Archive for the ‘sci-fi & fantasy’ Category

9

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Dvd release date: 12/29/2009

Starring: Alan Oppenheimer, Tom Kane
Director: Shane Acker
Category: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Rated:  PG-13

From visionary filmmakers Tim Burton (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”), Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”) and Academy Award nominated director Shane Acker comes this visually stunning and original epic adventure. In the final days of humanity, a dedicated scientist gives the spark of life to nine of his creations. The world has turned into an unrecognizable landscape of machines and spare parts, but this group of nine finds that if they band together, their small community might just be able to change the course of history. Featuring the voice talents of Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly and Crispin Glover, it’s a thrilling, suspenseful story critics call, “richly imaginative.” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone).  (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: **1/2 (out of four)
New York Post: *** (out of four)
Rolling Stone: **1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: ** (out of four)

Overall: **1/2 (out of four)

District 9

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Dvd release date: 12/22/2009

Starring: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Category: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Rated: R

Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare – they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most vauluable – he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: “District 9″. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: *** (out of four)
Rolling Stone: ***1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: ***1/2 (out of four)

Overall: ***1/2 (out of four)

Terminator Salvation

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Dvd release date: 12/01/2009

Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington
Director: McG
Category: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Rated: PG-13

The year is 2018. Judgment Day has come and gone, leveling modern civilization. An army of Terminators roams the post-apocalyptic landscape, killing or collecting humans where they hide in the desolate cities and deserts. But small groups of survivors have organized into a Resistance, hiding in underground bunkers and striking when they can against an enemy force that vastly outnumbers them. Controlling the Terminators is the artificial intelligence network Skynet, which became self-aware 14 years earlier and, in the blink of an eye, turned on its creators, unleashing nuclear annihilation on an unsuspecting world. Only one man saw Judgment Day coming. One man, whose destiny has always been intertwined with the fate of human existence: John Connor(Christian Bale). Now the world is on the brink of the future that Connor has been warned about all his life. But something totally new has shaken his belief that humanity stands a chance of winning this war: the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger from the past whose last memory is of being on Death Row before awakening in this strange, new world. Connor must decide whether Marcus can be trusted, but as Skynet adapts new strategies to end the Resistance forever, Connor and Marcus must find common ground to take a stand against the onslaught to infiltrate Skynet and meet the enemy head-on. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: **1/2 (out of four)
New York Post: **1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: ** (out of four)

Overall: **1/2 (out of four)

Star Trek

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Dvd release date: 11/17/2009

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto
Director: J.J. Abrams
Category: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Rated: R

The greatest adventure of all time begins with “Star Trek”, the incredible story of a young crew’s maiden voyage on board the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise. In the midst of an incredible journey full of optimism, intrigue, comedy and cosmic peril, the new recruits must find a way to stop an evil being whose mission of vengeance threatens all of mankind. The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals born worlds apart. One, James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine), a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy, a natural-born leader in search of a cause. The other, Spock (Zachary Quinto), grows up on the planet Vulcan, an outcast due to his half-human background, which makes him susceptible to the volatile emotions that Vulcans have long lived without, and yet an ingenious, determined student, who will become the first of his kind accepted into the Starfleet Academy. Kirk and Spock could not be more different. Yet, in their quest to figure out who they really are and what they have to give to the world, they soon become competitive cadets-in-training. With their drastically opposite styles, one driven by fiery passion, the other by rigorous logic, they also become defiant, contentious adversaries, each equally unimpressed with the other, each going all out to be among the special few chosen to join the crew of the most advanced starship ever created, the U.S.S. Enterprise. The Crew is headed by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). Joining him are the ship’s Medical Officer Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban); the man who will become the ship’s Chief Engineer, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (Simon Pegg); Communications Officer Uhura (Zoe Saldana); experienced Helmsman Sulu (John Cho); and the 17-year-old whiz kid Chekov (Anton Yelchin). All will face a harrowing first test that will set in motion the loyalty, camaraderie, daring and good humor that will bind them forever. In the midst of it all, Kirk and Spock will come face-to-face with an undeniable destiny: a need to forge an unlikely but powerful partnership, enabling them to lead their crew to boldly go where no one has gone before. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: *** (out of four)
New York Post: ***1/2 (out of four)
Rolling Stone: ***1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: *** (out of four)

Overall: ***1/2 (out of four)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

Dvd release date: 09/15/2009

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber
Director: Gavin Hood
Category: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Rated: PG-13

Heroic Hugh Jackman “breathes the fire into Wolverine” (Miami Herald) – with a vengeance! This pulse-pounding action thriller sinks razor-sharp adamantium claws into the mysterious origins of Logan/Wolverine: his epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), and the ominous Weapon X program that unleashes his primal fury. Along the way, Wolverine also encounters legendary new mutants, including Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). You’ll go “berserker” for this deeper, darker, more-spectacular-than-ever chapter of the “X-Men” saga. (Publisher)

Summary of critic reviews:

Chicago Tribune: ** (out of four)
New York Post: *** (out of four)
Rolling Stone: ** (out of four)
USA Today: *** (out of four)

Overall: **1/2 (out of four)