2001: A Space Odyssey

When I heard that there would be a print run of 2001 this year during its 50th anniversary, I got very excited.  This was one of those movies I always wanted to see in theater.  But as the summer went on, there was still no word from my local theater that this was going to […]

Arrival

*NOTE: This is a full spoiler review It seems like there has been a lot of these serious sci-fi movies lately which have dominated the theaters over the last few years: Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian, Oblivion, Ex Machina, Edge of Tomorrow, etc.  And so I sort of find myself excited about them, yet resisting them, […]

Jupiter Ascending

At first glance, Jupiter Ascending is a fascinating film. It hints at a grand scope of intergalactic intrigue with incredible world-building. For example, we see some typical “grey” aliens used as minions to higher powers, which seems fascinating. This movie appears to be a peek into the vastness of a larger, interconnected universe full of […]

The Martian

We’ve been getting lots of space movies lately, hey? Prometheus, Gravity, Interstellar, and now The Martian. And they’re all good! I thought that The Martian may start to feel tired being at the end of this chain, but I ended up enjoying it quite a lot. It didn’t actually feel like those other movies. You […]

Ex Machina

Ex Machina is a nice little sci-fi flick. It deals with two guys who are testing the AI woman that one of them built. Its pretty interesting in how these characters play off of each other and how the relationship dynamics work. You know there’s gonna be a twist coming into it somewhere. There are basically […]

Cosmic Encounter: Cosmic Conflict

  Cosmic Encounter is a game that has had many versions and may expansions over its 37 year history. However Fantasy Flight’s latest version really seems to be the definitive edition, which has up to five expansions thus far. The first to be released was the excellent Cosmic Incursion Expansion. Today I will be looking […]

Edge of Tomorrow

I didn’t hold much hope for Edge of Tomorrow. Living a day over and over again as a premise seemed more like a chore than anything else. And otherwise it looked like a video game. It even has that restarting gimmick to feel like a video game. Turns out, Edge of Tomorrow is pretty awesome. […]

Her

This movie has no relevance to modern day life. Its the story of a man who falls in love with his computer program, but its really about how are society is becoming more withdrawn into the virtual world we have created and how we are choosing artificial relationships over true human interaction. Nope, no relevance […]

After Earth

Here’s my brief, one-sentence review for those who don’t want to read my ramblings on: not enough animal attacks. Will Smith is a soldier who takes his son on an interstellar space voyage which crash lands on earth. However, earth has been abandoned for an indeterminate number of years and has grown wild. However, the […]

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is six stories melded into one. The main idea is that these stories take place in different time periods but involve the same souls of the people involved. We have one story set in the present, three in the past, and two in the future. The problem with a concept like this is […]

Oblivion

Oblivion is Tom Cruise’s latest sci-fi film which seems him as Jack, a man left behind on a scorched earth to mine for resources for the new home of the humans on Titan. He is stationed with Victoria who are the last humans left on Earth protecting their machines from what is left over from […]

Looper

Well that was quite the movie. Its strong and weak aspects are really pulling at me here as I try to form an overall opinion. So lets start off by talking about why this movie is great. Then I can talk about why its not. It takes balls to tackle a serious time travel story, […]

John Carter

“John Carter of Earth? John Carter of Mars: that sounds better.” Lots has been said about how much money Disney sunk into their big budget John Carter and about how poorly its been doing in the theaters. So the question is, does it deserve its floppy reputation? My answer; not really, no. Its nothing that […]

Another Earth

Another Earth is the story of a promising young lady whose life goes to hell after a tragic accident. But wait a minute, its also about the mysterious appearance of a planet seemingly identical to our own, which appears closer and closer to this planet as time goes by. And these two seemingly unrelated storylines […]

Cosmic Encounter: Intergalactic Excellence

Some games are great because they have interesting and airtight mechanics. Some games are great because their components and artwork is top notch. But the best games are the ones which can provide a great social experience. These are the games which are remembered by the longest, the ones which provide the most fun, produce […]