The Sci-Fi Gene

Can't Stop Now

2012-01-29T19:32:00.003Z

The stop motion experiments continue - I'm enjoying the chance to try out angles, shot types, compositions, depth of field shenanigans and so on, all on a miniature scale. I'm also really impressed with the performance of my 550D on it's close-up settings. However Stop Motion Lesson #2 is: ten minutes spent ensuring your camera is stable saves hours and hours of tedious frame adjustment in post.

I'm also preparing to screen the music video for Tenderstar's song "2007" at the Rotoreliefs film night, tomorrow 30th January at Rich Mix. I'll be joining in a Q&A session after the screening, along with other filmmakers. Full details of the event are here. I'm very much looking forward to this event, and the line-up for the night looks great, including a chance to see Anton Short's comedy "Suicide Tuesday" which I've mentioned before.

Stop Commotion

2012-01-21T23:23:00.000Z

I've started work on my second ever stop motion project. The first, an adaptation of the Day Of The Triffids, was made at the age of about 10 with some good friends, a VHS camcorder the size of a bungalow or small house, and seven or eight houseplants. I have no idea what happened to the VHS cassette afterwards, although a recent BBC production did seem strangely familiar...*

This new project does not feature either houseplants or VHS. As usual I'm learning as I go: many of the difficulties of live action filmmaking apply to stop motion too. On the other hand, if you're struggling to find that perfect camera angle on a confined set, you can always demolish a wall. For some reason this is frowned upon on location in the real world.

*this comment flagged for irony moderation.

"Last Zombie Standing" Screening: Kino London / London Short Film Festival

2012-01-12T18:02:00.000Z

"Last Zombie Standing" will be screened tonight 12th January at Kino London's open mic event at Vibe Live, starting from 7.30. This is a last minute change to the running order. It's good to be back at Kino again, and this event also forms part of the London Short Film Festival.

Limerick Page

2012-01-10T23:37:00.002Z

My limericks, online, now race
Far apart across time, Net and space
To keep them together
I've done something clever
You can now read them all in one place!

Roland Limmerich II

2012-01-05T01:14:00.000Z

Roland Emmerich's last film was Anonymous,
'Bout the man with whom theatre is synonymous
You can learn such a lot
From the well researched plot:
Who knew Shakespeare blew up the White House?

Limarrakis

2012-01-03T01:00:00.000Z

That callous young man Paul Atreides
Always had a (blue) eye for the ladies.
Through the dunes he would ride
With a girl on each side

On his bang pimped up sandworm Mercedes.

Arco Warriors [Review: Cyberlords Arcology]

2011-12-31T01:03:00.000Z

Cyberlords is a sci-fi RPG playable on mobile devices. Jesse, an inhabitant of the Asgard Arcology megacity, wakes up in a clinic owned by the sinister McCoy corporation. Is Doctor Who in charge of this dystopic future? Or perhaps it’s the crisps. For a moment I thought Jesse might even have lost his memory but thankfully the cliché police did not have to be called, and soon Jesse is receiving cryptic messages, from an artificial intelligence, that might help him to escape and contact the resistance. He can then tool up, recruit some thugs and hackers, and carry out a series of missions to uncover the secrets of the Arcology and the McCoy corporation’s sinister plans for its population.

I’m loving this game with it’s eight-bit style 2D graphics, simple colours and copious blood and guts, all reminiscent of the ancient classic Syndicate. As far as the RPG side goes, the playing area is large and divided into many zones and levels. You assemble a group of four player-characters, each with a little bit of personality and backstory. Sadly there’s no choice about who you recruit. There’s also a Deus Ex style system of cyber-upgrades - find the blueprint, bring it to the Resistance doctor for implantation, then trade your experience points for further upgrades. Implants might improve your stamina, speed or accuracy, or give you the ability to regenerate or hack into robot guards, but some are a bit too far fetched - one even allows a character to use both hands simultaneously!

There are story and side missions most of which are combat heavy, and some of which will send you across the playing area and back again. It helps that the control system is reasonably good with one-touch or two-touch routes to almost everything you want to do, although it’s slightly awkward if your four characters are too close together. Minor issues aside, Cyberlords is a stylish and satisfying RPG and another proof that complex gaming experiences can be provided on a mobile.

Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown? [Review: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe]

2011-12-28T00:10:00.000Z

You can tell so much about a man from his intertextual references. The 2011 Doctor Who Christmas Special is peppered with the blasted things, many of which are more or less throwaway – the opening, which lumps together Star Wars and The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, is both brilliant and utterly irrelevent, while the links to C.S. Lewis are fun but superficial only – World War II setting, evacuee children, the portal to a forest world, trees that talk to each other – rather than exploring the deeper themes of the Narnia novels.

What this episode is really about is trees. Doctor Who and trees have history: the Doctor’s (other) nemesis the Rani used landmines that turned people into trees (Mark Of The Rani, 1985.) Also, when taking Rose to see the destruction of the Earth, which you have to admit is a fairly impressive first date, the pair encounter Jabe, a sentient tree from the Forest of Cheem (The End Of The World, 2005.) Jabe gets an indirect mention in this episode too. Christmas trees on the other hand are to be feared: particularly deadly variants have appeared in previous Christmas Specials. These trees are sinister in a different way, but they’ve also attracted the attention of some unscrupulous humans from Androzani Major (a clever reference to The Caves Of Androzani, 1984, which was once voted best episode of all time.)

The plot is unusually weak for Doctor Who, with an ending that is both unsatisfying and hole-ful. A fundamental attack on sentient life goes unpunished, and while the victims are technically saved, they are only saved in a metaphysical, insubstantial way. Meanwhile the human tragedy, which is really moving throughout the episode, is resolved far too easily.

If, however, you can put the ending to one side, what you are left with is a box of delights. Matt Smith’s Doctor is on good comic form in his misguided attempts to become “the Caretaker,” and once again his clowning is offset by unexpected moments of empathy. A confrontation between Madge, played by Claire Skinner, and three Androzani troopers led by comedian Bill Bailey, is funnier still. There’s great dialogue, setting, atmosphere, characters and acting throughout, and the right mix of comedy and tragedy.

Of course, you don’t need the Doctor to tell you never to cross a Christmas tree:

Once Upon A Time In Lapland

2011-12-24T19:23:00.003Z

Short film made for a Kino London challenge, with a title chosen by the audience, filmed in Dalston in November, screened for a Kino audience on 1^st December. Music by Parlour Cafe used with kind permission of the artists. I previously blogged about the making of this film here.

Unshrinkable [Review: Gulliver's Travels]

2011-12-21T01:20:00.000Z

Some time back I reviewed the Asylum TV movie 2010: Moby Dick and I promised solemnly to scrutinize any other movie adaptations of seafaring fantasy novels to the same degree.

Lemuel Gulliver, the hero of Jonathan Swift’s classic novel, encounters the small bodied and smaller minded Lilliputians and intervenes in the ages-long war between the Bigenders and Littlenders. This is just the first in a series of fantastic voyages, each satirizing some aspect of Swift’s society. In the final encounter humans are depicted as savage Yahoos shamed by their serene, civilized superiors the Houyhnhnms. Horse worship, incidentally, is an important sci-fi trope, although arguably some authors, Suzy McKee Charnas and Elizabeth Moon for example, are both a little too comfortable in the saddle.

When I first read the original Gulliver’s Travels, a good twenty five years ago, one of the most memorable scenes for me was the one in which Gulliver cajoles the Lilliputians to build him a giant TV room and then to humiliate themselves by acting out a game of Guitar Hero for him. It strikes me as rather clever of Swift, writing in the 1720s, to have come up with such a biting a satire on console gaming.

I was extremely pleased to see that this scene, curiously missing in the so-highly-acclaimed TV adaptation, is central to the recent Jack Black movie. Indeed, If you don’t understand the role Guitar Hero plays in Gulliver’s adventures then very little else in the novel makes sense. This scene, which will go on to become a modern cinema classic, pretty much makes up for the fact that Jack Black’s version cuts out EVERYTHING ELSE. Swift would have been so proud to see his vision finally given the faithful and authentic presentation it deserves.

All I Want For Christmas Is You

2011-12-21T01:00:00.000Z

Only a few weeks ago, Blender users woke up to discover Christmas had come early - four massive new features taken from experimental branches and added to the main build (beta 2.61) Just as Santa promised: the Tomato camera tracker, the Cycles render engine, a toolset for motion capture, and the Ocean Simulator. I tested the tracker when adding effects to handheld shots in Lapland, and here are some quick test renders with the ocean sim.

blue reflective material

with added foam texture

Now to come up with some ocean scenes...

