Outlander Blu Ray Review

Released in 2008, Outlander had limited release and didn’t receive too much attention. It was a shame more people didn’t get to watch this very entertaining movie. I recently had chance to watch this film in Blu ray and because I didn’t know too much about this movie, I expected B grade movie. Instead of SyFy channel grade movie, Outlander turned out to be very well made science fiction movie. It had high production feel to it as well as very good acting.

The tag line of “Beowulf meets Predator” is a very apt for Outlander. The story takes place in Viking kingdom of Herot in 709 BC. A spacecraft crash lands in the middle of the Viking kingdom. The sole survivor of the crash, Kinan, does not know that one of the fierce alien life form called Moorwen has secretly hitched a ride with him. Moorwen are a creature that inhibited a world that Kinan’s race took over for mining purpose. In a fierce battle, Moorwen destroyed the colony and left Kinan as sole survivor. Kinan tried to go home but crashed on Earth without knowing that Moorwen was on board. Once he lands on Earth, he befriends the local people and to find his way home. But, Moorwen starts to kill off the inhabitant one by one. Determined not to let Earth fall victim to Moorwen, Kinan decides to help the Vikings kill Moorwen.

This is without a doubt a great science fiction movie. The lack of wide release in 2008 is puzzling as it should have seen a wide release. The movie is simply too good to be released in limited basis and go straight to DVD/Blu ray. James Caviezel and Sophia Myles as the two main characters are pretty amazing together. The ancient setting for a battle between advanced civilization alien and some type of Alien monster is a fantastic idea. Every science fiction fan should watch this movie. The lack advertisement and promotion does not mean a B grade movie.

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Avatar Blu Ray Review

James Cameron’s last film, Titanic, was the highest grossing film in the history. Cameron’s latest film eclipsed Titanic at the box office. Taking in over 2 billion dollars, Avatar has become the highest grossing movie of all time. Like Titanic, the big budget and overly hyped, Avatar had some worried that it might bomb at the box office. However, like Titanic, Avatar raked in massive amounts of money across the globe. James Cameron waited over 10 years since his last film to work on Avatar. As soon as you watch Avatar, you understand why he waited so long. 10 years ago, technology didn’t exist to create all the effects shown in Avatar. More than half of the movie is done purely on computer generated form. In the past, you could tell CG from reality in distinct form. Watching Avatar, you forget that you are watching CG.

In terms of plot, there isn’t too much to distinguish itself in originality. A lot of people have compared to Dances with Wolves and rightly so. The plot is not much different from Kevin Costner’s epic western movie. The story opens up with Jake Sully taking on a mission previously assigned to his twin brother. His twin brother was to go to Pandora on a project to get to know the natives through the usage of avatar. The natives, Navi, are resisting the mining company that intends to mine for a highly valuable ore. The avatars are made to look like the native Navi. The controllers are connected to their avatars and are able to control them. While getting to know the Navi, Jake Sully come to respect and love them. Thus, he sides with Navi to fight the evil corporation.

While not completely derivative, Avatar does borrow heavily from other movies. But, in terms of technical achievement, there is no equal. Even with known plot line, Cameron does excellent job of telling the story. The movie’s appeal is not just aesthetic, the story as well as the actors all make for a great entertainment. James Cameron’s patience has paid off. While we have seen some great CG effects in the past movies, none have come close to what Avatar has achieved. Avatar has blurred the line between real actors and computer generated actors. While real actors provide the basis, Avatar is one step closer to a completely generated actors on big screen.

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Blu ray movie review of Surrogates

As a science fiction film, Surrogates is a movie we are very familiar with. The cautionary tale of over dependence on technology and all the morality issues that goes with new technology has been explored in many previous movies. Movies like Blade Runner, Gamer, and Artificial Intelligence: AI has all explored this theme. With evolution of technology, some of these morality issues that we must deal with are getting closer to reality. This movie does nothing set itself apart from the earlier science fiction movies with similar ideas. This isn’t to say the movie is boring or lacking in any originality.

