Author Topic: All Things Sci-Fi...  (Read 4116 times)

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Mac

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #45 on: September 30, 2012, 09:26:31 pm »
The Device (Short film)

This is a low budget entry, but get past that and just enjoy the 4 minute story told quickly and smartly.

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Mac

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #46 on: December 09, 2012, 11:35:23 am »
Oblivion (April 19, 2013)

Quote
Tom Cruise stars in OBLIVION, an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the director of TRON: Legacy and the producer of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. On a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one man’s confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind.

Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack Harper’s (Cruise) mission is nearly complete. Living in and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above Earth, his soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands. The film was shot in digital 4K resolution on location across the United States and Iceland.

Universal Pictures will release OBLIVION in IMAX on April 12, 2013, one week ahead of its wide release on April 19, 2013.

This has been kept under wraps for awhile... on the set. Because someone leaked some footage, the studio had to bump up the release of the trailer...

... here it tiz



PS: if the buzz gets stronger, I'll post in the upcoming films thread.

« Last Edit: December 09, 2012, 11:37:59 am by Mac »
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Mac

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #47 on: December 30, 2012, 11:19:53 am »
And the Winner Is… Reader’s Choice for Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies

Pretty interesting list from Geekdad....

Quote
After 73 nominated films, and 11,061 votes from 58 countries, the results are in from our poll to decide the Top 10 Sci-Fi movies of all time.

The winner, in the Number One spot, as selected by the readers of GeekDad, is …

(drum roll…)

Blade Runner

This is the seminal 1982 dystopian crime/noir/sci-fi film directed by Brit Ridley Scott, who also directed our Number 3 film, Alien, as well as Gladiator and most recently Prometheus. Blade Runner stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young, and is based on the sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

Here’s how the Top 10 went down, in rank and number of votes:

    Blade Runner (Director’s Cut): 404 + Blade Runner: 398 = 802
    The Matrix: 665
    Alien: 480
    Star Wars: Episode IV €A New Hope : 455
    2001: A Space Odyssey: 446
    Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back: 434
    Back to the Future: 353
    The Fifth Element: 346
    The Terminator: 332
    Aliens: 325

[Note: We mistakenly listed Blade Runner and Blade Runner (Director's Cut) as two separate films, when we should listed the film only once. We've combined the votes for both versions (404 votes plus 398 votes) which gives us 802, an easy win for first place. But since people could have theoretically voted for Blade Runner twice, this might explain why the film nabbed number one. Still, even if you cut the total in half, Blade Runner still makes the top 10. Also, The War of the Worlds and Minority Report were accidentally listed twice; in the results below, their separate totals have been combined. We apologize for the errors.]

Here are the full results:

1. Blade Runner (Director’s Cut): 404 + Blade Runner: 398 = 802
2. The Matrix: 665
3. Alien (1979): 480
4. Star Wars: Episode IV €A New Hope (1977): 455
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey: 446
6. Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (1980): 434
7. Back to the Future: 353
8. The Fifth Element: 346
9. The Terminator: 332
10. Aliens: 325
11. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: 278
12. Serenity: 270
13. Terminator 2 : Judgment Day: 262
14. Jurassic Park: 246
15. District 9: 238
16. Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 224
17. Minority Report: 221
18. Gattaca: 214
19. Twelve Monkeys: 206
20. Planet of the Apes (1968): 191
21. Tron: 171
22. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: 160
23. John Carpenter’s The Thing: 150
24. Dune: 148
25. Fight Club: 145
26. Children of Men: 144
27. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951): 140
28. Brazil: 140
29. Moon: 138
30. A Clockwork Orange: 135
31. The Abyss: 134
32. Forbidden Planet: 133
33. Ghost in the Shell: 117
34. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 109
35. The War of the Worlds (1953): 104
36. Akira: 102
37. Dark City: 95
38. The Iron Giant: 94
39. Watchmen: 91
40. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: 89
41. Zombieland: 88
42. The Prestige: 88
43. Soylent Green: 84
44. Logan’s Run: 84
45. The Chronicles of Riddick: 84
46. Metropolis (1927): 76
47. The Andromeda Strain: 75
48. The Truman Show: 68
49. A.I. Artificial Intelligence: 66
50. Fahrenheit 451: 55
51. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): 55
52. Silent Running: 50
53. Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: 49
54. Primer: 45
55. The Matrix Reloaded: 43
56. Fantastic Voyage: 43
57. Solaris (Tarkovsky version): 42
58. Titan A.E.: 42
59. Flash Gordon: 41
60. The Matrix Revolutions: 40
61. The Last Man on Earth (“I, Robot”): 36
62. Them! (1954): 34
63. Cube: 33
64. 2010: The Year We Make Contact: 32
65. The City of Lost Children: 32
66. A Scanner Darkly: 29
67. The Black Hole: 21
68. Batteries Not Included: 20
69. Stalker: 18
70. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence: 17
71. Sleeper: 17
72. The Invisible Man (1933): 15
73. Red Planet: 12

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #48 on: January 04, 2013, 03:52:21 pm »
77 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies to Watch Out For in 2013

and some things not so sci-fi....

