Themes on Thursday: Is there any Intergalactic Creature who Can Save us from this Parallel, Apocalyptic Cyborg?

Hey Guys,

On Thursday’s I will be looking into the different themes and genres of films. I will be looking into what classes a film under the certain genres and what themes tend to run through them.

There will be a lot of films being watched that I or you have probably never heard of, but that’s the experience of film.

This week’s focus has mainly been directed towards Sci-Fi. So why should today be any different? We are going to travel into the world of Science Fiction and discover great wonders.

So for a start let me explain that Science Fiction films are any film that is set in the future or has some reference to other worlds. Content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, parallel universes, aliens, and paranormal abilities can feature in these films.

There are a lot of Genres and themes that appear in Science Fiction films. So how would you know if you’re watching a Sci-Fi? Let’s list a small amount of traits and themes.

·         Is the film set in the future?

·         Is the film set on a different planet?

·         Is the film set in space?

·         Does the film contain a creature/monster?

·         In the film, Is there a scientific research that goes wrong?

·         Does the main character have super powers?

·         Is there an alien attack?

·         Is there some sort of epidemic?

·         Do any of the characters time travel?

·         Is there an alternate/parallel universe?

·         Are there any robots/cyborgs/clone etc.?

·         Can the characters live under water?

·         Are there any flying objects? (E.G Space ships)

Now some of these you would have already guessed, as did I, but others are quite a surprise. Did you know any comic hero movie is classed as a Sci-Fi film? Now that you know that, you will think over it and recognise some of the themes that run through. For example the Iron Man (2008 – present) films, Tony Stark uses Science and Computers to build his Ironwear.

Science Fiction films used to just primly be ‘about science’ it has evolved and transformed into something greater with many different sub-genres. Here are just a few of the subgenres with an explanation.

First of all any Apocalyptic, holocaust, or post-apocalyptic story which focuses on the end of the world, or the world just after "the end." Society is wiped out and must rebuild; humanity is destroyed; humanity must cope with an aftermath.

Cyberpunk stories are set in a high-tech, mechanical and advanced universe of computers, hackers, and hybrids. "Cyberspace” films fall into this subgenre. Humans may spend time "living" in a virtual environment.

First contact looks into the primary meeting between humans and aliens. These can range from horrific tales of invasions through to stories of gentle visitors bearing technology and peace. The meeting may occur on Earth, in space, or on another planet. "alien invasion" films fall into this sub-genre.

Military science fiction looks at futuristic combat locations such as space, against opponents such as aliens or machines, with advanced weaponry. This may include genetically modified warriors.

Near-future science fiction takes place in present day or in the next few years. Elements of the setting should be familiar, and the technology may be current or in development.

Space operas are similar to Western "horse operas," often contains good guys fighting with bad guys in space or on distant planets. Star Wars is a classic example.

Time travel is where characters travel to the past or future. It could also be where they are visited by other time travellers. Topics range from seeing what the past was like, to paradox of killing somebody who effected your future, through to "tampering" causing a massive ‘butterfly effect’ altering the entire future/world. "alternate universes" where each change in the timestream spins off a new universe can be classed in this sub-genre.

So hopefully you can understand more about how the Science Fiction works and you can understand why a certain character is doing one of the listed things above. Hopefully it makes you understand the film that little bit more.

For those of you interested in finding out more about current Science Fiction films, here is an Internet Movie Database link listing all the most popular Sci-Fi films at present: http://www.imdb.com/genre/sci_fi

If you have any views on what has been discussed or have any films, themes, or genres you would like me to look into then comment below.

Stay safe,

Matt

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Film Thursday: Batman: The Dark Knight Rises - Review

Hey Guys,

This is Film Thursday.

Here’s the part of the week where I will either review a film or talk about how film can affect us in certain ways. Each week I will ask you what you feel should review next or what area of film I should look into.

This week we are going to review the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) directed by Christopher Nolan.

This is the third; and final, film in The Dark Knight trilogy. It is the last film that both Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale will both work on, but Nolan has left it open ended for other people to take up the chance.

The story is that Eight years have passed since the last film, The Dark Knight (2008), and everything is quiet, safe and calm. Yet as they say, ‘all is quiet before the storm’.

This storm starts when a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham, and the Dark Knight is forced to resurface to protect the city that branded him as the enemy.

I did enjoy this film a lot and there was somewhat a wait between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. However for some reason, unknown, I felt that maybe something was missing.

For a start, I wish they would have explained how Selina was Catwoman, and referred to her more that way.

I also thought that, in parts, it was very slow to get into and a few unnecessary scene. In other parts it was very crammed up and too much seemed to be happening. Maybe they could have separated the film up into two?