The movie opens up with destruction of two surrogate robots. Normally, this would not be a problem except that their controllers are dead as well. With the invention of surrogates, people interact and work through their surrogate robots from comfort of their home. This virtually eliminates all crimes and disease. The death of two surrogates and their controlling human counterpart brings about the investigation from FBI. The people that oppose the surrogate life style are the primary suspect. There are some twist and turns. But, it’s fairly straight forward plot with some decent action mixed in.

The movie is entertaining most of the time. The fact that overall story has been told in other movies is not that big of deal. The problem I had with the movie was the lack of “ooohs” and “aahhs” you are supposed to get from science fiction movie. Blade Runner and other good science fiction films usually deliver some very good wow factors that Surrogates lacked. I felt like I was watching a movie of the week on Syfy channel. The overall cast was ok. It would have been cool to see different actors play the surrogate instead of the younger and better looking versions of themselves. Otherwise, it is passable film and decent way to spend 90 minutes.

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District 9 Blu Ray Review

After the deal to make the Halo movie fell apart, Peter Jackson gave Neill Blomkamp $30 million to make any movie he wanted. Blomkamp promptly turned his short science fiction film into a feature length movie. Through word of mouth and positive reviews from the critics, the movie did fairly well in the box office. Even with relatively unknown cast and director, the movie looks very professional and polished. Without asking too much question, the movie stands well as a science fiction film. However, as a science fiction genre fan, I was left with a lot of question and unfulfilled expectation. Before I watched the movie, I liked the overall premise of the film of aliens stranded on Earth and having to interact with humans. However, after watching the movie, I felt little let down by the movie.

The movie opens up with the arrival of the aliens on their spaceship. While hovering over Johannesburg, South Africa, the aliens do not make any attempt to come out. The South African government sends in the troops to assess the situation. They find disoriented and confused aliens cowering in the ship. We move forward in years and see that they are settled in a shantytown called District 9. The overall story involves a weapon manufacturing firm’s quest to use the alien weapons. They get their chance when Wickus is exposed to alien substance that transforms him into human/alien hybrid that can utilize the alien weapons. While being chased, Wickus meets an alien who is attempting to get back on the ship in order to leave Earth. Together, they attempt to reverse the mutation by getting the alien back on his ship.

Taken as whole, the movie is fairly well made. It has entertaining plot line and some good special effects and action scenes. You can see the influence the Apartheid had on the director. The District 9’s setting was an actual shantytown where the poor populace inhibits. The overall treatment of aliens is clearly reminiscent of the treatment of black population by the whites in South Africa. I had no problem with the incorporation of Apartheid theme in the movie. However, I did have problem with the overall story. How can an advanced civilization be reduced to animal like creatures depicted in the movie? How can a civilization that’s capable of producing powerful weapons be reduced to being caged in District 9? The director doesn’t explain any of these questions. Instead, we are to believe a civilization that’s capable of space travel reduced to fighting over cat food. He does nothing to explain or hint a plausible story line. Instead, he focuses on the Apartheid theme and we are left to fill in the blank. With small explanation, I could have liked the movie much more. Instead, I’m left with some dissatisfaction.

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The Day the Earth Stood Still Blu Ray

The Day the Earth Stood Still Blu Ray Review

The remake of the 1951 classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, gets a fresh Hollywood make up with some nice special effects and updated story. The 1951 version is considered one of the best science fiction films to grace the silver screen. So, it would take a herculean effort to outshine the original film. The remake is helmed by a relatively unknown director named Scott Derrickson. While the film doesn’t totally destroy the original, it does not live up to the reputation. There are several detractions that make the film unworthy of the original movie.

Keanu Reeves plays the alien visitor Klaatu. He comes to Earth to determine whether we as species deserve to live as the dominant species. He first lands in Central Park where he is immediately shot by one of the soldier. A big robot steps out from the space orb to defend Klaatu. Realizing the mistake, the officials rush Klaatu to the hospital where he is promptly saved. When he is healed, he is put through interrogation by the Secretary of Defense, Kathy Bates. Klaatu insists on being taken to United Nation to speak to all the leaders of the World. However, he is denied the request and promptly treated as hostile. This is where Dr. Helen Benson steps in to intervene and do the right thing.

