Captain James T. Kirk with the help of Scotty, Chekov and Sulu steal the Enterprise. Four men, with the help of Uhura, steal a 1200 foot long ship! The wildest action in any movie I’ve ever scene. Here’s the scene:
Daily Archives: July 14, 2013
10 best sci-fi films of all time, chosen by Tim Robey
From the UK Daily Telegraph:
From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Solaris, Telegraph film critic Tim Robey lists his 10 sci-fi films of all time.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
From man’s origins to his rebirth, Kubrick concentrates on technology – the primitive weapon of a femur bone becomes a space station in cinema’s most famous match-cut, and AI reaches a point where HAL 9000 is more human than the humans.
Planet of the Apes (1968)
A topsy-turvy political allegory about the misuse of civilisation, with Charlton Heston as the stranded astronaut being thrust to the bottom of an even baser society than his own. Amazingly, Fox just thought they were making a monkey movie.
Charlton Heston and Linda Harrison in The Planet of the Apes.
Blade Runner (1982)
An extraordinary feat of cyberpunk design, wrapped around an equally extraordinary premise about replicants raging against the dying of the light. Harrison Ford’s Deckard could easily be one of them – witness his unicorn dream in the Director’s Cut.
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
It could have been little more than a movie about an extremely weird dog from space, but Spielberg’s subtle bead on childhood made it so much more. Simple yet profound visual ideas – the glowing finger, the flying bike – give it unbelievable lift-off.
Read a review of E.T The Extra-Terrestrial
The Thing (1982)
The same summer as Scott and Spielberg’s masterpieces, John Carpenter made his: a squirmy, what-the-hell-is-that experience which suggests some close encounters are best avoided. In the freezing Antarctic, look carefully at your neighbour.
Back to the Future (1985)
The best kind of gee-whizz blockbuster, and so beautifully low-tech about its devices – the gull-winged DeLorean as a time machine is a stroke of design genius. The mad-science aspects of the story delight constantly, as do the stars.
Brazil (1985)
Originally titled 1984½, Terry Gilliam’s crazily ambitious riff on Orwell is a dystopian comedy about a world stuffed to bursting point: one clerical error and it threatens to burst. A nightmare of retro-futuristic oppression, outfitted with mad bravura.
Aliens (1986)
On all fronts a spectacular expansion of Alien, especially in the ways it pits machinery against biology, and follows the creature’s whole life-cycle back to its source: what’s laying the eggs? Ripley’s confrontation with the Queen is truly inspired.
The Fly (1986)
Teleporting Jeff Goldblum gets an unwanted housefly trapped in his DNA, and becomes a missing link we weren’t missing. Cronenberg updates the 1958 original with hideous imaginative flair but also great sympathy – file it under Best Remakes, too.
Solaris (2002)
And another great remake, even beating Tarkovsky, because of its crystalline beauty as a thought-piece about the tyranny of memory. A huge flop for Soderbergh and Clooney, but scene for scene it’s their riskiest, most philosophical movie.
Ender’s Game faces backlash over author Orson Scott Card’s anti-gay views
In the essence of transparency, I’m neither for or against homosexuals. Sometimes I think people on both sides are being far too militant over the entire thing. So, the purpose of the post is to point out the controversy swirling and why authors are best keeping their views to themselves sometimes.
Science-fiction writer Orson Scott Card is leading opponent of same-sex marriage
per the Independent
SUNDAY 14 JULY 2013
Perhaps You Should Boycott Ender’s Game
This is from Forbes magazine. I don’t agree with the article, but I’ll let you decide. Boycotting a movie that the author hasn’t been involved with for years is rather stupid. Boycotting his books would be far more effective. Avoiding the movie just hurts the film company because Card’s already gotten his money.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/07/14/perhaps-you-should-boycott-enders-game/
Box Office: ‘Despicable’ Repeats and Sandler Soars, but No ‘Pacific Rim’ Surge
Things are not looking good.
By Todd Cunningham | The Wrap – 10 hours ago
“Despicable Me 2” edged the Adam Sandler comedy “Grown Ups 2” at the domestic box office this weekend, while the surge some predicted for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” never quite materialized — making it the latest big-budget beast to come crashing down this summer.