JANUARY

All Superheroes Must Die (Jan. 4)
This is a indy superhero movie from Jason Trost, director of The FP (last year's dystopian Dance Dance Revolution comedy) in which a group of superheroes lose their powers and are put through a series of brutal challenges. (Now available on VOD/iTunes/Amazon, in select theaters Friday.)
Outlook: It looks way less silly than The FP, and the trailers actually look tense and dark. And it has Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class) and James Remar (Dexter) in it. Could be fun.

Storage 24 (Jan. 11)
Doctor Who's Noel Clarke stars in this thriller where a military cargo plane crashes in London, releasing its deadly cargo on the city — and a group of people are trapped in a storage facility with a horrific creature.
Outlook: The movie's Rotten Tomatoes page is a bloodbath. By all accounts, it really really sucks.

A Haunted House (Jan. 11)
Marlon Wayans stars in this horror spoof, in which a family moves into a house full of spirits and the wife gets possessed by one of them.
Outlook: Honestly, it's Marlon Wayans making fun of really easy targets. But the trailer does contain the line, "I kicked you in your ghost balls."

Mama (Jan. 18)
Guillermo del Toro produced this film, based on a creepy short, about two little orphan girls who survive in the wild for five years before being rescued and sent to live with their uncle and aunt (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Jessica Chastain) — but is their dead mother still watching over them?
Outlook: The trailer and original short film are creepy as heck. Del Toro calls this film "claustrophobic," and it might actually be better than last year's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, which he also produced.


Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (Jan. 25)
Basically, Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton) are all grown up, and now they're hunting witches, including one played by Famke Janssen.
Outlook: It was pushed from last summer to January — usually a bad sign — but the trailers look like cheesy fun, especially the crazy anachronistic gatling guns and other weapons. Could be this year's Season of the Witch.

John Dies at the End (Jan. 25)
The long-awaited movie adaptation of David Wong's cult novel about a drug called Soy Sauce that either kills you or lets you see paranormal weirdness — including the Lovecraftian horrors invading our world. Trailer here.
Outlook: Early reviews suggest it's a highly entertaining yet frustrating ride in which director Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho Tep) takes a lot of liberties with the book source material.

FEBRUARY


Warm Bodies (Feb. 1)
The adaptation of Isaac Marion's novel about a zombie (Nicholas Hoult) who falls in love with one of the last remaining humans, and their love might have the power to transform the post-apocalyptic world.
Outlook: The trailers actually look freaking hilarious, and it's from the director of 50/50, Jonathan Levine.

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (Feb. 1)
A sequel to The Haunting in Connecticut, except that it's set in Georgia and it's not a sequel. A family moves into a historic house in Georgia, only to find out they're not the only thing living there.
Outlook: Ti West (The Innkeepers) was supposed to direct this film but dropped out just before filming started. On the other hand, it has Katee Sackhoff in it, and the trailer actually looks creepy.

The Sorcerer and the White Snake (Feb. 8)
A big-budget adaptation of the ancient Chinese fable about a female snake demon who falls in love with a mortal — and Jet Li plays the sorcerer who tries to slay her.
Outlook: Early reviews suggest the visuals are amazing, but the story is kind of weak.

Side Effects* (Feb. 8)
Stephen Soderbergh's last ever film is about a woman (Rooney Mara) who takes a "revolutionary" new drug called Ablixa to cope with her husband (Channing Tatum) coming home from prison. And there are insane side effects.
Outlook: Looks pretty great. We're including it here because the revolutionary new drug looks as though it could be pretty science-fictional.

Beautiful Creatures (February 13)
One of the year's many attempts to create a new Twilight, this film adapts the bestselling YA series about a young witch named Lena who becomes an outcast in a small town, and the boy who loves her anyway.
Outlook: It looks cheesy as all get-out, but the notion of using a supernatural teen drama to deal with bullying and peer pressure has a lot of potential. Plus Emma Thompson is in it.

Escape From Planet Earth (Feb. 14)
An intrepid alien astronaut (Brendan Fraser) answers a distress call from Earth — but it's a trap, and he's caught in Area 51, and it's up to his nerdy brother Gary (Rob Corddry) to save him.
Outlook: The voice cast includes William Shatner, Jane Lynch and James Gandolfini. Could be this year's Planet 51.

Dark Skies (Feb. 22)
Not based on the TV series. This is actually a low-budget horror film starring Kerri Russell, about a suburban family that's terrorized by aliens. Trailer here.
Outlook: From the director of Priest and Legion. It only started production back in August 2012.

