Sci Fi Top 100, #43: "Total Recall" (1990)

Movie Stats:

Released 1990 (USA)
American, in English
Director - Paul Verhoeven
Stars - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Michael Ironside, and many others

Plot Summary:
A futuristic tale about average joe Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger), whose longing for something more out of life drives him to utilize a service that implants false memories. He quickly finds himself embroiled in a complicated plot involving Mars. Ticotin stars as Melina, the literal woman of Quaid’s dreams, and Ironside as Richter, the man hunting Quaid down.

Warnings:
Extreme violence; extreme gore; lots of blue language; brief female nudity (breasts only); heavily implied sexy times.

Bad Stuff:
It’s pretty cheesy, with lots of typical Schwarzenegger one-liners and some very hammy acting.

I don’t think they consulted any scientists before filming this. Most of it seems like BS.

Good Stuff:
The pacing is nice, fast enough to keep you interested but not so fast that you can’t make sense of what’s happening, and with plenty of action.

I like that it doesn’t play games with the audience. There’s not a lot of, “He’s totally dreaming. OR IS HE?”, like in “Inception.”  (Am I the only one who hated the ending of that movie?) This film is presented in a very straightforward fashion. It’s up to the audience to decide whether or not to take it at face value.

It’s fun.

The Verdict:
I’ve always enjoyed this film. Just a couple of weeks ago, I watched the remake and thought it was significantly inferior. The original has a better plot. Not hard when the remake’s plot is a hot mess, but regardless of that I think this plot is good. It makes sense. This film is a wild romp with plenty of sex, action, and humor. Yes, the science is questionable and the cheese factor is high, but, personally, I think that half the fun of Schwarzenegger movies are his punny one-liners (There’s actually a couple of great compilations of his one-liners on YouTube. Check them out if you need a good chuckle.) I don’t watch his films expecting them to be serious or deep.

I give it 3.75 stars.

Up with Geography: Cuba

Country Name:
Cuba

Capital:
Havana

Continent:
None - it's an island; closest continent is North America.

Map:

Map of Cuba.

Neighbors:
The nearest neighbors are The Bahamas & the U.S. to the North, Haiti to the Southeast, Jamaica to the South, and Mexico to the West.

Water Borders:
Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea

Total Area:
42,426 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Camaguey, Holguin, Guantanamo

Famous Geographical Point:
Isla de la Juventud

Famous Person:
Víctor Manuel García Valdés, painter (part of the "Vanguardia" movement)

Book Set In/About:
Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas

Arenas's memoir about growing up in Cuba, fighting for Castro until he became disillusioned, and finding himself persecuted for being gay and for criticizing the government. He would later flee to the USA, where he eventually committed suicide (after contracting HIV). Geez...

Movie Set In/About:
"Buena Vista Social Club" (1999), directed by Wim Wenders

A documentary about the music of Cuba.

Headline of the Day:
"Australia Embrace ‘Underdog’ Tag Against Pool Rivals Japan and Cuba at World Baseball Classic" on foxsports.com.au

Sci Fi Top 100, #44: "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982)

Movie Stats:
Released 1982 (USA)
American, in English (minimal translated alien language)
Director - Nicholas Meyer
Stars - William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban, and many others

Plot Summary:
The familiar crew from the original Star Trek series face an old foe in a battle over a project that could either save or destroy the universe. Shatner stars as Admiral James T. Kirk, Nimoy as Captain Spock, and Montalban as Khan, Kirk’s nemesis who’s bent on revenge.

Warnings:
Violence; extremely minor blue language.

Bad Stuff:
It’s really cheesy. The dialogue, in particular, is frequently bad. Example: “Ah, Kirk, my old friend, do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? [pause] It is very cold in space!” I mean, really.

Anachronisms, a big sci fi pet peeve of mine. For example, Kirk uses reading glasses. I’m pretty sure that, by the 2300s, we’ll have eradicated sight problems, at least for someone as high-ranking as Kirk. We kind of already have (LASIK) in the late 20th/early 21st centuries.

