Westworld

When I first heard of Westworld years ago, I thought it was an interesting gimmick.  An amusement park where the attractions flip out and attempt to murder everybody present because of the uncontrollable nature of chaos theory?  By the mid-90s, I had already seen that story done so well that it's stuck with me ever since.

Wait, that can't be right.  Anyway.

Finally, just recently, I sat down and watched Westworld.  The announcement that a television series featuring Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris piqued my interest in it again, and I figured that it was such a staple of science fiction that the fact I hadn't seen it yet was a pretty huge blemish on my "nerd cred."

I want that poster.

Review: Edge Of Tomorrow

There's a moment early on in the movie Edge Of Tomorrow where I found myself questioning the movie's logic.  Tom Cruise's character, Major William Cage, is rather forcibly put into the front lines of a major battle against alien invading forces known as "Mimics."  Once at the base, despite his protests that he is an officer, he is treated like a private and nobody seems to recognize him.

This, despite the fact that as near as I can tell, his character has been the major public face of the war effort for some time now.  SOMEBODY should have recognized his face or name.  Someone should have said something.  Even if it was just "hey, I've seen your face on television."

Of course, the movie also doesn't bother explaining why the most "elite" soldier the collective armed forces has is also stationed at this same battle, considering it's supposed to be "relatively quiet."  Maybe it's just a shoddy military.

Anyway, this is my review of Edge of Tomorrow.

 

Epic Science Fiction Films You Can Watch While On Break At Work

There's no better way to kill a joke than to make it drag out too long.  We all know that guy, the one who thinks he's about to tell the funniest story ever told, but then bogs it down with unnecessary details.

"Okay, so the guy with the sombrero goes into the bar, and- oh, did I mention he's wearing cowboy boots?  Yeah, it's important.  Real cowboy boots.  Anyway, the bar's one of those old time Western taverns, with the swinging doors and all that, which is why he's wearing cowboy boots.  So anyway, the woman looks at him and says, "What's with the corvid?"  You know, corvids, that bird family that has jays, crows, and ravens.  They're all in a family called "corvidae" and-"

I tend to refer to this as the Seth Macfarlane rule, since I tend to use it based on those skits that drag on forever in Family Guy.

This isn't an animated gif, the joke is STILL GOING ON.

Science fiction can be just as guilty as comedy.  Let people see the technology or world too long, and they start to notice all of the flaws.  The plot holes start to pile up, and you get left wondering things like "Hey, why didn't they revoke Tom Cruise's clearance in Minority Report after he was suspected of future murder?"  or "Wait a minute, what happened to the terrorists in Back to the Future?"

So here's a few really great sci-fi short films that manage to (almost) perfectly provide their own little world while being both incredibly entertaining and leaving you wanting more.  Strong language warning for the last one, by the way.