science fiction Archives

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt Travel Space in “Passengers”

Pratt Lawrence

The trailer for the upcoming movie Passengers shows Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt using all of their charms in outer space. The film looks like it is sort of a rom-com in space, although I suspect there might be a twist or two.

In the film, Lawrence and Pratt are on a ship traveling to a distant planet with thousands of others in a sleep state. But something goes wrong, waking Lawrence and Pratt 90 years too soon.

From the trailer, it is difficult to tell whether the movie features a good science fiction story or whether the makers are banking on the two popular leading actors. Still, it looks like it might be worth taking a chance on seeing the movie. Check out the trailer.

Passengers is directed by Morten Tyldum based on a screenplay by Jon Spaihts. Passengers hits theaters on December 21, 2016.

Will you see “Passengers”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Watch Sci-Fi Film That Promotes Real Rosetta Comet Mission

New Trailer for 3D Lego Movie

Carl Sagan on the Pale Blue Dot

The Scene in “The Right Stuff” That Makes You Love John Glenn

“La La Land” Trailer Brings Back the Musical

Apollo 11 Lands On the Moon

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

“Westworld” is Coming to HBO

Westworld HBO

You might remember that great attempt to combine science fiction and Western categories into the classic 1973 film, Westworld. That movie was written and directed by Michael Crichton, and it starred Yul Brynner as the robot gunslinger at an amusement park where everything goes wrong. Even if you have never seen the movie, you might be a little excited seeing the new teaser trailer for the upcoming HBO series Westworld.

The teaser trailer does not reveal much about the HBO series, but we get a glimpse of Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood in a series that looks updated for the current century. Some folks think that Westworld will be HBO’s next great show. But we will have to wait until 2016 to find out.

What do you think of the teaser trailer for “Westworld”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

The Song That Played Over Carl’s Last Days Montage on “The Walking Dead”

A Dark Humorless Somewhat Revisionist Western: “Hostiles” (Short Review)

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt Travel Space in “Passengers”

“The Magnificent Seven” Trailer With Denzel Washington

Moral Ambiguity and “Lawman” (Missed Movies)

8 Reasons to Watch the Sterling Haden Western”Terror in a Texas Town”

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Watch Sci-Fi Film That Promotes Real Rosetta Comet Mission

The European Space Agency released a short science fiction film, Ambition, to promote its upcoming real Rosetta probe. The ESA hopes the unusual tactic will help explain to the general public the purpose of the mission, which is a study of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In November, they will put a small robot on to the surface of the ice comet to analyze it.

The film, which runs less than seven minutes, stars Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) and Aisling Franciosi. Check out Ambition and learn more about the Rosetta probe.

Ambition was filmed in Iceland, and it initially screened in London on October, 24 2014 during the British Film Institute’s sci-fi program, Days of Fear and Wonder. For more on the making of the film, check out this video.

Did the ESA come up with a good way to teach science? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt Travel Space in “Passengers”

“Wanderers” Video on the Future of Space Exploration

Astronauts on Space

Carl Sagan on the Pale Blue Dot

The Scene in “The Right Stuff” That Makes You Love John Glenn

Apollo 11 Lands On the Moon

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

It’s About Time to Watch “About Time” (Missed Movies)

There are a number of reasons to give the movie About Time (2013) a chance, despite its somewhat generic title. The film is written and directed by Richard Curtis, who wrote Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Notting Hill (1999), and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). While not everyone loves romantic comedies, About Time throws in a twist. In line with a trend previously examined on Chimesfreedom, the film incorporates a science fiction element where the science fiction element, with little or no special effects, is a mere co-star to help explore some interesting aspects of the human condition.

Near the start of the film, a father, played by the wonderful Bill Nighy, tells his 21-year-old son Tim, played by Domhnall Gleeson that the men in the family have an unexplained ability to travel back in time in their lives to change their own past. Before viewers can get too excited about the time-travel concept, though, the dad explains that it is limited to the person’s life, so they cannot go back and kill Hitler, etc. With that limitation in mind and other “rules” we later discover, the rest of the film follows Tim trying to live a good life with his unusual ability to help his family and friends, including the woman with whom he falls in love, Mary, played by Rachel McAdams. As a metaphor for real life, Tim uses his powers much as the way we use our own power to live in the present.

I will not ruin the movie by delving further into the plot (and if you are sure you are going to see the movie, skip the plot-revealing trailer below). But there are additional reasons to see the movie besides the clever writing and the interesting concept, which never comes close to overwhelming the real emotions of the characters. One reason the movie works is the engaging acting by Domhnall Gleeson. His occasional narration will remind viewers of similar narration by Hugh Grant in films like Love Actually and About a Boy (2002), with comparable phrasing and heartfelt insight. But, aside from the Hugh Grant similarities, Gleeson brings much more, adding some goofy humor from a man trying to figure out life. Gleeson, who lacks Grant’s leading-man looks, brings an everyman quality to the role. He interacts well with McAdams, but it may be his work with Nighy as his dad that provides the real heart of the movie. The movie features a fine supporting cast of other secondary characters that are well developed too.

Because of the sweetness of the film is connected to a supernatural element, one is tempted to say the movie is a combination of Love Actually and Groundhog Day (1993). The comparison may raise expectations too much, but you get the idea. Even if About Time does not live up to those movies on your first viewing, it is one that has a chance to grow in popularity with repeated viewings once it starts running on cable TV. After watching the movie for the first time on DVD, I immediately watched it again, which is something I rarely do. And I continued thinking about the movie for several days, a nice respite from the majority of films that vanish from thought ten minutes after they end.