The story doesn’t deviate too much from the original version except for the environmental message vs. the war from the original. This is where I begin to lose interest. Not another “we screwed up the environment” movie. The Hollywood seems to think it is a spokesman for the environment and its cause. I have no problem with that except they seem to hammering it every chance it gets. Regardless, it’s really derivative effort. Another annoying aspect of the movie was the Jaden Smith’s character. It served no purpose in my opinion and could have been written out. His character was so annoying that I was finding myself wishing him some bodily harm. Keanu Reeves delivers an adequate performance where he doesn’t have to act too much. He has done better movies. This is not one of them.

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Blue-Ray dvd movie review of Babylon A.D.

It was not a good start for Babylon A.D. when the director of the movie trashed the film and its distributor. Director Mahtieu Kassovitz blasted 20th century fox and the producers for not allowing him to edit or shoot way he wanted to. He told several media outlets that the film is "pure violence and stupidity." He likened the film to a bad episode of 24. Being a fan of 24, I'd have to say 24 is far superior this clunker of movie.

The movie is about a mercenary named Toorop, played by Vin Diesel, being hired to deliver a girl to United States. The setting is few decades into the future. Toorop has to deliver Aurora and her companion to New York City from a convent located near Mongolia. There are some other people that get in the way. Ultimately, they make it to New York City. Most viewers will immediately surmise that there is something special about the girl. You find out toward the very end what she is and why she is wanted. The movie tag line says "Save the world." From what? The world looks little bleak and more violent but what's the real problem? Has the terrorist won? What's going on? None of these questions are fully explained. The film makers and script writers do very poor job of world building.

You can compare this movie to the excellent move by Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men. There are similarities between the films. But, Children of Men is far superior movie. It has very tight plot as well as great acting. Even though we are not treated the the front end of the story, we can accept the premise of the film. I could not with Babylon A.d. The one decent aspect of Babylon A.D. was the action sequence. It was pretty good with decent CGI in some parts. The parkor action sequence was extremely cheesy. Other than that, the action was fairly good.

The movie misses the mark completely. It had very interesting premise and plot to derive from. A science fiction with moral tale. So many great science fiction films like Blade Runner succeeds where Babylon A.D. fails. I don't know what the director could have done to save this mess but he certainly could not have butchered it any worse.

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Blu-Ray movie review of The X Files movie

X-Files is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed science fiction television series of all time. I think it ranks up there with many space science fiction series such as Star Trek and Babylon 5. It was matter of time before it made the jump to the big screen. In most cases, the television series made into movies might not be easily accessible to non fans. I think the people behind the television series has done fairly good job of making it accessible to wider audience. In itself, it can be taken as science fiction film without having to understand the X-files universe.

The movie starts out with alien life form inhabiting Earth tens of thousands years ago. Flash forward to present day and the alien life form is some how unearthed by bunch of kids playing around. The life form kills one of the kid and it's up to the X-file team of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully to solve this mystery. The investigation leads them all over the place including the Arctic.

Now, if you are not a regular viewer of the television series, you would simply take this as science fiction mystery film. On the other hand, fans will immediately recognize the central plot that runs through the episodic series. That being the alien conspiracy. Since this movie came out when the television series had not completed its run, it does not completely answer everything. There is some what satisfactory ending to it. But, there are questions still to be answered. As fans know, the television series did not completely answer everything at the end.

As it is shown as PG-13 movie, there are more violence and harsher language than the television series. Also, I think the producers pandered a bit by playing up the relationship between Mulder and Scully. Which is not a bad thing. We all knew/know where that relationship was headed. All in all, it might feel like a longer episode of television episode with bigger budget if you are regular fan. Otherwise, it is fairly competent science fiction movie on its own.

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Blu-Ray movie review of I, Robot

Growing up, the two science fiction authors I admired the most were Isaac Asimov and Philip K Dick. The two authors are famous forwriting intelligent "what if" robot fictions. Their time and cinema techniques were miles and world apart when it came to translating their vision the screen. The stunning 1980 film, Bladerunner, was the first of many to catch up to these fantastic novels. I, Robot is another example of technology allowing the novels to achieve the authors vision. Does this movie live up to the book? I'm not sure. It's really hard to compare movie adaptation since it almost always fails to live up to the original work. I think we need to take the movie as another experience instead of holding it up to original novels. This is fairly good science fiction film with some faults. It feels more like an action flick to showcase Will Smith rather than the story.