Eddie Knows [Review: Anachronox]

2011-12-16T01:00:00.000Z

K'Conrad Khk: "All roads lead to Eddie. It was a pleasure, detective."
Sly Boots: "Likewise, shoeshine. What's your secret?"
K'Conrad Khk: "You would be surprised how rarely people look up."

Classic role-playing game Anachronox is reviewed over at the Wertzone, reminding me of how much I loved that game, and why: the memorable dialogue and characters, the levels each with their own mood and different shades of humour, and particularly the beautiful environment design and attention to detail. For many of the locations, particularly the mechanically shifting, multicultural city of Anachronox itself, there is pleasure just in exploring. And while K'Conrad's quote above could be a philosophy for life, it also applies to the level design - look up in Anachronox and more likely than not, thanks to some interesting local gravity effects, there will be something going on.

Master Chefs of Dune

2011-12-14T01:00:00.000Z

"The beginning is a very delicate time. Know then that it is the year 10191. The Known Universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, my father. In this time, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel. The Spacing Guild and its navigators, who the spice has mutated over 4,000 years, use the orange spice gas, which gives them the ability to fold space. That is, travel to any part of universe without moving.

"Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you — the spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe. A desolate, dry planet with vast deserts. Hidden away within the rocks of these deserts are a people known as the Fremen, who have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom. The planet is Arrakis, also known as Dune." Princess Irulan, Dune (film adaptation, 1984)

But does spice really exist only on Arrakis? Consider the evidence.

Claire 22, from Birmingham, a finalist in the current BBC series of Masterchef: The Professionals. This aspiring chef and restauranteur, barely older than Paul Atreides when his family first relocated to Arrakis, impressed judges Greg Wallace and Michel Roux Junior with her signature dish: roasted loin of muad'dib with langoustine and lardo, potato nests, asparagus and samphire, earning her place in the final three. How to follow such an accomplished feat? As most viewers will agree, this week Claire 22 really pushed the boundary with her roasted white sandworm fillet accompanied by pine nuts, rhubarb, chervil and buttermilk.

Energized

2011-12-07T20:30:00.000Z

This is how a good screening feels: "Once Upon A Time In Lapland" was shown at Kino London on Thursday. All the production team made it to the screening, the film was well received, and, best of all - the rumours about mince pies turned out to be true.

Our film needs some final adjustments but will be online very soon. The programme on Thursday was rich and varied: here are two that made me laugh:

Laplander 2: The Last Santa

made by Molly Brown who also accepted a challenge at the November screening

Suicide Tuesday directed by Anton Short

The Kino London team: Jamie, Laura and Santa

You Don’t Know Jack [Review: Dauntless]

2011-12-07T01:00:00.000Z

Dauntless is the flagship of Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet and the first novel in this military sci-fi series. Soldier Jack Geary goes MIA and presumed dead at the beginning of a hundred year interstellar war - his escape pod is detected and he is revived a century later, to discover that his last stand has become legend and he is now a mythical and revered figure. Meanwhile something is wrong with the Navy. The first signs seem small - the failure to salute, captains having too many meetings or (Ancestors forbid) voting on a course of action rather than taking orders, but it’s worse: the Navy has lost its grip on both strategy and also wartime morality.

A humiliating defeat places Geary in command and only his strategic thinking converts annihilation into retreat. Geary has two challenges which are of course complementary. He must bring the fleet home with its secret cargo of strategic importance, and defeat any threats encountered along the way. Meanwhile he must hold the captains and crews together even as they judge him against the impossible standard of his legend, restore the military skills and attitudes that have been lost and change the culture of the fleet, against strong resistance.

For most of the novel Geary struggles with his fellow captains and soldiers, making allies and enemies along the way. He realizes he will have to go slowly to avoid either alienating his men and women* or, worse, damaging their self-belief. It’s only later that he gets the reasons for their apparent idiocies - the constant attrition of experienced officers and the way that a prolonged and hopeless war has re-shaped their society.

*As with the Honor Harrington series and many other military sci-fi novels, this is a future in which the military has embraced gender equality.

"Once Upon A Time In Lapland" Screening: Kino London

2011-11-30T21:26:00.001Z

"Once Upon A Time In Lapland" will be screened at Kino London's open mic film night today 1st December, at the Vibe Bar in Brick Lane. Details at www.kinolondon.com . There are unconfirmed reports that mince pies may be occurring.

