Movie Boycott

Based on tonight's movie-going experience, I've decided to instantiate a boycott on certain movies. I can't stand stupid, unrealistic sequences unless the reality set forth in that particular movie has already dictated or indicated that it's possible. For instance, I don't mind if a person teleports if the movie dictates or indicates somehow that people can teleport. I don't mind if people can fly, or if they can time travel, or anything else, as it corresponds to the reality of the movie. I have a good suspension of disbelief. I hate special effects for the sake of special effects, though. Sometimes, flashiness hurts a movie.

With that in mind, here is the (probably soon to grow) list of movie-related people I'm boycotting...

• Michael Bay - Only Bad Boys was good. Transformers was passable.


• Stephen Spielberg - Enough grey. This is largely based on the latest Indiana Jones flick, though.


• George Lucas - See Stephen Spielberg. I'm looking at you, Indy.


• Louis Leterrier - He directed Transporter 2, which is the original inspiration for this train of thought. I can't stand this movie.
  

I'm sure this list will grow. I'll update it as I come across examples of bad movie-making, unless I've already stabbed myself in the eyes with a fork as the lesser of two evils to watching another movie of this sort.

Movie Review: Quarantine

Warning: There may be spoilers here.

That said, read on if you are interested, or if maybe you think you want to save $10.

The movie began pretty well. Its premise is that a TV crew consisting of a cameraman and a, let's say, reality TV show hostess, are slated to "shadow" a pair of fire fighters during a night shift. The crew gets a call to head to an apartment building. When they get there, they get locked in along with the tenants of the building and a couple police officers, and none of them knows why.

All hell immediately breaks loose. The little old lady that was the cause of the call to the police and fire department goes ape and tears into a few of the movie's cast. Then, as most zombie movies similarly progress, they get "infected" and the bloodbath continues.

Really, the movie did start out promisingly. Though the camera work was of the style of Blair Witch, which I hated, and Cloverfield, which I didn't see, it had potential. Since the main characters were a professional camera crew, I was practically praying that the camera would not be overly jittery and that I would be able to tell what was going on. For the first half of the movie, that was the case. Then, they decided to stop with the whole clarity thing. I understand the reason; I just don't agree with it. A jittery camera confuses the audience as a way of getting them to identify with the protagonists. I just don't think this trick works, and effectively just irritates the audience. At least that's what it does to me.

The lighting also ended up being schizophrenic. Initially, the movie lighting was fine. The apartment building had lights, and all was well. Then, a little more than halfway into the film, the producer must have run out of money for the electric bill, and the only source of lighting became the camera that acted as the audience's portal to the movie. Then, and I can't IMAGINE why this happened, the camera's light had to go iffy as though the battery was running out, and so there was a bit of a strobe effect through to the end of the movie. When the camera finally gave out, the end of the flick was done in night vision.

I really did think it had promise. It had a script. It had a few likable characters. I feel, though, like they gave up trying to get good scares out of the audience about halfway through the movie, and just gave in to having things jump out at the camera, which they could do because the camera ended up going "wonky." The lighting, the script, and any original scares in the film ended a little more than halfway into the film, though, and the movie degenerated into Blair Witch; no script and no lighting.

Overall, I probably wouldn't recommend shelling out $10 to see it in a theater. If it comes on cable sometime, watch it then. Instead, save your money go to see the new Bond flick, for which we saw a trailer.
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My Theory is Definitely Sound

I hate driving in Baltimore. Most people somehow don't mind it, but it's a living nightmare for me. You disagree? Try going here and then finding your way back out without getting lost. I couldn't I got so turned around I accidentally went back the way I came. No wonder the girl got lost going to an interview in the area once.

Whoever designed that section of the city should be reanimated, made to pay to knock it all down, made to pay somebody else to redesign it, and then killed again. If he's still alive, we'll skip the reanimation part. Well, no we won't. We'll kill him, then reanimate him and continue the process.

Thankfully, I achieved my goal, which was to pick up the sneak preview tickets for Quarantine. Having done that, I learned that the sneak preview is next Thursday. I'm going. I'm interested in seeing how this movie is. It seems like it could be cool.