MARCH

Jack the Giant Slayer (March 1)
A fairytale movie from X-Men maestro Bryan Singer, starring Nicholas Hoult as a farmhand who unwittingly opens a doorway to a land of giants, starting a war as the giants try to retake our world.
Outlook: Delayed from summer 2012. Sort of looks like Clash of the Titans, only taking itself more seriously.

The Last Exorcism Part 2 (March 1)
The girl who was possibly possessed in the first movie is back, and she's trying to move on with her life, except for that whole demonic possession thing.
Outlook: The director and writers of the original film aren't back, and we're not sure how you can do a sequel without undercutting the superb first movie.


Oz the Great and Powerful (March 8)
Sam Raimi's long-awaited Wizard of Oz prequel, in which Oz (James Franco) goes to Oz in a balloon and meets all the witches and flying monkeys.
Outlook: The trailers look absolutely gorgeous, in an Avatar/Alice in Wonderland way, although the story appears to be a standard "vain selfish rogue learns to be a hero" thing.

The Croods (March 22)
An animated film about a caveman whose leadership is threatened by a genius who invents things like fire and other wacky gadgets. Oh, and there's a half-tiger, half-parrot called a "Macarnivore."
Outlook: This film has been in development for years. At one point the script was co-written by John Cleese. The cast includes Ryan Reynolds, Nic Cage, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener and Cloris Leachman(!). Early reviews say it's pretty great.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (March 29)
Another movie delayed from summer, this sequel picks up where the first movie left off — with the President of the United States replaced by an evil imposter.
Outlook: Director Jon M. Chu wowed us with Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. Rumor has it, this movie's being recut to give Channing Tatum a bigger role, but it's not clear if Tatum actually came back for reshoots or if they're just using every scrap of Tatum footage they could grab off the cutting-room floor.


The Host (March 29)
In Stephenie Meyer's other big book adaptation, an alien invasion of Earth has already succeeded, with emotionless parasites controlling almost all humans. Except one girl who gets implanted can't stop loving her boyfriend, and this could change everything. Trailer here.
Outlook: It's adapted and directed by Andrew Niccol (Gattaca), whose work is always at least thought-provoking.

APRIL

Upstream Color (April 5)
Primer's Shane Carruth returns at last, with a strange and confusing movie about a man and a woman who are entangled in "the life cycle of an ageless organism."
Outlook: Huge, high hopes for this one, based on the lush weird trailers and Carruth's mind-bending first movie.


Evil Dead
(April 12)
Sam Raimi's famous horror series is back, with an all-new cast. Jane Levy plays a woman struggling to remain sober, who goes to a cabin with her friends and finds the Book of the Dead. You know what happens next.
Outlook: By all accounts, this new film is as gruesome and messed-up as the original, and new director Fede Alvarez seems to have captured Raimi's insane spark. Fingers crossed.

Scary Movie 5 (April 12)
This time, they're spoofing Black Swan.
Outlook: Really, the title is all you need to know. Oh, you want to know more? Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan play themselves.


Oblivion (April 19/April 12 in IMAX)
Tron Legacy's Joseph Kosinski sets out to prove he can launch a brand new franchise, with this story in which humanity has abandoned Earth, except that Tom Cruise comes down to service some drones... and discovers he's not alone.
Outlook: The trailers look pretty intense and full of eye-candy. A lot depends on the film's big twist, probably.

The Lords of Salem
(April 26)
Rob Zombie wrote and directed this horror film in which a radio station DJ gets a mysterious record from the Lords and plays it — only to find that the Lords aren't a band, they're the original Lords of Salem, and they're back for blood.
Outlook: Probably depends if you're a Rob Zombie fan.

MAY

Iron Man 3 (May 3)
Now that Tony Stark's helped save the world in The Avengers, this film is going to set about tearing him down again, with the Mandarin and Aldrich Killian destroying Tony's entire world.
Outlook: Director Shane Black made magic with Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and writer Drew Pearce brought new life to superheroes with his TV show No Heroics. So fingers crossed!

Kiss of the Damned (May 3)
John Cassavetes' daughter Xan Cassavetes makes her directorial debut with this tribute to 1960s and 1970s Italian vampire movies, starring Heroes' Milo Ventimiglia.
Outlook: Early reviews suggest this is a "hipster" take on vampire lore that doesn't really hold up.

About Time (May 10)
A feel-good romance about a man who can travel backwards in time, and decides to use his powers to get a girlfriend.
Outlook: Writer-director Richard Curtis wowed us with his Doctor Who episode about Van Gogh, not to mention his work on Blackadder and Four Weddings and a Funeral.


Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17)
The rebooted versions of Kirk and Spock are back — and they're facing a mysterious villain (Benedict Cumberbatch) who's wreaking massive destruction on Starfleet. Can Kirk grow up in time to save the Enterprise?
Outlook: This film's production was delayed a year, reportedly just because they were trying to get the script right. Let's hope that attention to the story pays off.