For a guy considered one of the biggest villains in Trek-verse, Khan is kind of a weak character. Supposedly a super genius and yet [SPOILER-y] quite easily tricked by genetically inferior people. There was never a moment when I felt like he might win [SPOILER]. He’s also such a ridiculous ham that it’s difficult to take him seriously.

Good Stuff:
One of the joys of original Trek is seeing how the cast interacts with each other. They had a really good vibe that’s fun to watch.

I liked that it explored the idea that our decisions can come back to haunt us later in life. It was a surprisingly poignant message for what is essentially an action film.

It contains one of my all-time favorite scenes in cinema (“I have been, and always shall be, your friend.”).  Gets me misty-eyed every single time.

It’s got a great soundtrack.

The Verdict:
If you can believe it, I’d never seen this in its entirety before, even though I love Star Trek. Partway through, my husband came in and asked, “So how much do you hate it?” I replied, “I don’t hate it at all.” Yes, it’s ridiculously cheesy and I think Khan is a poorly characterized villain, but it’s also fun and I feel that both the overarching story (the crew needs to stop the bad guy) and the underlying story (the aging crew must face the consequences of decisions they made when they were younger) are well-written. IMO, the movie could’ve done with a little fine tuning. I would say it deserves a less cheesy remake, but they already did that (Star Trek: Into Darkness) and the result was by far my least favorite of the new film series. Perhaps it’s best to leave Khan where he is.

I give it 3.5 stars.

Sci Fi Top 100, #45: "District 9" (2009)

This movie was previously reviewed as part of my A-Z Movie Project. Below is the pertinent information about it: the movie stats, plot summary, and the rating I gave it. You can read the full text of my review HERE.

Movie Stats:
Released 2009 (7 different countries simultaneously)
American, New Zealander, Canadian & South African, in English (translated alien language; several different African languages, mostly translated)
Director - Neill Blomkamp
Stars - Sharlto Copley, David James

Plot Summary:
Twenty-eight years after an alien race has landed on earth in Johannesburg, South Africa, a munitions corporation by the name of Multi-National United (MNU) has been tasked with forcibly moving the alien refugees to a camp farther outside of town. MNU employee Wikus Van De Merwe (Copley) has been tapped to lead the operation, but disaster unexpectedly befalls him. James co-stars as the MNU’s lead thug, Koobus Venter.

Rating:
3.75 stars

Up with U.S. Geography: Ohio

State Name:
Ohio

Capital:
Columbus

Date of Entry:
March 1, 1803

Maps:

Map of USA. Ohio outlined in dark ink, shaded &
with name written on it.

A close-up of Ohio & its neighbors.

Neighbors:
Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana

Water Borders:
Lake Erie, Ohio River

Total Area:
44,825 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron

Famous Geographical Point:
Great Miami River

State Nickname:
The Buckeye State. Named for the abundance of buckeye trees in the state.

Famous Person:
George Bellows, realist painter (I recently saw an exhibition of his work & was blown away)

Book Set In/About:
Indignation by Philip Roth

Set at a fictional college in Ohio during the Korean War, a young man struggles to find his own voice and fights for his right to his own religious beliefs. I've actually read this and seem to recall that I didn't like it, but I'm pretty picky about my fiction.

Movie Set In/About:
"Heathers" (1988), directed by Michael Lehmann

Popular girl Veronica (Winona Ryder) grows tired of her clique, the Heathers. When she meets bad boy J.D. (Christian Slater), things become explosive. This dark comedy is a great look at the pressures of both high school and small town life.

Headline of the Day:
"Tim Ryan Won't Run for Ohio Governor" on cincinnati.com.

Sci Fi Top 100, #46: "Her" (2013)

Movie Stats:
Released 2013 (USA)
American, in English
Director - Spike Jonze
Stars - Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams

Plot Summary:
Theodore Twombly (Phoenix), a man in the throes of loneliness and depression, falls in love with his computer's artificially intelligent operating system, Samantha (Johansson). Adams co-stars as Theodore’s close friend, Amy.

