Tag: Sci-Fi
853 – 9 (2009)
9 is a 2009 American computer-animated post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Shane Acker and written by Pamela Pettler. The film is based on Acker’s Academy Award-nominated 2005 short film/student project of the same name, created at the UCLA Animation Workshop.
9 final movie poster Shane Acker
0852 – Another World (1991 video game)
Another World, also known as Out of This World in North America and Outer World in Japan, is a 1991 cinematic platformer action-adventure game designed by Éric Chahi and published by Delphine Software. The game tells a story of Lester, a young scientist who, as a result of an experiment gone wrong, finds himself on a dangerous alien world where he is forced to fight for his survival.
Another World was developed by Chahi alone over a period of about two years, with only help with the soundtrack from Jean-François Freitas. Chahi developed his own game engine, completing all the game’s art and animations in vector form to reduce memory use, with some use of rotoscoping to help plan out character movements. Both narratively and gameplay-wise, he wanted the game to be told with little to no language or user-interface elements. The game was originally developed for the Amiga and Atari ST but has since been widely ported to other contemporary systems, including home and portable consoles and mobile devices. Chahi has since overseen release of various anniversary releases of the game.
Another World was innovative in its use of cinematic effects in both real-time and cutscenes, which earned the game praise among critics and commercial success. It also influenced a number of other video games and designers, inspiring such titles as Ico, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and even Delphine’s later Flashback. (wiki)
0850 – The Meg (2018)
timespace coordinates: near future Mariana Trench, the Pacific Ocean/ Hainan, China, Thailand, Japan
The Meg is a 2018 US–Chinese science fiction action thriller film directed by Jon Turteltaub, loosely based on the 1997 book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The film stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis. the film follows a group of scientists who encounter a 75-foot-long (23 m) megalodon shark while on a rescue mission at the floor of the Pacific Ocean. (wiki)
Sequel
0842 – Virtuosity (1995)
timespace coordinates: 1999 Los Angeles
Virtuosity is a 1995 American science fiction action film directed by Brett Leonard. Denzel Washington stars an imprisoned policeman whom is released to hunt down a virtual reality serial killer (Russell Crowe) whom escaped from cyberspace into the real world when he is uploaded into the body of a cyborg.
As LAPD officers gather evidence at the grisly crime scene, you can only ask yourselves: what kind of lunatic would commit such unthinkable crimes? The three adjectives which best describe this killer are sadistic, intelligent, and dangerous. (Acid Killer – Infected Mushroom)
841 – Kin (2018)
timespace coordinates: 2010’s Detroit, Michigan > Nevada
Kin is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Jonathan and Josh Baker and written by Daniel Casey, based on the 2014 short film Bag Man. It stars Jack Reynor, Myles Truitt, Zoë Kravitz, Carrie Coon, Dennis Quaid and James Franco. The story follows a young boy who find a strange weapon and his newly paroled brother. Mogwai composed the score for the film. (wiki)
0824 – Dark City (1998)
Dark City is a 1998 neo-noir science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas. The screenplay was written by Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer. The film stars Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, and William Hurt. Sewell plays John Murdoch, an amnesiac man who finds himself suspected of murder. Murdoch attempts to discover his true identity and clear his name while on the run from the police and a mysterious group known only as the “Strangers”.
(themes) Theologian Gerard Loughlin interprets Dark City as a retelling of Plato‘s Allegory of the Cave. For Loughlin, the city dwellers are prisoners who do not realize they are in a prison. John Murdoch’s escape from the prison parallels the escape from the cave in the allegory. He is assisted by Dr. Schreber, who explains the city’s mechanism as Socrates explains to Glaucon how the shadows in the cave are cast. Murdoch however becomes more than Glaucon; Loughlin writes, “He is a Glaucon who comes to realize that Socrates’ tale of an upper, more real world, is itself a shadow, a forgery.”
Murdoch defeats the Strangers who control the inhabitants and remakes the world based on childhood memories, which were themselves illusions arranged by the Strangers. Loughlin writes of the lack of background, “The origin of the city is off–stage, unknown and unknowable.” Murdoch now casts new shadows for the city inhabitants, who must trust his judgment. Unlike Plato, Murdoch “is disabused of any hope of an outside” and becomes the demiurge for the cave, the only environment he knows.
The city in Dark City is described by Higley as a “murky, nightmarish German expressionist film noir depiction of urban repression and mechanism”. The city has a World War II dreariness reminiscent of Edward Hopper‘s (0049) works and has details from different eras and architectures that are changed by the Strangers; “buildings collapse as others emerge and battle with one another at the end”. The round window in Dark City is concave like a fishbowl and is a frequently seen element throughout the city. The inhabitants do not live at the top of the city; the main characters’ homes are dwarfed by the bricolage of buildings. (wiki)
Mr. Hand: We’re very lucky when you think about it. / Emma Murdoch: I’m sorry? / Mr. Hand: To be able to revisit those places which have meant so very much to us. / Emma Murdoch: I thought it was more that we were haunted by them. / Mr. Hand: Perhaps. But imagine a life Alien to yours. In which your memories were not your own, but those shared by every other of you kind. Imagine the torment of such an existence….no experiences to call your own. / Emma Murdoch: If it was all you knew, maybe it would be a comfort. / Mr. Hand: But if you were to discover something different…Something….better.
TimeSpace Warps 