The plot is fairly well known science fiction idea. It's about robots and their place in humanity. I think most of the fans will be familiar with Data from Enterprise or T800 from Terminator. Those are two extremes of artificial intelligence amidst humanity. This movie falls in somewherein between just like Bladerunner. It's year 2035 and robots are everywhere. They do menial works not wanted by humans. When Dr Lanning, the head of researcher for robotics firm, is murdered, officer Del Spooner tries to piece together what or who killed the doctor. This is the start of the premise and it gets little deeper. The obvious question answered is where do these robots fit in amongst us humans.

As I've said before, Will Smith managed do decent job portraying Del Spooner, a cop who generally hates technology. The "tough cop" approach is fairly cliche when it comes to any cinema. None the less, Will Smith does fairly good job of pulling off the tough cop. Bridget Moynahan's character seems to be there just because studio needed a good looking female cast. Other than that, the rest of the cast are pretty forgettable.

Does this movie live up to the writings of Isaac Asimov? That's really up to each viewers to decide. The hardcore fans might deride it as nothing more than Hollywood butcher job. But, I think taken as film, it does entertain and it does translate the core idea fairly well to the audience. It's not as epic as Data's pursuit of humanity or T800's pursuit of humanity's destruction. But, it manages to entertain from start to finish.

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Blu-Ray hd dvd movie review of Serenity

A lot of the fans of the original Firefly, including myself, hoped for some kind of continuation of the short lived series. With Star Trek series off the air, Firefly was the only science fiction series on network television. It was much better than the latest Star Trek series as well. Firefly was intelligently written western set in space. No aliens or weird space creatures inhibit this universe. It was science fiction for grown ups and people wanting something more than just aliens and explosions. Sadly, Fox managed to axe this brilliant show with only 13 episodes. Few of them never aired and could be only viewed through DVDs. Like other X-files, there is central plot line running through the show structured around episodic series. The movie Serenity tries to tie up loose ends for the fans.

Most of the fans will no doubt be familiar with the story line. Even if you have not watched the television series, you can easily follow this movie from start to finish. Captain Malcolm Reynolds pilots transport space ship named Serenity. The setting reminds you of the American Civil War where Reynolds is the confederate soilder returning to daily life after the defeat. He operates on the edge of known universe smuggling black market goods. The movie is to resolve the origin of Reavers and River Tamm and her brother. You get to see the background story and the resolution. The movie did leave a lot so it could be revisited.

I was never big fan of Joss Whedon. I never watched Buffy or any other work. But, this is a brilliant movie based on a great series. The entire cast from the television series reprise their role and are perfect. I especially appreciated Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau. Both did fantastic job.

There were so many ideas and plot lines that could have been explored had the series been given proper treatment by Fox. Even so, this movie does well enough to tie up loose ends which is rare for a canceled series. The fans should be thankful that some studio executive green lit this movie so we could revisit this universe for one more time.

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Blue-Ray disc movie review of Jumper

Being a big science fiction follower, The premise of Jumper was very intriguing. It's about humans being able to teleport. While not truly original idea, I don't think it has been done too much as a motion picture. And, I liked few previous movies directed by Doug Liman, Bourne Identity mainly.

The basic plot is about a boy, Hayden Christensen, discovering his power to teleport early on. From that point on, he robs banks and lives in lap of luxury and travel. But that comes to halting end when group of people track him down to kill him. He finds out there have been a war between teleporters and group known as Paladins. Sounds pretty exciting. But, the overall execution film made it not much more than exercise in special effects. The performances were spotty except for Samuel L Jackson and brief appearance by Diane Lane.

I think the movie could have been much more and had great opportunity to be a science fiction franchise. I mean people who can teleport anywhere and an ancient war with Paladins? This could have generated massive following had it been a good movie. It had great premise but thin plot and weak story.

Ultimately, it has stunning effects and MTV like cut scenes. The acting was pretty bad Save for Samuel L Jackson's performance. Great premise was wasted in this effort.

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