Warnings:
Lots of blue language; sexy times; brief female nudity (breasts only).

Bad Stuff:
For a film set in the (nearish) future, it sure had some old-fashioned ideas about gender. People repeatedly make a big deal out of the fact that Theodore is sensitive (he’s even called a sissy for admitting that he cries). Amy is a programmer but the game she’s programming is about competing to be a good mom. I found it really off-putting/jarring. I hope we’ll be beyond most of that 50 years from now.

Good Stuff:
I’m always pleasantly surprised when movies depict a male/female friendship without a hint of romance to it. Well done, film.

The acting is phenomenal. Phoenix was particularly impressive. When I think about the fact that he spent most of filming likely talking to himself, and how he was able to effectively emote while doing that, I’m completely blown away.

It’s visually quite beautiful.

The Verdict:
I wasn’t looking forward to this at all. I don’t have anything against Joaquin Phoenix, but I wasn’t convinced that he could carry a film the way he needed to for this. Also, I was skeptical of the concept. Something about the previews I saw made it seem creepy or icky. But I went into it with an open mind, and I found myself quickly charmed. There’s nothing creepy or icky about the central romance. In fact, I thought it was really touching. Both Phoenix and Adams do an amazing job of showing what it’s like to be in a bad place in your life, and also what it’s like to come out of that bad place. I was completely wrong about Phoenix’s ability to carry the film. It’s lovely on so many levels, in a way that moved me to tears more than once. Nearly everything about it is well done: the acting, the cinematography, the special effects, the  soundtrack, and the writing. My quibbles with it - including that it’s rather light on the sci fi front - are minor.

I give it 4.25 stars.

Sci Fi Top 100, #47: "Contact" (1997)

Movie Stats:
Released 1997 (USA)
American, in English (multiple non-translated other languages unimportant to the plot)
Director - Robert Zemeckis
Stars - Jodie Foster, Tom Skerritt, Matthew McConaughey, and many, many others

Plot Summary:
Dr. Eleanor Arroway (Foster), having spent most of her life searching for intelligent life in the universe, receives a message from deep space. Skerritt co-stars as David Drumlin, Arroway’s nemesis, and McConaughey as Palmer Joss, a spiritual guru who is also Arroway’s love interest.

Warnings:
Very minor violence; minor blue language; implied sexy times.

Bad Stuff:
S.R. Hadden (John Hurt) was a little too convenient as a character. He was mostly a plot device, there to rescue Arroway every time she got stuck so the story could move forward to the desired conclusion.

I kind of hate how a lot of science fiction feels the need to address questions about religion. It comes across as defensive. IMO, not everything we don’t understand has to be mystical.

There were too many secondary characters. Although most of them get relatively little screen time, the sheer number of them was distracting.

Good Stuff:
Oh hey, a female as the lead character. And she’s smart, strong, and interesting. In short, she’s well-written. I hardly know what to say.

Actual science! That was neat.

The acting is really good. Foster does most of the heavy lifting, but I quite enjoyed Skerritt as well. I hated his character so much (same goes for James Woods as NSA guy Michael Kitz). Gotta love an actor who can make you loathe their character.

The Verdict:
About a year or two ago, my husband watched this movie while I was in the same room. I didn’t pay much attention to it. Every now and then, I looked up from what I was doing to ask, “Is that movie still on?” It seemed really, really long to me. So I have to admit that I wasn’t looking forward to my own viewing. I expected to be bored.

Much to my surprise, it was a lot more interesting than expected. I never felt bored. I think that this is due to good pacing. The story flows easily. There weren’t any parts that dragged. I cared about the characters. I cared about the mystery. I wanted to see how it all played out. Also, I enjoyed the cinematography and most of the special effects have held up well. It’s a very solid film elevated by great acting.

I give it 4 stars.