OKGazette.com - Sci-Fi http://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/articles.sec-78-1-sci-fi.html <![CDATA[Mold! - Spread the word: a B movie that’s semi-infectious.]]> Ignore the grim, apocalyptic cover of this DVD, which depicts the flick’s vibe so inaccurately, it even drops the title’s exclamation point. Make no mistake: Mold! has mirth on its mind ... even if those brains have spilled onto the floor.]]> <![CDATA[Terminator Anthology - Get it before Skynet takes over.]]> Quoth the cyborg, “I’ll be back.” And he was. And now again, this time in the form of Terminator Anthology, Warner Home Video’s Blu-ray box set of the four franchise films to date. It could be argued that the movies stopped being good when James Cameron stopped directing them. After revisiting the quartet, I don't agree — I strongly agree. ]]> <![CDATA[Storage 24 - Blokes and the beast.]]> Britain’s on high alert after a plane falls from the sky from unknown causes. Terrorist attack, perhaps? At a 24-hour storage facility — hence the film’s title, Storage 24 — the ensuing crash has locked down its security system, effectively trapping people inside. Oh, and one gnarly alien.]]> <![CDATA[Holy Motors - It’s a trip.]]> When I first saw Holy Motors, it was in a way that would make director Leos Carax cry, “Mon dieu!”: on a small window on my computer screen. That’s hardly the proper showcase for a film that set Cannes all abuzz, especially for courting year-end votes from critics’ groups. ]]> <![CDATA[Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft - With utterly Grimm results.]]> At least at press time, Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft is the latest shameless coattails rider of the big-budget Jeremy Renner vehicle Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, which hits theaters next weekend. By contrast, this DVD premiere stars someone named Booboo Stewart, and that alone should tell you everything. ]]> <![CDATA[Dredd - Don't ‘Dredd’ this souped-up sci-fi reboot.]]> Like The Punisher, Judge Dredd serves as judge, jury and executioner, all rolled into one. Like The Punisher, Judge Dredd also received a cinematic reboot in an attempt to right precious filmmakers’ wrongs.]]> <![CDATA[Looper - Dystopian society, time travel, telekinesis, gangland killings — welcome to one of the best movies of last year.]]> Hooray for movies with ideas!]]> <![CDATA[Total Recall - Consider that a divorce. ]]> I'm not of the opinion that remakes are automatically a bad thing. Without them, we wouldn't have David Cronenberg's The Fly or John Carpenter's The Thing. The difference is that examples like those had a different way of telling the established story.]]> <![CDATA[Doomsday Book - The end of the world is two-thirds terrific.]]> Not based on Connie Willis' seminal sci-fi novel of the same name, Doomsday Book is preoccupied not with time travel, but the world's end. Telling three separate stories, the Korean film comes from acclaimed directors Kim Jee-woon (I Saw the Devil) and Yim Pil-sung (Hansel & Gretel). As with all anthologies, results vary; ultimately, this one ends up as two-thirds great.]]> <![CDATA[Beyond the Black Rainbow - Once you go 'Black' ...]]> Prepare to have your mind violated. Beyond the Black Rainbow hardly represents conventional storytelling, but the film is an absolute visual feast. Expect sensuous rather than sense, and open-minded movie lovers will be well-rewarded. ]]> <![CDATA[Iron Sky - The empire Reichs back.]]> It's 2018, and a U.S. president who looks uncannily like Sarah Palin sends a black man to the moon in a bid for re-election. The American lunar module lands on the dark side of the moon — you know, where the Transformers live — and finds an enormous Nazi outpost that's been there since Hitler's plan for world domination failed.]]> <![CDATA[Bigfoot - Toes the line of Syfy stupidity.]]> At least Bigfoot does not waste viewers’ time in showing them Bigfoot. They have to wait one minute, tops, so if that’s all you ask of this Asylum release that premiered recently on Syfy, you’re golden.]]> <![CDATA[Hell - The future’s so bleak, I gotta wear shades. ]]> Cinema’s current master of disaster, Roland Emmerich (2012), produced but did not write or direct Hell, a post- apocalyptic film smaller in scope than what the man is used to, yet better crafted.]]> <![CDATA[The Hunger Games - Not bad — just bland.]]> My opinion means absolutely squat on The Hunger Games, a massive hit on a global scale. Even those who didn't see it in theaters will want to out of curiosity's sake, like I did, just to see what all the fuss is about. I completely understand.]]> <![CDATA[Total Recall: Mind-Bending Edition - Consider that an uprgrade. ]]> "Let's do it," says Arnold in the opening minutes of Total Recall. "Let's go to Mars."
]]>
<![CDATA[Lockout - Like a lot of action in your sci-fi? 'Lock' it up!]]> No matter in what capacity, if Luc Besson's name is on a movie, I will not hesitate to watch. Why? The Transporter, District 13, Kiss of the Dragon, Taken, Unleashed, Ong-Bak, The Professional, La Femme Nikita and most sequels that spawned from those, that's why. (I'll forgive and forget From Paris with Love.)]]> <![CDATA[Extraterrestrial - A close encounter of the awkward kind.]]> One of the hotter tickets at last fall's Fantastic Fest was Extraterrestrial. I couldn't get in. I understood why at the time: It's the new film from Timecrimes director Nacho Vigalondo! Now that I've seen it, I wonder how many who did get in wish they hadn't. It's a huge disappointment.]]> <![CDATA[Sector 7 - For sci-fi thrills, '7' is no heaven.]]> Alien has no shortage of rip-offs, but Sector 7 has the distinction of hitting video while Prometheus is in theaters. While Prometheus isn't great, it's better than Sector 7. Heck, even the much-maligned Alien vs. Predator is better than Sector 7.]]> <![CDATA[Journey 2: The Mysterious Island / Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island - One good Verne deserves another.]]> You won't find Jules Verne's name in the credits of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, but so integral is he to the surprise-hit sequel that the classic author is practically a supporting character, despite being dead since 1905.]]> <![CDATA[Perfect Sense - Love means never having to say ‘you’re sorry’ ... because your partner can’t hear you, anyway.]]> If Contagion were exported to Scotland — and injected with a dose of speculative fiction in customs — the result might make Perfect Sense. The film fails only to fit snugly into one genre, being a thriller, a romance and sci-fi, but sci-fi only in the sense that Children of Men and Never Let Me Go were. This is equally brainy, and maybe just a smidge less bleak.
]]>