting scene between the main Star Wars fans and a group of Trekkies in Captain Kirk's hometown is pretty memorable and I think there is even a nod to The Big Lebowski when a Star Wars fan bites off the imitation Spock’s ear and spits it in the air, all of which is in slow motion. Fanboys needs just one thing from the viewer- you need to have at least seen the first Star Wars to understand a little bit of what's going on and then you are set for a fun movie with a silly but touching plot.

 

 

 

Trekkies

Trekkies

Very few stories or sitcoms transpire and blossom into its own sub culture, taking on a life of its own like Star Trek has. Perhaps a combination of timing and social purpose, Star Trek influences reach young and old, male or female. Evidence such as Trek conventions continues to pump life into the Star Trek Saga, even cast members maintain a sense of extended fame due to long term popularity: amongst diehard fans. At times the consumption of Star Trek into some people's lives becomes eye opening. Star Trek is a day to day life style going well beyond a hobby of casual interest. For people like Gabriel Köerner, hey young man who lives and breathes Star Trek. Köerner is a very intelligent young man that while incredibly nerdy is a positive figure for the often and publicly scrutinized Trekkies. His overt passion an indulgence has rendered a creative talent that produces alternative Star Trek based stories and art that is thoughtful and skillful. The most interesting part of this film is how Star Trek lends itself to personal interpretation, and just how individuals connect to the characters, plots and concepts. It kind of reminds you of some religious types consumed with their faith, a complete saturation of thought and action. What is also interesting about this film is the social and psychological aspects of this type of obsession. For many, Trekkie acceptance is perhaps the only form of social acceptance that some of these people get. Being and nerd wasn't that cool 20, 10 or even 5 years ago, so some Trekkies use this outlet as an escape from real life and some simply don't come back. Trekkies is a fun movie with some uncomfortable moments that make my own inhibitions cringe a little bit, but it's only because many of us could only wish to be this care free with our own oddities in public. I am also glad that people like the Trekkies are out there not giving a shit about what society thinks, and taking pride in their interests and identity.

Starship Troppers

Starship Troppers

 A society where citizenship is gained only by serving in the national military, where violence is the common solution for most problems; this is perhaps a utopia for some people but a way of life in Starship Troopers, a bit cut throat and barbaric but socially acceptable. The main character Rico is publically punished, tied up and whipped, reminiscent of Roots but far less effective in context. I understand the idea of a mandatory military being like slavery, but this scene misses the mark for me. This movie rides a very fine line, on one side a pro-war, dominant, aggressive behavior but on the other side it can be questioned that the story is trying to provide the extreme in order to show the worst of human behavior. Starship Troopers is relative to a few of the films we watched earlier this semester films like Gojira and Them, that dealt with the fear of the other invading our space and claiming our society as their own. The bugs are determined to bring the human race to an end, which can be perceived as a reflection of a pro war Society, the acceptance of violence as a solution to almost any problem. In Darko Survins essay serving categorizes 2 stanzas of war based sci-fi films, the first stanza justified war as necessary and better for humanity, the second suggests and avoidance of war by all means possible. Starship Troopers is a first stanza story all the way and Survin comments that a pro war society thrives on a war economy, putting capitalism ahead of public interest, referred to as a “cancer stage” of existence. At first glance it is easy to see Starship Troopers as a fun action packed sci-fi film, the overall aesthetics and special effects are very well done. The bugs look realistic in the space, interacting with the soldiers believably. Aside from the eye candy the story opens up a few different avenues of interpretation, providing some food for thought about glorification of war and the social perspective and possibilities of condoning such behavior. Starship Troopers is it better story than movie, unfortunately the cast does not live up to the story. Casting seems more important than the acting skills of the cast, lending itself to the eye candy genre. So Starship Troopers is a good story that got a little too much candy coating and unfortunately that puts just enough distance between the viewer and the story / premise to seem watered down.

Recursion

RECURSION- Original story by Michael Murphy-Amen

Synopsis- When a signal transmitting from the center of the earth is discovered by a group of hackers, they end up following the signal to the core and inciting a triggering of a recursion virus that send the Earth into a spiral of continuous natural disasters.

The year is 2016, the location a small flat just outside of London where a computer programmer, Sonny Newman, age 24, is playing World of Warcraft online and talking some trash with his girlfriend, Amy Borland, a 22 year old videogame programmer from Wales and his best friend Rudy Avalos, a master of electrical engineering student at London University from Spain. The three are at their own flats wearing their headset with the glow of their computer screens illuminating their faces with constant chatter and clicking of their keyboards. Sonny mentions to Amy and Rudy that there is ten minutes until “mission shut eye”. Mission shut eye is a plan that the three of them have been plotting for the 2 months, the idea is to hack into Interpol’s computer mainframe during a routine maintenance diagnostic. Unknown to the general public Interpol sets random times to run diagnostics, tests and updates that shut down surveillance for exactly two and a half minutes. Once inside the mainframe the plan is to disable all of London’s surveillance cameras by placing a virus that sends the system into maintenance mode over and over. Leaving the most watched city in the world in a surveillance darkness and launching Sonny, Amy and Rudy into hacker infamy. The time comes to execute “shut eye” and the three are clicking away on their keyboards, Rudy speaks up, “I’m in.” Amy is working on password codes and Sonny is planting the virus. It is a couple tense moments because they have such a short period of time to get the job done. After Sonny is done programming the virus they only have twenty seconds to get out of the mainframe or else they could get tracked down. Rudy barely gets out with a nano-second left. “I’m out!” It’s all smiles and celebratory banter, Sonny filled with adrenaline and accomplishment suggests a drink at the pub, Amy and Rudy agree and make plans to meet up, but just before Sonny heads out the door he notices a strange series of data has taken over his screen. The data begins repeating over and over, filling the screen. Once at the pub Sonny is visibly worried, fearing that they might be in trouble. Sonny tells Amy and Rudy about the strange data on his computer, instantly the mood shifts and everyone is uneasy thinking that Interpol has somehow tracked and marked Sonny’s computer. Rudy remains confident in his work that they could not track the computers and wants to see the data, so they leave their unfinished beers and go back to Sonny’s. The uncertainty of the situation leaves them anxious, Sonny explains that he has never seen anything like this in all his years of programming and once Amy and Rudy see the data repeating over and over on Sonny’s computer as though it was possessed, they agreed. For days the data continues to repeat and the three are on edge but laying low, after a few more days of nothing Rudy and Sonny decide to tap back into the Interpol mainframe only to find that the system is still stuck in maintenance mode. Their hack did what it was supposed to do but never made it to the news sources. Rudy and Sonny then realize that the data can’t be coming from Interpol. Sonny to Rudy “So where then?” Rudy to Sonny, “No idea.”

