Alien Code - very budget film, decent acting - nice premise as a story line. I like this kind of stuff. If you like low-budget nerdy tech things that look kind of accurate-ish and time travel stuff, they you'll probably enjoy it
I don't mind the odd lo-fi sci-fi myself mate - check out that Prospect if you haven't already. I mentioned it on here a few months back and I think it's a great little flick. Also, I'm sure you'll have seen it, but if you haven't, check out The Signal too with Larry Fishburne. Also, another one I was truly amazed by was the Australian film Upgrade with Poundland-Tom Hardy out of Prometheus. Confessions d'un Barjo is also a decent 90s French adaptation of a Dick story, as is Vanilla Sky (it's a rip off of Ubik really).
I'd consider myself a bit of a sci-fi nut as well, but generally, sci-fi is very hit-and-miss. I find and the genre attracts know-it-alls, which is fine, we've all been there, but as you alluded to, you have to suspend disbelief and let your creative mind do the rational thinking. I think this is why some folk can't bear the genre and I'll quote a girl who I used to hang with who said something along the lines of: "Watching sci-fi is like being in science class".
And as banal a statement that was to make in the '90s, it has always stuck with me and in my later years, I kind of now get what she meant. There's a certain level of preachiness in certain sci-fi flicks and there are some god awful films that have either rip-offs of Asimov, Vonnegut, Bradbury, Burroughs, Sturgeon, van Vogt, Roth (to an extent), Clarke, Heinlein, Wells, Verne, Dick or even Hubbard. All of whom 'borrowed' extensively off of each other and really set the genre apart.
Twickenham are set to open in Edge Lane in 2020 (which means 2022), and they were behind some of the greatest sci-fi flicks of our time... I sincerely hope that they use the fantastic resources that Liverpool has and that we see a bit of a second-wind of British produced sci-fi,
I really do.
One of the first projects I'll hopefully be undertaking in my MA is a short 20-minute film about the symbiosis of AI-tech, nanotech, and human psychology and physiology. Done to death, I know, but as I've said, true originality is a myth and we as creators should be driven by artistic inspiration and the kind of films I'd like to see are ones that pathfind what a future could be like; that is, as opposed to 'pure sci-fi'. By that I mean, like, a film where you, the viewer, is plonked into a world where there is nothing in the way of backstory as to how 'we' got there.
And I think that this is where and why The Matrix hit such a nerve in the late '90s. It laid out a story from A-to-Z and chartered how we got from here to there.
There really hasn't been a film as prescient as The Matrix and there have been a lot of pretenders to the throne - possibly the closest (for me) was Equilibrium. But even that was a pastiche of The Matrix and tried to geg in on the whole 'Woo Gun-Fu' thing. Yet saying that, if you discount The Matrix, Equilibrium is an excellent sci-fi flick that has an amazing emotional return for the viewer (more so than The Matrix I think).
Black Mirror is picking up the pieces, but I suspect that from this series onwards, its successes will ultimately lead to its demise. When something in sci-fi becomes popular and mainstream (as BM did), the moneymen ride in and rinse the concept to death... As was seen in that daft robot dog episode.
Have you seen The Ray Bradbury Theater? Not 'pure sci-fi', but very good TV and even Brooker himself has said that he was inspired by the Bradbury Theater.
<![CDATA[<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/lNIv8Eg-qu4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/lNIv8Eg-qu4</a>]]>Not the best acting or writing, but I love it... we have it on VHS somewhere.
Travolta has shaved his head now! Looks 300% better. Should have done it 10 years ago.
Unrelated...The little boy in me is excited to see the new Godzilla flick next weekend. Looks like it is wall to wall monster fights for 2 hours unlike the prior movie.
He does look better without the wigs and he does look better bald. I really hope he bounces back with a decent film, I really do. I really like John Travolta and while he's under the influence of a cult of personality and is quite possibly trapped by his gay/bisexual tendencies... If it's an act or not, he always comes across as just a decent, but naive bloke. Regardless of whatever happened with his son (and the rumours around his son's death), he and his wife got some pretty shitty allegations against them. Also, he does do a lot for charity and again, whilst Scientology is a cult and pretty shit, he led a campaign to help folk in the Haiti disaster and flew doctors and aid workers to the area in his own jet.
However, there are allegations to suggest he may have a 'dark side' to him, and they may be true, they may not be - but I totally get why folk may not like him.
There's no doubting his talent, he can/could sing, dance and he can be pretty good at comedy. He has more than a few shitburgs in his body of works, but films like Domestic Disturbance (ha!), Be Cool, Michael, Battlefield Earth (a Hubbard story I think), Staying Alive and Shout (and they're just the ones that I've seen). He has some brilliant films and I think it is peculiar how he and Cage played alongside each other in Face/Off.
I kind of lump Travolta in the same category as Cage. They're not too dissimilar of an actor and both climbed the greasy pole, despite their affiliations. True, both may have had a helping hand through their connections to the industry (Cage especially), but they didn't 'land young' and weren't groomed like many were. I think Travolta was one of the youngest Oscar noms at the time (Grease I think), and his early successes aren't to be sniffed at. He's very talented and inspired a lot of actors after him with his ability to just 'perform'. Urban Cowboy was one of the films that I saw him in, and he's brilliant in it... like truly, check it out, it ain't for everyone, but he's really good in it.
He was good in the People V OJ (even though I hated his performance at first) and you can't not mention Pulp Fiction... He got a nod for it from the academy and while it may have been a case of 'Hey, we haven't seen you in a while', if you watch his performance, his nod is truly worthwhile. This may be down to the director and script, but his performance is great and I can't see any other actor playing that role.