Epic (May 24)
An animated fairytale movie based on the based on the William Joyce book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. Featuring the voices of Amanda Seyfried and Josh Hutcherson.
Outlook: The first trailer looked pretty lush and beautiful. Director Chris Wedge, who did the first Ice Age, describes it as an adventure on the scale of Star Wars.

The Purge
(May 31)
Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey star in this weird movie set in a dystopian future, where overcrowding has forced the United States to institute a 12-hour period every year, during which nothing is a crime. Even murder. One family hides out in their gated community.
Outlook: Even as contrived dystopias go, this one sounds especially contrived. But possibly fun and insane.

JUNE

After Earth (June 7)
Will Smith and his son Jaden star in this movie where humanity has abandoned the Earth after a war with aliens — but a father and son crashland on the ruined Earth, and the father is injured, forcing the son to search for help.
Outlook: M. Night Shyamalan directed and co-wrote this film, but probably didn't have his usual level of creative control. The visuals certainly look great.

This is the End aka The End of the World (June 14)
Seth Rogen adapts his short film Jay and Seth Vs. The Apocalypse. Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco and a bunch of other celebrities play themselves, at a Hollywood party where the end of the world suddenly happens. Here's the trailer.
Outlook: Remember how Bill Murray played himself randomly in Zombieland? This whole movie is like that. Let's hope it stays funny.

Man of Steel (June 14)
A retelling of Superman's origin, in which the Man of Steel grapples with the idea that humanity would hate and fear him if they knew his secret. Here's the trailer.
Outlook: Christopher Nolan produced this film, and seems pretty jazzed about it. Probably depends how much you want to see an angsty Superman.

Monsters University (June 21)
The prequel to Monsters Inc. sees the young Sully and Mike in college, becoming friends and dealing with an evil monster fraternity.
Outlook: Did we really need a prequel to Monsters Inc.? Maybe not. But as long as it's not another Cars 2, we're happy.

World War Z (June 21)
Max Brooks' acclaimed novel about the zombie apocalypse gets a huge adaptation, starring Brad Pitt as a UN employee who must travel the world trying to save it from the deadly pandemic. Trailer here.
Outlook: After this film was completed, they went back for massive reshoots and rewrites, with a whole new ending added by Damon Lindelof. On the other hand, it's possibly the most zombies on screen ever.

Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall (June 28)
The gonzo superhero film gets a sequel, as Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl try to cope with high school and the Red Mist plots revenge.
Outlook: Let's hope it can channel half the awesome craziness of the first film. A good sign: Jim Carrey is playing a character named Colonel Stars and Stripes.

White House Down*
(June 28)
Terrorists take over the White House, and only Channing Tatum can save the president (Jamie Foxx).
Outlook: Only mentioning this because it's directed by Roland Emmerich and I wouldn't be surprised if the terrorists have crazy science fiction weapons or something.

JULY

Despicable Me 2 (July 3)
Steve Carrell's reformed supervillain is back — and this time, someone is capturing his cute twinkie-like minions. Featuring Al Pacino as Gru's new nemesis.
Outlook: The original directors are back, which is a good sign.


The Lone Ranger (July 3)
Johnny Depp plays Tonto in this completely insane supernatural Western about a "spirit walker" who dies and comes back to bring justice to a small town near the railroad. Here's the trailer.
Outlook: Depp and director Gore Verbinski have a pretty decent track record together, but everything about this looks horrifying. Depp decided Tonto should have a bird on his head.

Pacific Rim (July 12)
Massive, horrendous monsters attack the world — forcing the human race to build equally massive mecha to fight back, by punching them.
Outlook: Director Guillermo del Toro promises the most amazing monsters and astounding robots we've ever seen, and the first trailer certainly looks like it delivers.

R.I.P.D. (July 19)
Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges star in this adaptation of the comic book about a dead cop who sticks around to police the supernatural — but he can never see his still-living wife again.
Outlook: It sounds like it has the potential to be the next Ghostbusters, and Jeff Bridges as a ghost mentor is basically the best idea ever.

The Conjuring (July 19)
A family encounters spirits living in their New England farmhouse.
Outlook: From director James Wan (Insidious) — so it's probably pretty scary.

The Wolverine (July 26)
A second Wolverine movie, this time based on the character's most popular storyline in which he goes to Japan and learns the way of the Samurai.
Outlook: We were more excited when it was going to be directed by Darren Aronofsky, but it still has a lot of potential to be fun. Hopefully better than the last Wolverine movie, anyway.

Smurfs 2 (July 31)
The evil wizard Gargamel is still stuck in New York, so he does some magic to bring back the Smurfs — and also create evil albino Smurfs, who try to trick Smurfette into being naughty.
Outlook: If you liked the first Smurf movie and the idea of albino Smurf peer pressure doesn't bother you, then you might like this one, too.

cont...
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Mac

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #49 on: January 04, 2013, 03:52:35 pm »
AUGUST

300: Rise of an Empire* (August 2)
A prequel to 300, charting the rise of King Xerxes, the ruler who got his ass kicked by the Spartans.
Outlook: A first-time director came on board to try and recreate Zack Snyder's amazing slow-mo fighting and visuals. Including this because it's based on a comic book.