It's All About Soul Part II [Review: Slabscape Reset]

2011-11-28T21:08:00.000Z

Two versions of entrepeneur Louie Drago are revived onboard the Slab, a giant generation ship: Dielle, a cryogenically stored body that has been restored to youth but “reset” with few conscious memories of his past life, and Louie, a computer simulation of Louie’s personality. Dielle is naïve, Louie is a born negotiator but culture-shocked, and both have to adjust to reality of life on the Slab.

S. Spencer Baker’s novel Slabscape:Reset describes a future society shaped by a small number of technologies: in particular artificial intelligence and matter transmission. Slab is controlled by the almost omnipresent AI Sis, and there is also a council of lesser AIs and partly digitized citizens. Sis is also part of an Internet-like information network based around neural implants. One major theme is the rise of celebrity voyeurism, a bit like the satirical setting of Ben Elton’s Blind Faith or Richie Chevat’s Rate Me Red - Dielle quickly falls into the hands of a publicist and almost every minute of his subsequent life is scripted, monetized and broadcast through the network. This is not a new idea at all but it’s explored in a playful and enjoyable way.

The other major theme is the soul and this is a lot more interesting. Slab humans believe souls to be an alien imposition. Souls are detectable, at least indirectly, and the Slab is partway through a long journey to their point of origin: its mission is to make contact with the alien source and register some form of complaint. Also while the matter transmission technology can transmit almost anything, humans tend to arrive at the other end without their souls. Apparently on Earth this led to a surfeit of estate agents. Boom boom. Louie has been revived to help solve a mystery that may threaten the Slab, and the fact he that he is not concerned whether he has a soul or not becomes important.

Reset is the first in a series of Slabscape novels. It’s a lighthearted but still well-thought out and well-written fantasy. I will be looking out for the sequels and I look forward to finding out where the author is going with their ideas about the soul. I also learnt an important lesson from this novel: if you’re planning to go into cryogenic suspension, don’t pay your fees with a credit card.

It's All About Soul Part I [Review: Cold Souls]

2011-11-25T23:37:00.000Z

The soul is invisible, undetectable, unfathomable. Science has very little to say about the soul. Cinema, on the other hand...

Paul Giamatti, playing a mid-life crisis caricature of himself in Sophie Barthes' film Cold Souls, feels his soul is weighing him down. He's in the theatre rehearsing for Uncle Vanya but unable to breathe life into the character - so his solution is to visit the Soul Storage Company, who for a small fee will decant your soul into a glass jar and keep it in a locker. Paul just wants his soul out of the way until after the performance, but it turns out soullessness is a very individual experience and has its advantages and disadvantages.

Sophie Barthes is a writer and director with a very clear vision. As with Inception and the shared dream technology, the script remains focussed on a single sci-fi idea - the soul removal device. The concept is extrapolated - what would life be like without a soul? and, if you can take out your soul and put it back again, what else could you do? These scenarios are, in turn, used to bring human nature under the microscope.

Giamatti is human, and it's the small things that freak him out - he's not at all bothered by the ethical or theological implications of soul storage, the fact that soul storage is "not an exact science" or the limitations - it turns out that as much as 5% residual soul can be left behind. The idea that his soul could be stored in New Jersey on the other hand really disturbs him, as does the shape and size of his soul when he gets to see it, which is one of the best and funniest scenes in the film.

Barthes also wears her love for the films of Woody Allen on her sleeve - the central character and his neuroses, the concept and setting, the soft use of hand-held camera, even the font when the credits roll, are all definitely Woody-ish. I thought the film compared very well to the best of Allen's classic films and it does have a voice of its own - I found the humour darker and more subtle.

Kino Challenge Update 1: Once More, Mit Sleighbells

2011-11-25T23:30:00.000Z

Take six film enthusiasts, lull them into a suggestive state with hypnotic music videos - some with more horses than others. Add a certain amount of gentle persuasion, and a title selected by the audience - and the Kino Challenge is on. We carried out a very rapid shoot last weekend in Dalston, and our Santsploitation movie "Once Upon A Time In Lapland" is now in post-production.

Cold Caller Love

2011-11-24T01:06:00.000Z

Probably my favourite of the Kino London films in November - an amazing music video, directed by James Spinney, who described it as "an intergalactic love story."

