Transcendence review: AI yai yai
The neo-luddite attitude is bad, but this commits a far worse sin: it’s dull. If only it worked as a schlocky pile of pulp nonsense, that’d be something…
Matrix
The Lego Movie review: take the brick pill
You’ve seen this all before — it’s Toy Story meets The Matrix — just not done in Legos.
The Congress movie review (London Film Festival)
A hugely ambitious film reminiscent of The Matrix and the works of Terry Gilliam while also carving out its own apocalyptic sci-fi space.
when did movies start sucking?
I’ve given green lights to plenty of films in recent years, but I can’t shake the sense that, in the aggregate, movies suck, and have been sucking since 2000.
Elysium review: third world rock from the sun
Neill Blomkamp cements his science-fiction credentials as a filmmaker with a genre vision the likes of which we haven’t seen since the socially conscious SF of the 1970s.
Before Midnight review: eavesdropping on romance
Marvelous. It’s impossible to shake the feeling that we are merely eavesdropping on reality. Witty, wise, and—most important of all—truly romantic in ways that movies usually aren’t. (new DVD/VOD US/Can/UK)
Stephenie Meyer has found a whole new way for teen girls to be conflicted about sex (The Host review)
Did Neo come to see that the Agents had the right way of things? Did Luke eventually realize that the Empire was a stabilizing force in the galaxy? But poor Melanie is suffering from the ultimate case of Stockholm Syndrome.
Oblivion (trailer)
Ooo ooo ooo! I know, I know! Tom Cruise is in the Matrix! No, wait, his dreams are being incepted! No, wait, wait: he’s in a video game!
Doctor Who thing of the day: “The Great Detective,” Christmas prequel minisode (plus a trailer)
Apparently the Doctor has retired to become a Dickens villain…
Wreck-It Ralph (review)
Gets that we have a relationship with games that exists beyond the point at which play in any given game stops, that we have a relationship with gaming.