RED 2* (August 2)
The sequel to the surprisingly quite entertaining film about retired spies who are being hunted down. This time, they have to stop a terrorist with a portable nuclear device.
Outlook: Another one we're mentioning since it's based on comic-book source material.


Elysium (August 9)
District 9's Neill Blomkamp returns with another highly political science fiction film about a world where the rich live on a lush space station and poor people (like Matt Damon) struggle on Earth to get healthcare and basic necessities.
Outlook: Based on Blomkamp's first film and everything he's said about this one, we have high hopes.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
(Aug. 16)
Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is back, and this time he and his friends are searching for the mystical Golden Fleece.
Outlook: Nathan Fillion is playing the god Hermes, opposite Sean Bean as Zeus. Also Anthony Head plays the centaur Chiron this time.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
(Aug. 23)
Another would-be Twilight, this adaptation of Cassandra Clare's novel features a young girl named Clary (Lily Collins) who discovers that she has a supernatural destiny after a demon attacks her mother. Here's the trailer.
Outlook: Looks like an immense guilty pleasure.

Insidious Chapter 2
(August 30)
Director James Wan is back to show us what happened after the WTF ending of the first movie about a boy who's possessed by demons.
Outlook: Not sure how you can pick up after that ending, but at least all the original cast are back, including Barbara Hershey.

Satanic (August 30)
A "Rosemary's Baby-influenced" film about a girl (Ashley Green) who must defend her dorm from a mysterious attacker when she and her friends are staying there over Spring Break.
Outlook: From the director of Donkey Punch and the writer of Vanishing on 7th Street. It only started production in late 2012.

SEPTEMBER

Riddick (September 6)
He's back! Vin Diesel's amazingly antiheroic space adventurer returns, and this time he's being stalked by bounty hunters. One of whom is Katee Sackhoff.
Outlook: Diesel and writer/director David Twohy promise this is a return to Pitch Black form, after the over-the-top Chronicles of Riddick.

I, Frankenstein (September 13)
Aaron Eckhart plays Frankenstein's monster, who finds himself caught up in an endless war between two immortal monster clans.
Outlook: Could be fun. Director Stuart Beattie did a pretty decent job with Tomorrow When the War Began.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2
(Sept. 27)
The sequel to the acclaimed animated film, formerly called Revenge of the Leftovers. Flint has moved on after the foodstorm from the first movie — until he finds out his machine is still active and is creating food monsters.
Outlook: The original writers and directors aren't back, and it's not based on the second book in the series.


The Tomb (September 27)
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone star in this action-thriller about a structural engineer who is falsely accused of a crime and has to break out of the ultimate high-tech prison... which he designed.
Outlook: We're a sucker for "ultimate high-tech prison" stories.

OCTOBER

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For* (Oct. 4)
The long-awaited sequel to Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's zany neo-noir film about the town with no mercy, where all the women wear lingerie.
Outlook: Including this because it's based on a comic, and is likely to be so over the top that it strays into fantasy territory.

Haunt (October 11)
Two teenagers fall in love and explore an old house, only to discover a terrifying alternate dimension inside, in this horror film.
Outlook: From the producers of Paranormal Activity and District 9.

The Devil's Rapture (October 11)
Formerly known as The Occult, this is a film about a small town that lives with a Satanic prophecy — and after six girls are born on the same night, they seem to be fulfilling it. Fast forward 18 years, and the girls all start dying. Serial killer, or Satan?
Outlook: Featuring Rufus Sewell, who often does creepy well, plus Colm Meaney.


Carrie (October 18)
Delayed from March, this is the remake of the classic Stephen King tale, about a girl who has a really bad prom night. Trailer is here.
Outlook: Director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry) and star Chloë Grace Moretz seem like the perfect choices for this project — plus Julianne Moore plays the mom.


Seventh Son (October 18)
Jeff Bridges is an old witch-hunter, as he takes on a young apprentice and prepares to do battle with a witch played by Julianne Moore. Who basically owns this weekend.
Outlook: We can't say no to Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore as witch-hunter and witch.

The World's End (October 25)
The other zany apocalyptic comedy, this one features Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as two friends who go on a pub crawl and confront the end of days. Along with Martin Freeman.
Outlook: It's the long-awaited third film in the "Cornetto Trilogy" by Pegg, Frost and director Edgar Wright, after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Paranormal Activity 5 (Oct. 25)
Something paranormal is happening, and some cameras are going to capture it, but not very well.
Outlook: Someone is still going to see these movies, so they're going to keep making them every year.