The performances of Anne Hathaway (Selina), Tom Hardy (Bain), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Blake), and Marion Cotillard (Miranda) were all at the top end. A few times there were certain things Hardy, Bain, said that were lost, but that may have been down to speakers in cinema instead of performance?

I thought that it could have been a little bit darker than it was also. As The Dark Knight seemed very dark, maybe due to it being released after Heath Ledger’s death, but in this one, even though still quite dark, did not seem as it should have been.

With all these things in mind and the fact that I liked The Dark Knight better I would still highly recommend going to see this film. Just for the pure fact that it is Batman. You can’t go wrong with a good comic book film.

Another thing, after my blog on Monday (Mull-Over Monday: Do special effects and CGI, improve films, or make them worse?) I can honestly say that the SFX and CGI in this film were outstanding. Loved the new Batman toy, 'The Bat'.

Finally, without giving spoilers because I know you are all dying to see this, (if you haven’t already, why the hell not?) I can truly say that the end sequence is one of the best cliff-hangers I’ve seen in an action/comic book film. With the fact that they have left the film open-ended, so that if another director to come in and play around with it or even wanted to create something different.

So all in all I do recommend the Dark Knight Rises and think it’s a good film, which contradicts what I’ve said, but what the hell. I think you should all go out and watch it, if you haven’t already.

Stay safe,

Matt

Mull-Over Monday: Do special effects and CGI, improve films, or make them worse?

Hey Guys,

Welcome to Mull Over Monday, This is the day where I pick something that people discuss and have different opinions about. These things will normally be to do with film or writing or something that obviously affects my life directly.

So something to think about and discuss this week is special effects and CGI. Do they improve films or make them worse? How much is too much?

I’m going to view my opinions and obviously, as normal, if you have other views on this topic then let me know underneath.

This may be a very one sided view on special effects and CGI because unfortunately I’m not really the biggest of fans, but I shall try and be as open minded as possible.

This subject has come about due to the fact that lately I’ve been watching a lot of comic-book films, such as The Amazing Spiderman, The Avengers Assemble and The Dark Knight Rises, (which I will be reviewing on Film Thursday blog.)

So first of all what do you class as special effects? Well truthful anything from a simple lighting effect all the way up to your big explosions and CGI creatures are known as special effects, SFX for short.

So in some ways without SFX a film would never work. There would be no light or sound SFX and it would just look extremely boring and unappealing. So SFX are needed to make, and improve a films quality.

The question is: How much SFX and CGI is too much? For me this is simple, when you start creating things that don’t look realistic at all and spoil the film; that is when you know you’ve gone too far. Take King Kong (2005) Directed by Peter Jackson. This remake of an old classic used so much CGI that there was not one shred of truth left by the end of the film, all relationships with characters were uninteresting and 187 minutes of pure CGI just was too much.

Looking through the archives over at TotalFilm.com I looked through what they rated the worst CGI film moments and why, so I thought I would give you a little taster, so you can see what might be a step too far with Computer Generating.

Here’s the link if you want to check out all of the list, or the scenes themselves:

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/the-20-worst-movie-cgi-moments

20: CGI Sharks – Films such as Deep Blue Sea (1999) and Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (2002) have some of the worst CGI shark attacks I’ve probably watched. There is just no realistic sense to them at all.

17: The brawl in The Matrix Reloaded (2003). Total Film gives a note saying ‘The Golden Rule of CGI: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.’ This is an extremely good rule, and some directors do need to learn this one.

 12: The Scorpion King: The Mummy Returns (2001). When The Rock turns into a half scuttling Scorpion is one of the worst, most unbelievable things I’ve seen. This is when you lose faith in sequels and franchises.

9: The Lions and the Infected: I am Legend (2007). All the street clearing and lighting SFX in the world could not improve these hordes.

6: Troll Attack: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001). Just watch a clip of the troll, not only do all the actors look really young in comparison to how they are now, but that troll is just unbelievably unrealistic.

1: Well we’ve mentioned this once before. I had a feeling that King Kong would be in this list. The whole medley of Giant Apes, Stampeding Dinosaurs and other over the top creations. Not only are the badly made, but badly dubbed also with the wrong Sound FX.

Now I’m not saying all CGI is bad, because sometimes there are some great moments created. What I’m saying is, sometimes the SFX teams might take things a little too far, get a little bit carried away and just decide that they will have a children’s drawn troll or way too many bomb explosions.

A film should not be about the action, the CGI and the SFX. It should be about the story and the relationships built between characters and audiences.

If you have any views on this, let me know and keep the discussion going.

Stay safe,

            Matt