 Amy later has to hack into Sonny’s computer, she discovers that with Interpol down there is another system using a feed of Interpol data and must have locked on to Sonny’s interference during the hack. She also discovers that the data is coming from somewhere near Paris. Amy instantly tells Sonny and Rudy about her discoveries, further adding to their curiosity. They become consumed by the data and the idea of Paris, night and day they research and attempt to discover who or what is creating this strange feed. Sonny finds out that the data is coming from a transmitter located in the underground of Paris. When Amy finds out she burst out “The catacombs!” Baffled and intrigued the three feel it is worth it to take a long shot and plan a trip to Paris to track down the transmitter.

Paris-

After a week of planning the three find themselves in the heart of Paris riddled with curiosity their adventure begins. Armed with their laptops and cell phones they enter the catacombs, the walls are draped in human bones and skulls setting the tone for their adventure. Amy starts getting a stronger signal from the transmitter but can’t tell exactly where it’s coming from. They just keeping walking, hours pass and they have no idea where they are. The last human they saw was about an hour before, feeling lost and confused tension rises and begins to take over. They start following rats in hopes they would find another turn that will lead them to the source. Overwhelmed and hungry they start to panic, Rudy fears the worst and begins to regret his decision to get this involved, but as they take another turn Sonny spots a faint light off in the distance. As they walk towards the light they see a silhouette figure dash in front of the light and then disappear. Sonny, Amy and Rudy start running towards the light and they can hear feet shuffling ahead of them. They continue chasing the sound while yelling for it to stop and help them. As they follow the figure for a while the catacombs begin to open up, amazed at the surroundings they lose track of the figure for a moment as they descend deeper and deeper into this labyrinth filled with huge mechanics, pumps and gears that turn and undulate in synchronicity. Rudy points and yells, “There it is!” They can see the figure begins to disappear into the distance. Amy shouts, “The signal is coming from in here!” Sonny responds, “Keep going! Follow it!” After chasing the figure for a while they start to see an intense white light directly in front of them, they can see the figure’s silhouette get smaller and smaller, fading into the light. They descend into the light in a hypnotic-like trance, Amy grabs Sonny's hand. For a moment they forget where they are, as a structure starts to break the light they begin to snap back into reality, looking for the figure once again. In front of them an expansive space of illuminated conductors and receivers passing data back and forth. A large encased motherboard transmits a steady glow, impressive in size and surrounded by large, sleek, transparent touch screens. It is unlike anything they have seen before. Above and below them a geometric system of gigantic cylinders, pipes and pumps; panels acres long adjusting and resetting every few seconds, so many separate responses and actions that it seems to be alive, breathing in, breathing out, maintaining a conducted homeostasis. Sonny spots the figure, it is lanky and thin with long, white hair and bolts towards it, Rudy and Amy follow. They can see it is operating some sort of computer. As they approach they hear it speak, the voice is weak but confident and says, “You couldn't leave well enough alone!” A tremendous wave of terror falls over Amy, Sonny and Rudy, they stand frozen. “You just had to push it, couldn't mind your own business. I run away but you follow and if you found me they will find me, like a virus multiplying and spreading through the veins. I have watched humanity devour itself and this earth for too long and now I must destroy the monster I've created.”  Amy breaks the silence, “Who are you? And what is this place?” The figure speaks, “I and all that you see is everything you thought you knew about the earth. If a tree grows in the mountains, if a landslide destroys a village, if the tides swell it is of my doing. This is what you know as the earth’s core but in reality it is a system connected to a motherboard, and I and who you know as Mother Nature. Day and night I control and monitor this planet, but that all ends now.” Mother Nature with the touch of her finger launches a program into the system that sends the motherboard a recursive virus that triggers nonstop natural disasters all over the planet. The pumps pistons and panels start to speed up, jolting back and forth, building and releasing pressure. Everything around them begins to tremble and twist, fault lines all across North America start to open up, swallowing and leveling the land. Tidal waves envelop Australia to Japan; volcanoes erupt all over South America dousing cities in lava. In a last ditch effort to save anything, Rudy tries to once again tap into the motherboard via his laptop, but the earth is rumbling so hard he can't type. He can barely even focus on the screen. Amy and Sonny are trying to hold on each other but can barely control their own movements. The gigantic structure around them begins to give way allowing the cavity to fill with rock dirt and water, debris of metal, wood and flesh occupied any crevasses of space possible. In a matter of moments life on Earth has vanished, its muscles and heart once convulsing now cease, the Earth releases its final burst of energy into the atmosphere and now lies motionless amongst the universe.