In addition to the engaging characters, the concept of the film makes it re-watchable, as a viewer might analyze the logic of the film’s time-travel concept. Because of the number of questions that are raised by time travel that cannot be completely sorted out in a movie, I could not help thinking that About Time would make an interesting television series.

There were other questions that a TV series might explore more. For example, Tim is a lawyer in the movie. While the movie does not tell us much about his work, someone does make a comment implying Tim has won all of his cases. That off-hand comment makes the viewer wonder if Tim used his time travels in the workplace, which would raise a number of ethical and moral issues. But the movie does not have time to explore them. What the movie does with the time it has, though, is explore the meaning of time, making the viewers think about their own lives. And, even if About Time is not perfect, that experience is a lot more than one expects from most modern movies.

Conclusion? If you like romantic comedies and do not mind an unusual twist that may challenge you and make you think, then you should give About Time a chance. Maybe you will not like it, but then again, it might change your perspective on life.

Other Reviews Because Why Should You Trust Me?: About Time is a movie that seems destined to be loved by a lot of viewers while being scorned by a lot of critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives About Time a so-so rating of 69% from critics while the movie gets a respectable 82% audience rating. Stephanie Zacharek at The Village Voice hated the movie, calling it “mostly dreadful.” Meanwhile, Joel Arnold at NPR enjoyed the film, concluding that About Time “blends genre pleasures with efficient, thematically resonant storytelling and moreover gives its audience a call to action.” Finally, if you get the DVD, check out the deleted scene involving Abbey Road that Curtis was sad to leave out of the movie (no longer available on YouTube).

{Missed Movies is our continuing series on good films you might have missed because they did not receive the recognition they deserved when released.}

What did you think of About Time? Leave your two cents in the comments.

End-of-the-World Movies . . . Without Special Effects

Missed Movies: The Man From Earth

Nicolas Cage Shines In Modest But Surprising “Pig” (Short Review)

Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt Travel Space in “Passengers”

Is “Captain Fantastic” Fantastic?

“Westworld” is Coming to HBO

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

End-of-the-World Movies . . . Without Special Effects

In the last several years, there have been a number of interesting science fiction films that manage to avoid using special effects, or use very limited special effects. Maybe it is a response to the prominence of CGI, where so many movies are weighed down by images that you know just are not “real.” Maybe it is an attempt to return to using science fiction elements to actually say something besides blowing up things. In this genre, Chimesfreedom has discussed three films that we really liked: Robot & Frank (2012), Another Earth (2011), and The Man from Earth (2007). Another film that was interesting was Melancholia (2011). Two other films to add to this list are It’s a Disaster (2012) and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012), both now available on DVD and Blu Ray.

Of the two, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World has the bigger stars, featuring Steve Carell and Keira Knightley (as well as a small appearance by Martin Sheen). The film begins with Dodge (Carell) and his wife listening to the announcement that an asteroid is going to crash into earth in three weeks, resulting in his wife making a mad dash to leave her husband. Thus begins Dodge’s quest to find some company for the end of the world.

The movie, directed by Lorene Scafaria, has some laughs and some interesting thoughts on different ways people might react to the end of the world. The film avoids going the expected route of going for an all-out fantasy comedy or for going for futuristic reality. But because the movie tries to walk a middle ground between comedy and tragedy, it seems to zig zag back and forth, making for interesting but somewhat unsettling viewing, especially as the movie becomes more serious toward the end. Still, I enjoyed the film and the fact that it aimed for something a little unusual.

By contrast, It’s a Disaster is clearly a comedy. The film follows the interactions of several couples during a Sunday “couples brunch” as they gradually come to learn that someone has set off some dirty atomic bombs not far away and, inevitably, they are all going to die, probably within the day. But the film centers less on the morbid future and more on the relationships between the couples as they go about their afternoon finding things out about each other, occasionally taking some time to come up with ideas to figure out what they should do.

The low-budget film directed by Todd Berger pretty much stays inside the house for most of the movie, but it makes you laugh at the characters and what you would do in the same situation. As when you watch Seeking a Friend, at some point you also will start wondering how the movie might end. If you go into the film with modest expectations, you might enjoy the comedy of manners that takes place. To reveal much more would ruin your fun. It’s a Disaster stars Julia Stiles, David Cross, Rachel Boston, Kevin M. Brennan, and Laura Adkin.

Conclusion? Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and It’s a Disaster are two interesting minimal special effects end-of-the-world movies that are worth your time on a lazy rainy afternoon. While they are not great movies, they are somewhat unusual and might make you think a little while entertaining you. Of the two, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is more ambitious, while It’s a Disaster is a little more light-hearted take on a serious subject.

Other Reviews Because Why Should You Listen to Me? Rotten Tomatoes has mediocre ratings for Seeking a Friend for the End of the World from both critics (56%) and audience members (54%), perhaps reflecting the unevenness of the movie. By contrast, on Rotten Tomatoes, the less ambitious but more consistent It’s a Disaster gets a decent audience rating (68%) and an even better critics rating (77%). Jason Bailey at Flavorwire sums up It’s a Disaster as an “odd, funny, invigorating little movie.”