A big Saturday turnout lifted the animated kids film from Universal and Illumination Entertainment to an estimated $44.7 million in its second week. It passed the $200 million mark Saturday at the domestic box office, just the fourth animated film to do it in that timeframe, and its global haul is now nearly $475 million.
“Grown Ups 2” had led the pack after a terrific $16.5 million opening day Friday, but the family crowd began turning the tide for the minions of “Despicable Me 2” on Saturday — and Sony’s PG-13-rated comedy wound up at $42.5 million. That’s better than the 2010 debut’s $40 million open, and that film went on to take in $270 million worldwide, best-ever for a Sandler movie.
Also read: Bombs Away: Hollywood Braces for Historic 4 Straight Weeks of Megaflops
Del Toro’s giant robots-vs.-monsters 3D epic was running second after Friday but lost some steam and finished the weekend with an estimated $38.3 million. That just under where the analysts had the $180 million tentpole movie landing, after weeks of soft pre-release tracking.
Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. had hoped the film’s “A-” CinemaScore and strong reviews — it was at 72 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes — would drive word-of-mouth so that it could play beyond its core audience of young boys and Del Toro fans. But Saturday’s haul was about 13 percent down from Friday’s, which were swelled by $3.6 million.
The fanboys turned out in force, particularly for 3D showings and at Imax, which accounted for a whopping 19 percent of the grosses. The crowd was predictably young (67 percent under 35) and male 61 percent).
“Three weeks ago we were looking at $25 million-$30 million, so we’ve come a long way and this gives us something to build on,” said Warner Bros. head of distribution Dan Fellman. “We have great reviews, a strong CinemaScore and strong word of mouth. Our job now is to take that and expand it beyond that fanboy base over the next weeks.”
Warner Bros is counting on a big international performance from “Pacific Rim,” which should get a boost from Del Toro’s significant international following. It’s off to a decent start with $53 million in 38 markets this weekend.
“Pacific Rim” is the third box-office misfire for a big-budget tentpole in as many weeks, coming on the heels of last weekend’s disappointing debut of Disney’s $225 million “Lone Ranger” and Sony’s “White House Down” the week before that.
A big part of that is the intense competition this summer, which is filled with $100 million-plus would-be blockbusters. The overall box office remains healthy — summer is running about 13 percent ahead of 2012 — and the weekend’s numbers continued that trend. Overall business was up nearly 30 percent over last year’s comparable weekend, when “Ice Age: Continental Drift” opened to $46 million.
Critics loathed “Grown Ups 2” – it has a 7 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes – but
moviegoers gave it a “B” CinemaScore and the solid debut underscored the disconnect between reviewers and Sandler fans.
The audiences were young, with 54% under 25, and surprisingly female at 53 percent, suggesting it was drawing families.
The strong showing — particularly since it was competing with the R-rated Melissa McCarthy-Sandra Bullock comedy “The Heat” — signals a box-office turnaround for Sandler.
He voiced Dracula in Sony’s surprising animated hit “Hotel Transylvania,” but his last two live-action efforts – “Jack and Jill” and “That’s My Boy” – have disappointed. The latter film was R-rated and a bid by Sandler to broaden his youthful base, but it came up short. Reteamed with Kevin James, Chris Rock and David Spade, the PG-13-rated sequel — made for $80 million — was right in his wheelhouse.
Weekend Total
1. Despicable Me 2 $44,754,000 $229,237,000
2. Grown Ups 2 $42,500,000 $42,500,000
3. Pacific Rim $38,300,000 $38,300,000
4. The Heat $14,000,000 $112,363,000
5. The Lone Ranger $11,140,000 $71,101,000
6. Monsters University $10,621,000 $237,760,000
7. World War Z $9,430,000 $177,087,000
8. White House Down $6,150,000 $62,963,000
9. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain $5,000,000 $26,378,000
10.Man of Steel $4,825,000 $280,995,000
If Fox is Doing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Then This Should Be Their Cast
Magnitude-5.8 earthquake strikes U.S. National Capital Area
I remember this one as if it was yesterday. The epicenter was about 20-25 miles from my house, so I go rattled quite a bit. Hopefully, I’ll never see another one again.
