Movie Preview: Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

The first official trailer for The Dark Knight Rises was released today, unfortunately it is mostly just a rehash of footage from the first two films. A little disapointing if you ask me, still we do get a glimpse of the new villain Bane. They also aren't allowing any embedding of the video as well, so you just get a link. Sorry.


The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Trailer

Read more »

The Top 20 SciFi Movies (the next 5)

The Prestige (Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Cain, Scarlet Johansen, Piper Perabo. Directed by Christopher Nolan)

Centered around a rivalry between two magicians, this movie is the epitome of slight of hand movie making. The feud between the two magicians starts when Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) accidentally kills Robert Angier's (Hugh Jackman's) wife during a magic trick. That one action sets off a decade long fight between the two men, exacerbated by the fact that Borden has seemingly perfected the greatest illusion ever seen. Angier goes through great, most of the time terrible and illegal, lengths to find out the trick and to bring down Borden. Many don't realize this movie is scifi, because it doesn't really present itself as such, but in the end it is very much so. Getting there though, takes us through a dramatic tension between two men willing to sacrifice anything (including, ultimately, their own happiness) to best each other and it is wonderful to watch. It is also interesting, upon second viewing, to see how cleverly Nolan hides a lot of clues in plain sight throughout the movie. The performances are wonderful by everyone, including Jackman who is so often pegged as the good-natured, gruff guy, but here plays up an ambiguous, at times, unlikable arrogance with surprising finesse. You have to pay a lot of attention to this film, because it jumps around a lot in time, but it does provide markers for the viewer to latch on to to keep them centered. The mind games these men play on each other is fantastically obsessive and mean, and it's is fascinating to watch to see who will win, even though by the end you aren't sure which one you should be rooting for - or if you even should be rooting for either.

Read more »

The Top 20 SciFi Movies (the first 5)

Minority Report (Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Max von Sydow. Directed by Steven Speilberg)

Based (very loosely) on Philip K. Dick's short story of the same name, this movie tells the tale of a group of precogs who can foresee crime before it happens. Taking advantage of this, pre-crime police quickly apprehend criminals and charge them of crimes that they have not yet committed. When John Anderton (Tom Cruise), finds himself on the other end of a precogs vision, he goes on the run to discover why he would murder a man he doesn't know and uncovers an old conspiracy. This movie is creepily futuristic - the cold technology is complemented by strange, earthy characters. Everything about the movie - from its action sequences to its mind bending paradoxes of time and cause and effect - are perfectly directed and executed by Steven Spielberg. Even Tom Cruise, generally wooden or overblown, gives a nice and subtle performance as a man still suffering from the kidnapping of his son and the guilt he feels about letting it happen. Of special note, is the performance of Colin Farrell as the suspicious police officer hunting Anderton. Is he good or evil?

Read more »

Movie Review: Inception - The Power Of Dreams

Movie: Inception (2010)
Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy & Marion Cotillard
Writer & Director: Christopher Nolan


With Inception writer/director Christopher Nolan gets very ambitious, setting his sights on the ethereal world of dreams. In so doing he has created a masterful blend of action, suspense and psychological thriller. This movie aims to hit on all levels and succeeds on most counts. Leonardo Dicaprio plays Cobb an agent who's job it is to extract information from others. He does so by trapping his targets in what is called a "shared dream". Because of his work he has lost everything he loves and desperately wants it back. After a botched extraction he is offered his chance to get it back through "inception". The opposite of extraction it involves implanting an idea into someone's sub-conscious. Cillian Murphy plays Robert Fischer Jr. the man being set up for inception. It seems the fate of multi-billion dollar companies lies in his hands. Cobb assembles his team for his last mission but he also has a dark secret which threatens to derail the project.

Read more »

Movie Preview: Inception - The Power of Dreams

Okay, so this is my first movie preview. Since seeing the first trailer for Inception I was intrigued. First it's written and directed by Christopher Nolan of The Prestige and The Dark Knight. It also stars Leonardo Dicaprio and  Cillian Murphy so it has an  A-list cast. However, I was also  a little disappointed because the trailer did not tell me anything about the film. It had something to do with dreams but I couldn't figure out much more. Well now there is a new trailer and interview that explains more:





It seems the film will be about entering ones sub-conscious to gain valuable information through their dreams. Leonardo Dicaprio plays Cobb an agent who's job it is to extract information from others. Cillian Murphy's character is the mark or person being set up to get extracted. There is also the idea that once in the Dream realm one must somehow escape and it is not quite clear how this is done. Honestly, the more I learn about this movie the more it reminds me of The Matrix which is not really a good thing. I'm going to be optimistic though and hope we get a mind blowing movie and not some metaphysical nonsense.

Read more »