NOVEMBER

Ender's Game (Nov. 1)
"Ender" Wiggin is a child prodigy who gets recruited to a very special program — but it's even more special than he realized, in the adaptation of Orson Scott Card's acclaimed novel.
Outlook: Everyone involved with this film seems to be obsessed with doing justice to the book, and the level of attention to detail is pretty astounding. Plus Harrison Ford is playing Col. Graff.

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Nov. 1)
The classic cartoon about a super-smart dog, his human son, and their time machine is coming to the big screen — and the Child Protective Services may have decided that a dog is not a fit parent, after all.
Outlook: We saw a huge chunk of this film recently, and it won us over, big time.


Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8)
The second Marvel film this year, coming off Avengers, sees Thor facing some Dark Elves, led by Christopher Eccleston.
Outlook: Directed by Game of Thrones veteran Alan Taylor, who's apparently bringing some of that realism to Asgard.


The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
(Nov. 22)
Katniss has won the Hunger Games, so this second movie is probably just going to be her sipping tea and learning to golf. Or possibly, getting sent back for a new, deadlier all-star games. We'll see.
Outlook: Original director Gary Ross bailed off the project, so he's been replaced by I Am Legend's Francis Lawrence. Let's hope Lawrence can do justice to, arguably, the least satisfying book in the trilogy.

Frozen (November 27)
Disney's retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen," about a young girl who must travel to find the Snow Queen and save her land from perpetual winter.
Outlook: Early glimpses look gorgeous, and it features the voice of Kristen Bell.

DECEMBER


The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
(Dec. 13)
Bilbo Baggins is back again, and this time he's facing a dragon — played by Benedict Cumberbatch!
Outlook: If the decision to turn The Hobbit into a trilogy rather than a duology results in excessive bloat, this is probably the film where you're going to see it most.

Walking With Dinosaurs
(December 20)
The BBC makes a lavish, 3D version of their acclaimed TV series, about a dinosaur family who must go on a perilous journey.
Outlook: Early buzz suggests that this is going to look astonishing — but turning a documentary series into a narrative film could be a tricky undertaking.

Saving Mr. Banks* (December 20)
A drama about author P.L. Travers going to London as Disney is adapting her novel Mary Poppins to the big screen.
Outlook: Including this since it's a fictional account of the making of a classic fantasy movie. Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney!

47 Ronin (December 25)
Another long-delayed film, this one is a retelling of the Japanese story, with Keanu Reeves fighting supernatural forces.
Outlook: This has been pushed back again and again, amidst rumors of creative disputes and editing-suite battles, until finally being buried on Christmas, the date where genre films go to die.
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Mac

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #50 on: January 13, 2013, 09:28:44 am »
Why was Alien rated X in the UK? It could confuse teens about sex



Quote
There are a lot of gruesome moments in Ridley Scott's 1979 classic Alien, but it still seems a bit harsh that the U.K. film ratings board gave the flick an X rating back when it was first released. So why'd they hit the film with such a restriction? They thought it would confuse teens about how sex works. No, really.

The "X" rating (now known as "18") in the U.K. means you aren't allowed entry to the film unless you're 18 or older, and these days it means you can't even rent or buy the DVD if you're not old enough. The rating just beneath it, "AA" (now known as "14+") would have allowed teenagers to see the film, and that's apparently what the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) had a problem with back in '79.

But according to recently unearthed records related to the film's classification, it wasn't the violence or the sci-fi horror or even the infamous "chestburster." It was another famous scene that censors felt would confuse teens about how sex works.

You remember the scene pictured above, right? John Hurt comes upon a room filled with these curious alien eggs, he makes the mistake of looking straight down into one and BAM, he gets up close and personal with a facehugger. Seems like a straightforward piece of make-believe, right? Well, the BBFC censor who wrote the judgment classifying the film had other ideas.

    "I feel uneasy about passing for 14-year-olds a film which uses sexual imagery in a horror context," the censor wrote. "The images are not always explicit but run like a dark undercurrent throughout suggesting a powerful, threatening, unnamed force. Occasionally the image is explicit as when the leathery egg opens up to reveal a glistening pulsating membrane which erupts into a squid-like creature."

See, this was back when the censors were allowed much more freedom to interpret things based on how they thought a particularly age group would react. These days they rate films based on images depicted, and don't spend as much time getting all philosophical on us. But for this particular '70s censor, seeing John Hurt getting face-hugged and subsequently knocked up with alien spawn seemed like the sort of thing that could seriously mess up teens who were still, well ... trying to figure out how all their parts worked.

    "I don't want to flash ideas like this to teenagers who might not have come to terms with the normal sexual functions," the censor said. "The early teens are a troublesome time with physical changes making terrific demands on emotional stability. I don't myself want to pass for this age-group a film which might be disturbing in a non-specific way to a significant proportion of them."