Magnitude-5.8 earthquake strikes U.S. National Capital Area.
Comet ISON Observer’s Workshop Set for Aug. 1-2 at Johns Hopkins APL
Dustin Lance Black Calls ‘Ender’s Game’ Boycott ‘Waste’ of Energy
Why ‘Pacific Rim’ is a good movie for geek girls
http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/07/13/pacific-rim-good-geek-girls/
Per Entertainment Weekly:
by Maricela Gonzalez on Jul 13, 2013 at 4:59PM 
@maricelag21
There isn’t much entertainment out there for ladies of the geek persuasion — or to be more accurate, geek ladies and geek gentlemen attracted to other gentlemen. Well, at least there isn’t much marketed directly to us. But we all know the dirty little secret of being a geek lady in a predominately geek man’s world — there are a lot of hot guys in sci-fi movies. Pacific Rim, which opened yesterday, is no exception. SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!
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CapeTown: See Full CoveragePacific Rim is in no way a perfect movie. It’s plagued with corny dialogue, underdeveloped characters, and a predictable, anticlimactic ending. And like most sci-fi movies, it doesn’t pass the Bechdel test. The Bechdel test, named after cartoonist Alison Bechdel, requires a movie to include at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something besides a man. There are two named women in Pacific Rim — Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) and Lt. Sasha Kaidanovsky (Heather Doerksen). However, Doerksen has a small role, says a few lines (most of which are directed toward her husband and copilot), and dies in the middle of the movie. Kikuchi’s Mako is a central character with a dynamic story arc though she’s less active than her male counterparts. Unlike many ladies in sci-fi, she is not objectified or criticized solely on the basis of her gender — a conscious decision made by director Guillermo del Toro.
So what is there for a geeky woman to enjoy in Pacific Rim? Well, there’s plenty of male eye candy. Charlie Hunnam plays Raleigh Becket, who returns from a five-year hiatus to help fight alien kaijus. Without his flesh-toned beard and biker hair from Sons of Anarchy, Hunnam can’t hide his striking features from the audience — or his costars. Mako practically screams “I’m the audience’s surrogate!” as she looks through a peephole at Raleigh’s shirtless torso, marked with tattoo-like scars from his previous battles. The multiple voyeuristic peephole shots recalls Psycho, but the fact that a guy is the object of the peeping offers a clever role reversal.
While Mako and Raleigh don’t so much as kiss on screen, their connection is undeniable. Raleigh and Mako’s sparring match is quite sensual, which, of course, discomfits her adoptive father, Marshall Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba). Speaking of Elba, he proves that the tailoring of a quality suit can do wonders for the male form. With precise military haircut, expressive eyes, and an authoritative but ultimately loving demeanor, Elba proves to be a no-nonsense leader of the jaeger fighters battling the kaiju. Plus, he gets many of the film’s best lines, all delivered in his smooth, booming British accent.
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True Blood‘s new addition Rob Kazinsky, as the inexplicably douchey jaeger fighter Chuck Hansen, might have been unwatchable if he wasn’t so hot. It’s never clear why Chuck is such an egotistical jerk — maybe he’s secretly in love with Raleigh. (If the film isn’t going to show any other reason for his brusque manner, then I’m going to make up my own.) I just wish I could have cared more about his tearful goodbye scene with his father and dog. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that his dad is played by Max Martini — I still miss Martini’s stony, almost too loyal bodyguard Frank Stevens on Revenge.
There’s a guy for just about everyone’s taste in Pacific Rim. For fans of the traditionally handsome, Homeland‘s Diego Klattenhoff briefly pops up as Raleigh’s brother, Yancy (as if to confirm that Morena Baccarin’s Jessica Brody should never have broken things off with good guy Mike). If you go for wise-cracking, goofy hipsters, there’s Charlie Day of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There’s even Burn Gorman if you’re drawn to Type-A, hunchbacked-from-too-many-hours-online scientists.
Regardless of the politics of objectification and gender representation, Pacific Rim is a fun spectacle — giant mechas, grotesque monsters, epic sound design, and attractive men galore. I’m still holding out for a sci-fi movie in which women aren’t mere tokens, but for now I’ll take what I can get.
Talia's World 