On Yer Bike [Review: Deathsport]

2011-11-19T01:00:00.000Z

Deathsport is a film produced by a certain Sir Roger of Corman, where battles between post-apocalyptic city dwellers and desert rangers take place on dirt bikes or "death machines." It is a safe bet that this film was an attempt to capture some kind of 1978 motocross zeitgeist. It stars David Carradine and Claudia Jennings and was filmed in the California desert.

Deathsport is occasionably watchable but mostly failed for me: as a science fiction film, the plot is confused, the concepts are unoriginal and mundane, the effects are lacklustre, the heroes and villains only ordinarily heroic or villainous, and the script and soundtrack both attempt to sound portentious but fall flat. And if the villain has a penchant for electrocuting naked women in rooms full of hanging phosphorescent tubes, while this is certainly an interesting aspect of his personality, I would like at least some clue as to why. Perhaps in the year 3000 this will be a common pastime or hobby.

As a film about dirt biking it fails to capture the imagination or sell the sport: while about 80% of the film takes place on the bikes, the action is repetitive and pointless, the stunts are not really death-defying and there's no attempt to make the bikes themselves interesting. A short sequence towards the end, where David Carradine rides through a series of tunnels, shows what is missing elsewhere: POV shots providing a sense of speed.

This article at Schlockmania includes some ideas about why the film is such a mess. It's more charitable than my review and points out, fairly I think, that Carradine and Jennings bring a lot of charisma and even some chemistry to the film.

"2007" Screening: Rotoreliefs

2011-11-19T00:56:00.001Z

I'm thrilled about this one: "2007" has been confirmed for a screening at Rotoreliefs on 30th Jan 2012.

[date corrected 14.12.11]

Work In Progress: Highway

2011-11-10T23:04:00.000Z

[created in Blender 2.5]

Where's Kino?

2011-11-08T00:05:00.000Z

"2007" was screened at Kino London on 3rd November, alongside some other truly memorable films: a family psychodrama turned out to be about peanuts, an alien stranded on Earth made contact with a horse, a man contemplated his breakfast egg (possibly best film of the evening) and the hunt for a certain bespectacled, knitware-wearing tourist took a sinister turn.

I'll post links to these films when I can. I've also taken on a new challenge making a film with some other Kino Londoners over the next month - watch this space.

Metal Mickey [Review: The Stainless Steel Rat]

2011-11-07T01:00:00.000Z

Slippery Jim Di Griz is a small-time crook with a big-time ego: one of the last few con-artists in a future where almost all crime has been eliminated, he survives by keeping one step ahead and never running the same con twice. He is proud of his achievements and views his chosen lifestyle in romantic terms, but the rat is an apt metaphor: at the start of Harry Harrison’s space opera, Jim’s current enterprise involves stealing food from the back of a warehouse.

Even with a flair for planning original crimes, not everything goes to plan for the Rat. After falling into the hands of an interstellar police force Jim sets off on a trail across the galaxy in search of a beautiful psychopath who eludes or outsmarts him at every turn and of course steals his heart. An interesting sub-plot is Slippery Jim’s aversion to killing: for Jim this is the final taboo. Nevertheless he cannot outhink his lovely prey unless he can get inside her mind: on one occasion using a mind-altering drug to draw out his own murderous tendencies.

The Stainless Steel Rat is a comedy and a satire but not a spoof: it’s comic sci-fi done right. It’s also classic space opera, and there’s always another FTL spaceship to board, steal or commandeer. Later in his writing career, Harrison wrote several novels spoofing the genre, such as Star Smashers Of The Galaxy Rangers in which the heroes discover a hyperdrive powered by cheese. However his disdain for space opera hasn’t apparently stopped Harrison from writing a further ten Stainless Steel Rat novels, the most recent of which was published in 2010. I have some reading ahead of me.

Work in progress: Ain't No Ordinary Highway

2011-11-05T23:50:00.000Z

[Updated 5.11.11. Produced in Blender 2.5]

Runaway Success

2011-10-31T19:26:00.000Z

Last Zombie Standing was screened at Ye Olde Rose & Crown on Friday for Walthamstow Short Film Club's Halloween Night. The film was given a warm welcome and we were in good company: seventeen other great films were on the programme including, my favourite, this lesson in how to make an action movie:

and a new edit of this film written and directed by Last Zombie Standing writer Molly Brown.

A gauntlet was also thrown down at the event which I may not be able to resist: more on that story later.