With all the concern over how sci-fi would affect teens' understanding of sex, you have to wonder what that censor would have made of the dream sequences in The Fly.
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Chiprocks1

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #51 on: January 13, 2013, 09:31:48 am »
The ratings board is a joke. I've never understood how they even operate because from one movie to the next, they contradict themselves what is acceptable and "unacceptable". I'm speaking for the US board and not what goes on around the world and their respective boards.
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Mac

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #52 on: January 13, 2013, 09:48:38 am »
Quote
The ratings board is a joke. I've never understood how they even operate because from one movie to the next, they contradict themselves what is acceptable and "unacceptable". I'm speaking for the US board and not what goes on around the world and their respective boards.

You're not alone. Lot's of people are in the same mind.

Have you seen This Film Is Not Rated? Pretty good documentary that will make your blood boil even more.
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Chiprocks1

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #53 on: January 13, 2013, 10:01:50 am »
I've heard about it, just haven't placed it on my List yet.
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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #54 on: February 15, 2013, 03:54:58 pm »
Quote
Okay fellow science fiction addicts, we already know about Pacific Rim, Oblivion, Elysium, Gravity, The Zero Theorem, Star Trek: Into Darkness, World War Z, Divergent, Robocop, Star Wars Episode VII, Snowpiercer, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and all the assorted superhero/comic films. But here are ten more outings you might not have known are headed our way. Glory be to the aliens, robots and assorted mutant critters!

1. The Cosmonaut, April 2013 (Spain)





Quote
Directorial feature debut by Nicolás Alcalá, starring Katrine De Candole, Leon Ockenden and Max Wrottesley. This crowdfunded film follows three friends during the years of the Russia vs. U.S. race to space. When the first Russian is about to land on the moon, something goes wrong and he is declared lost…until radio transmissions from him are received. The cosmonaut claims he has returned to Earth and found it completely empty.

2. Last Days on Mars, September 19, 2013 (UK)



Quote
Directorial debut by Ruairi Robinson, starring Liev Schreiber, Romola Garai, Elias Koteas and Goran Kostic. A team of scientists is excited to find bacterial life on Mars (you and I know that’s never good news). In their last hours collecting samples, one of the crew suffers a fatal accident, and his body is overtaken by the alien life form. I think we can presume things go downhill from there.


3. Europa Report, TBA 2013






Quote

Directed by Sebastián Cordero (Pescador, Rage, Chronicles), starring Sharlto Copley, Michael Nyqvist, Daniel Wu, Christian Camargo and Isiah Whitlock Jr. Another expedition to search for life, this time to one of Jupiter’s moons. The filmmakers collaborated with NASA and other scientific community leaders on this found footage “space horror,” and the movie is scored by Bear McCreary. You can check on the crew hanging out here.


4. All You Need Is Kill, March 7, 2014



Quote

Directed by Doug Liman (Fair Game, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Go), starring Tom Cruise, Bill Paxton, Emily Blunt, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Dragomir Mrsic; based on the novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. During a war between humanity and aliens, an inexperienced Lieutenant Colonel (Cruise) is thrown into battle, and promptly killed. (Everybody cheers?) But wait…somehow direct contact with the alien caused the unsinkable Mr. Cruise to be caught in a time loop; so he must fight the battle repeatedly, trying to change his fate. (Seems like a good time to reestablish contact with Xenu, no?)

5. The Prototype, TBA 2013



Quote
Directed by Andrew Will (Homeland), starring Neal McDonough, Joseph Mawle and Anna Anissimova. Developed from a short. An experimental humanoid robot escapes from a government facility; the military tries to track it down. Produced by The Bandito Brothers (Act of Valor).


6. Under the Skin, TBA 2013



Quote
Directed by Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Birth), starring Scarlett Johansson, Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Paul Brannigan. Based on the Michel Faber novel about an alien sent to Earth to pick up a few appetizing snacks…aka…humans.


7. The Colony, TBA 2013



Quote
Directed by Jeff Renfroe (Civic Duty), starring Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton and Kevin Zegers. Another Ice Age leaves a small group of survivors underground, fighting off…something. Muppets, you ask? Dinosaurs? Nope. Feral cannibals.


8. Tomorrowland, TBA 2014



Quote

Directed by Brad Bird (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, The Iron Giant), starring (thus far) George Clooney and Hugh Laurie (in negotiations). The guarded plot is slowly being unraveled after the above photo was tweeted by the director. Through analysis of the box’s contents, rumors have it that the film—previously titled 1952—will be about the relationship between Walt Disney and the U.S. government/military, a story about a television show that would have helped tell the world UFOs are real, and/or possible science fiction themed parks. Read about Project Blue Book, Jim Hill’s theory, and then cry a few tears, because Damon Lindelof is involved. Still, if this all turns out to be true, wild dire wolves couldn’t keep me away.


9. Mad Max: Fury Road, TBA 2014



Quote

Directed by George Miller (Mad Max, The Road Warrior, Beyond the Thunderdome, Happy Feet), starring Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. When first you see the words “Mad Max sequel,” you might immediately feel inclined to dismiss this one; but then you read “Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron,” and that “well, maybe?” expression works its way across your face. Then you hear comic writer Brendan McCarthy co-wrote the script, get a look at the critters and the car pics, and what do you know, this thing might actually have legs.

