Movies out today: Sci-fi escapism all around

-
Sci-fi dominates at South African cinemas this weekend, with all 3 new releases dealing with matters of technology and extraterrestrial exploration.

Oblivion:
I have to admit this sci-fi actioner took me completely by surprise. I'd never even heard of it until a few months ago. Anyway, from the director of Tron: Legacy comes this tale of an "average joe" repair man (Tom Cruise) involved in the reclamation of resources on an abandoned Earth. When he encounters astronaut Olga Kurylenko, he's forced to question everything he's ever been told about Mankind's battle with feared alien Scavengers. Also with Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Melissa Leo.

According to reviewers, you'll be watching Oblivion primarily for its striking visuals, elegantly technical approach to filmmaking, and Cruise's charismatic performance. It's a pity though that the film's strengths are primarily visual as opposed to cerebral. Nice throwback approach though. 66% Fresh on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.




Escape from Planet Earth:
Screening in 2D and 3D is this animated comedy from the studio responsible for all the Barbie movies. Yep. A nerdy alien (Rob Corddry) must rescue his brother, a popular jock explorer (Brendan Fraser) from Area 51 when the latter is captured by the US military. This one looks a helluva lot like Monsters vs. Aliens meets Planet 51. It does have an all-star voice cast though.

If overseas critics are be believed, Escape from Planet Earth is alright for the kiddies and passable enough for adults. It's colourful and energetic, but very limply scripted. 28% Fresh.


Robot & Frank:
Screening in limited release is this award-winning film festival darling. Set in the near future, Frank Langella is an ageing ex-jewel thief who is given a robot personal helper - voiced by Peter Sarsgaard - by his son (James Marsden). Immediately Frank starts planning heists with the Robot's help. Also starring Susan Sarandon and Liv Tyler.

Comedy drama Robot & Frank is apparently superbly acted, intelligent and charming. It might be a bit too slight to make it must-watch though. 87% Fresh.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov...
Read more

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Queer Icon (Part 4)

-
Image
Part 4: The mystery of Lara Croft’s sexuality “Now what’s a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?” – Larson Conway (Tomb Raider, 1996) Despite being an icon for many queer pop culture consumers, Lara Croft’s own sexual orientation remains ambiguous. Outside of the Top Cow comics and live-action films – where Lara is blatantly heterosexual, with a fondness for slightly scruffy bad boys (who keep betraying and hurting her) – the character comes across as primarily asexual. Kurtis Trent is the only male figure who even comes close to being a love interest in the game series. Lara's apparent sexual disinterest is despite the adventurer appearing very sexually attractive herself; a figure of desire with bee-stung lips, voluptuous breasts, toned stomach and impossibly long, athlete’s legs. Yet Lara is never dominated by sexual yearnings or romantic affections. She is very much in control of herself at all times. It’s worth noting, however, that over time th...
Read more

Ladies I Love: Part 2 - Rhona Mitra

-
Image
Following on from the first post in this series , you may realise that I have a very definite type. Anyway, today we profile model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra . This 36 year old Briton is of English, Irish and Indian descent. You'll have seen her pop up on the big and small screen multiple over the past decade and a half, although Mitra's claim to fame is that she was the second ever model (some say first if you rule out "unofficial"  Nathalie Cook ) to play iconic video game character Lara Croft . From 1997-1998, Mitra could be found in PR material, as well as at trade shows, events and conventions as a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Tomb Raider 's kick-ass archeologist lead. There have been many official Lara Croft models over the years , but as far as I'm concerned Mitra remains the best. In my mind, of all of them, she most closely resembles the video game character in terms of facial features. Plus she comes from money and had a rebellious boarding...
Read more