With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes the most important mission in human history; traveling beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars.

Christopher Nolan’s latest film opened this weekend, offering theater-goers the kind of beautiful, hyper-realistic view of outer space made possible by the best special effects available coupled with a compelling story paced along the lines of more recent science fiction offerings like Moon and The Europa Report.

Though anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of science will cringe at my description of Interstellar as realistic science fiction, I do so to differentiate this film from those that are more action/adventure oriented, like Star Trek.

At two hours and forty-nine minutes, Nolan gives those paying movie theater prices their money’s worth, and I for one was riveted to the (BIG) screen for every minute.

Continue reading Interstellar: A non-spoiler film review →

One of life’s great gifts is the state of anticipation. The sweet agony of waiting while hoping with every fiber of our being that whatever it is we are waiting for meets and exceeds our expectations on arrival.

Readers and moviegoers experience this state often throughout a given year, as announced release dates are followed by cover art images and movie posters. Then come the trailers and the thoughts of those lucky enough to have gotten an early glimpse at the finished work.

Anticipation…it can result in the heady rush of desires fulfilled or in bubble-bursting disappointment.

With the exception of the third and final Hobbit film, there is no movie that I have been anticipating as much in 2014 as Guardians of the Galaxy.

Although set in the Marvel Universe, Guardians looked to be less of a comic book film and more of a fun-with-a-capital-F science fiction adventure. With an imaginative set of characters, a cast filled with personal favorites and stunning special effects, it promised to be the ultimate summer popcorn flick.

Marvel Studios kept their promise, my bubble is firmly intact.

Continue reading Guardians of the Galaxy →

LIVE.DIE.REPEAT.

Edge of Tomorrow, the adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel All You Need is Kill, is a visceral, Groundhog Day-esque military science fiction film that makes grand use of its basic premise to give viewers the adrenaline-driven thrills they expect from summer blockbuster movies.

Lieutenant Colonel William Cage ( Tom Cruise) is the face of the United States military marketing campaign, sent to Europe to encourage the allied military forces about to embark on an invasion of France, meant to be the first step in reclaiming the area overtaken by an alien invasion force.

When he unwittingly finds himself on the front lines, his first alien contact results in a condition in which his death triggers a return to a set moment in time, the day before the invasion.

Through a series of painful, and sometimes painfully comic, events Cage begins to see how his role in this war, and that of the larger-than-life heroine Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), aka The Angel of Verdun, are inextricably tied together.

Now, if he can just stop dying long enough to use this knowledge…

Continue reading Edge of Tomorrow →

One of the many things that make the end of a year enjoyable is looking back at memorable experiences. For the nearly nine years that I have been a blogger this has involved posting about favorite reading and viewing experiences of the previous year. Equally enjoyable is reading those posts by others, both professional and amateur, sharing what impressed them over the course of a year.

For 2013 I decided to separate these into two posts, one highlighting viewing experiences (film and television) and the other reading experiences. Borrowing the parameters from SF Signal, in my look back over the past year these are not “necessarily films [and television] that were originally released this year — [I am] more interested in the best films [and television]…consumed for the first time in 2013”.

I welcome your comments on my picks and hope that you would share your own, either in the comments or by linking to any film/tv “Best of” posts that you may have written or come across.

Continue reading Favorite Film/Television of 2013 →

Europa Report is a documentary style, found footage film that recounts the twenty-month journey of the first manned space flight to Europa, a moon of the planet Jupiter. The six-person crew is tasked with landing on Europa to take samples of water under the ice in hopes of confirming the presence of basic sources of life. The story is narrated in part by the CEO of Europa Ventures, the company that funded the space flight. Dr. Unger intersperses her commentary with actual footage from just prior to the ship’s launch up through the last footage captured by the video cameras interspersed throughout the vessel. While on the way to Europa, mysterious circumstances cause the live ship feed to be lost to Earth. Though the cameras continued to record footage on the ship, it wasn’t until this later video documentation was recovered that the entire mystery of the Europa mission could be told.

Chances are high that you have not heard of this film. It was released in August this year to limited fanfare and though critically acclaimed did not generate a large box office.  A recent review reminded me of the movie’s existence and I was happy to see that it was available for streaming on Netflix.  Like another independent film of a few years ago, Moon, Europa Report makes a great effort to portray realistic settings and concerns with a film that focuses more on story than on special effects.  That is not to denigrate the effects, because they are well done.

Europa Report begins in strong fashion by revealing a mystery that draws the viewer in and then begins to unveil the overall story in a series of nonlinear flashbacks coupled with then-live footage of the crew of Europa One.  The cast was largely unknown to me and every performance was strong. Though the film does trade on the idea of life on other planets, the bulk of the film focuses on the lives of six people as they take a nearly two-year-long journey to a place that humankind has never been.  There is something both beautiful and terrifying about this journey and the filmmakers convey both of these emotions in subtle ways that draw the viewer in.

I hesitate to say much more other than to encourage you to work Europa Report into your viewing rotation.  Europa Report is further proof that science fiction need not have hundred million dollar budgets and celebrity casting to be engaging and emotionally satisfying.  Bring on more films of this caliber.