Yahoo Movies

Yahoo put together a list of Yahoo Users Top Rated Sci-Fi Films. I'm going to jump right to the conclusion and state that the user base for this list, though they got some movies on the mark, are special-effect eye-candy whores that that don't have any sense of what a good movie is.

I'll jump right to the list, and my comments.


30. Serenity - I loved Serenity, but I haven't yet decided whether it warrants this. As a standalone movie, it probably doesn't. It needs the character development backing of the show.

29. X-Men 3 - Whatever. I'm not really sure I would qualify superhero movies as sci-fi movies, but I'll ignore that for now. The end of this movie bothered me severely. The bad guys have the most powerful being on the planet and she stands by watching. Bad story writing for my liking.

28. I Am Legend - Yeah, nobody's going to remember this in 10 years. It was good, but not exceptional, and also had some issues. Besides being a giant Ford commercial, how did she get her shiny new Ford vehicle onto Manhattan anyway when they blew up the bridges?

27. Donnie Darko - This is one of the ones they got right

26. X-Men United - Not spectacular. Besides, they also screwed up the entire Nightcrawler character. He's supposed to be swashbuckling and debonnaire. Special effects and weak story.

25. Deja Vu - Didn't see it

24. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Good, but again, not the best.

23. Ghostbusters - Another one they got right. I love it.

22. V for Vendetta - I agree that this movie is spectacular, but it's not sci-fi.

21. The Terminator - This is one of those definitive sci-fi flicks. Why isn't it higher in the list?

20. X-Men - Better than the other two, but DEFINITELY not better than Terminator, Ghostbusters, or (movie for movie) V for Vendetta. It's not one of the best sci-fi flicks ever.

19. Predator - Another one of the definitive sci-fi flicks. Again, why isn't it higher?

18. Superman - A superhero movie (so not strictly sci-fi in my mind), but a good movie.

17. Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith - Are you kidding? As if it wasn't just a bad movie, Hayden Christianson could be a worse actor than Keanu Reeves, and that's saying something!

16. Alien - One of the trio with Predator and Terminator. This just screams well-done, fantastic sci-fi

15. Spider-Man - Better than Alien, Predator, Terminator, and Ghostbusters!?!?! No. Everybody who voted this movie higher than those needs a movie education.

14. Jurassic Park - Again, not better than others I've mentioned, but I could see this belonging on the list.

13. Terminator 2 - Fantastic, but not as good as the original. Many original ideas in it, though.

12. The Incredibles - A great movie, but really! It doesn't belong on a sci-fi list at all.

11. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - I didn't like it, but I can appreciate it.

10. The Day the Earth Stood Still - Finally, now you're talking! Flying saucers definitely belong on this list! If the new one coming out ever beats this, though, I'll die inside.

9. E.T. - Yup, this is one of those that belongs here.

8. The Matrix - I suspected this would be here. Keanu Reeves can't act, though, and there are a bunch of movies on this list better than the Matrix.

7. Back to the Future - It should never be this high on this list. It probably shouldn't even be here. It's good, but it's not the best.

6. Aliens - Cinematically, Alien is better. But for entertainment value, Aliens is better. They're about equal for different reasons.

5. Return of the Jedi - It belongs on the list. All three of the original Star Wars flicks probably do.

4. Empire Strikes Back - Look, another one!

3. Transformers - NFW. Nothing Michael Bay belongs on this list. EVER!

2. Star Wars - Yup, it belongs

1. Iron Man - You have got to be kidding me! This! The best sci-fi movie of all time? Shoot me now.

So what'd they miss? A whole bunch of stuff. Most of the classic sci-fi stuff (1950s and 60s), like the original War of the Worlds, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, the Time Machine, The Thing from Another Planet, and Forbidden Planet. They also missed some newer classics like Blade Runner, The Thing, Planet of the Apes. And then, of course, how could you miss one of the most important science fiction films ever; Godzilla!

Now, I know people will disagree with ever last (thanks K), but how could you put a comic book movie at the top of a sci-fi list? And how can you just ignore the origins of good science fiction? I'm disappointed in the users that got their movies onto this list. I'm happy with some of the people commenting, though.
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