10. Snow Crash, In Development



Quote
Directed by Joe Cornish (Attack the Block), this will be an adaptation of Neal Stephenson’s award winning novel set in a future where the U.S. is split into territories controlled by corporations, and a hacker discovers a mind-controlling drug that can infect a person like a computer virus.
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Chiprocks1

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #55 on: March 03, 2013, 06:19:36 am »
I didn't even recognize Scarlett Johansson at first in that trailer. The wig threw me off.
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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #56 on: March 15, 2013, 03:54:28 pm »
Ridley Scott announces sci-fi shorts deal with Machinima

Quote
Ridley Scott, the director of “Blade Runner” and “Alien,” has signed a deal with the gaming and streaming media website Machinima to produce a dozen short sci-fi films that will use filmmakers from Scott’s commercial production company.

The most successful of the short films could be developed into features, Machinima and Scott announced Monday.

Scott will serve as executive producer, and the 12 shorts will be made by directors working for Scott’s advertising concern, Ridley Scott Associates.

Machinima, which says it reaches 262 million viewers monthly, recently started work on a feature-length version of its “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” series.

He’s now finishing work on “The Counselor,” a drug trafficking drama starring Brad Pitt due Nov. 15.

“By combining this unique incubation model together with our powerful partnership of established creative talent and scaled distribution to millions on Machinima, we believe new sci-fi franchises will be born,” Allen DeBevoise, Machinima’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Added Scott: “With new media transforming the way audiences connect with films and filmmakers, Machinima is a great partner for us as we embark on this new model of delivering original content to fans.”
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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #57 on: March 15, 2013, 04:22:45 pm »
Oblivion - Trailer #2

Much better

Quote
"Don't take any chances... it's dangerous down there." Damn this looks good. Universal has debuted on more full theatrical trailer for Joseph Kosinski's sci-fi Oblivion, starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman. Just yesterday we featured two new posters, today we've got an entirely new trailer in beautiful high def via Apple. There is a lot of the same footage we've seen between the first trailer and UK trailer, but there's also some new shots. This gets really good in the last 15 seconds, something about it almost feels like The Matrix, in a sci-fi-yet-to-be-discovered good way. Personally, I can't wait to see this, but maybe it's just the footage.



Quote
Kosinski's Oblivion (also known as Horizons) stars Tom Cruise as Jack Harper, plus Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Zoe Bell, Andrea Riseborough, Melissa Leo and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Living and patrolling the breathtaking skies from thousands of feet above, Jack's soaring existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands. Kosinski has developed this for years, with a writing credit along with William Monahan. Universal Pictures currently has Oblivion scheduled to open exclusively in IMAX theaters on April 12th. How does that look?
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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #58 on: March 24, 2013, 08:26:42 am »
Atlantic Rim

Quote
"Pacific Rim" won't be the only robots-battling-monsters-from-the-deep feature this summer, as schlock house The Asylum preps its on more modestly-budgeted "Atlantic Rim" set off the coast of Florida.

Just in case you wondered what The Asylum was up to in the wake of their "Hobbits" defeat, they've taken aim at Guillermo del Toro's $200 million mech-vs.-monsters movie "Pacific Rim" with their own "Atlantic Rim," currently shooting now in West Florida. "Atlantic Rim," which you'll likely be seeing on SyFy and Netflix sometime around the July release of "Pacific Rim" brings together the typically odd cast of Graham Greene ("Twilight"), Naughty By Nature's Treach (aka Anthony Criss), and "Baywatch" vet David Chokachi.

News broke about the film's shoot in an appropriately modest fashion, not in the trades but via the Pensacola Digest, who spoke with the film's second unit director and University of West Florida instructor Paul Sinor about what's currently being produced under the title "From the Sea." In case there were any doubts about "From the Sea"/"Atlantic Rim's" ambitions, here's how Sinor describes the movie:

    “The storyline is that these monsters come from the sea. The sea floor opens up and these things come out. They terrorize the East Coast from Miami to Washington D.C., and the good guys send them back packing.”

Oh, and in case you're interested in breaking into the film industry (well, the films that rip off other films industry), The Asylum is currently seeking pitches for unproduced features.

Gaze upon the results of low-hanging fruit with the full "Atlantic Rim" poster below:

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Re: All Things Sci-Fi...
« Reply #59 on: March 24, 2013, 09:12:54 am »
The Colony

Quote
Aside from the principal cast of Laurence Fishburne, Bill Paxton and Kevin Zegers, not much was revealed about The Colony while it was shooting in Toronto last year. We had sketchy intel that it was something to do with feral cannibals in an ice age, but now with the arrival of the first international trailer, we can start to colour in some details.



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