Frankenstein's Daughter [Review: Splice]

2011-10-29T01:00:00.000+01:00

Vincenzo Natali's film Splice is a modern-day take on the Frankenstein theme. Two scientists, Elsa and Clive (Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody) decide to make a baby - the genetic way - but their Artificial Life chimaeras are not freaky enough so they add in some human DNA. The result is Dren, two parts Frankenstein's monster to one part ET, who is brought up in a store room and then an abandoned farm. Delphine Chanéac plays Dren for much of the film and this is an intense performance.

The moral of this story is: scientists should not be allowed to have babies. Ever. Dren is mistreated and abused by the pair in the name of science, love or science and love. For Elsa (Sarah Polley) her own shaky family background comes back to haunt her - and drives her increasingly erratic behaviour. There's no similar explanation for Clive's equally bizarre and shocking treatment of Dren towards the end of the film.

High Vatta Mark [Review: Victory Conditions]

2011-10-25T01:00:00.000+01:00

I felt the final novel in the Vatta's War series regained much of the momentum missing from the previous one, and it built to a satisfying climax on both strategic and personal levels. This is partly because we see much more of Ky and much less of Stella and Rafe. Kylara finally finds herself in command of a large and deadly, if improvised, fleet, and in the face-off against Turek it's her strategic flair that is most tested, leading to one of the most interesting battles in the whole series. Once the battle ends we find ourselves in a slightly overlong coda where other plot strands are tied up including the sexual tension: this is a bit syrupy, but there is at least a sense that Ky has grown as a person as well as a commander.

An interesting idea running through the novels is Ky's discovery that she enjoys killing, and her struggle to understand this trait. While Ky feels she is a misfit, in fact the trait is more common than she thinks - it's certainly present in other members of the Vatta family such as Osman and Grace - one went on to become a psychopath while the other became a formidable spy but remained highly moral. Perhaps many people have this trait but most suppress or deny it. Enjoying killing isn't necessarily the same as having a desire to kill, nor does it necessarily mean you are amoral, which may be the factor that separates Osman from Grace and Ky. However there is something important in how you respond to those feelings, and it seems this is about maturity and self control.

"Last Zombie Standing" Screening: Walthamstow Short Film Club

2011-10-22T21:06:00.000+01:00

I am pleased to announce that Last Zombie Standing will be screened at Walthamstow Short Film Club's Hallowe'en event on 28th October, at Ye Old Rose And Crown, Walthamstow. For details see the Facebook event page.

Fairy Noir [Review: A Kiss Of Shadows]

2011-10-21T22:17:00.000+01:00

Laurell K. Hamilton's fairy noir heroine Meredith Gentry is an exile from the fairy kingdom, working as a PI under a false identity and a magical disguise. In A Kiss Of Shadows, Gentry investigates a mysterious, fairy-obsessed sadist on behalf of his wife and mistress. What she uncovers, however, leads her on a journey back to the fairy court.

Gentry is both adventuress and seductress: her adventures are A rather than YA, closer in tone to Jacqueline Carey than, say, Stephenie Meyer. The world of supernatural battles and treaties, hidden in plain sight in the mortal realm, reminded me of Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch. However the plot is reminiscent of A Midsummer Night's Dream with the jealousies and power-struggles between immortals and their loyal servants, with lesser fey and mortals as pawns. Having said that, Shakespeare* even at his bawdiest would have blushed at some of Gentry's exploits. You have been warned.

I enjoyed this novel: one disappointment was the plot leading straight back to fairyland - the fairy-PI setting is hardly exploited at all. There are more Meredith Gentry novels and I'll report back on these but how about a "Casebook of Meredith Gentry" short story collection?

*Recent research has proven conclusively that Shakespeare's opus was not, in fact, written by Shakespeare but by an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters. My argument stands.

Let's hope we don't have to run! [Reviews: Let's Kill Hitler and Night Terrors]

2011-10-17T22:09:00.000+01:00

Some thoughts about Doctor Who: the second half of the season opened with two episodes written by past masters: Steven Moffat's "Let's Kill Hitler" and Mark Gatiss' "Night Terrors." The tones of the episodes are poles apart: comic sci-fi and psychological horror, but there are some interesting common themes: both feature eyeballs, and both are about miniaturization.

LKH features a humanoid robot time-ship, the Tesselator, crewed by tiny time-policemen and jellyfish robots. The concept reminded me of Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex" where a similar miniature crew pilot a man through a dinner date in what might be the most original Star Trek spoof ever. I'm told Eddie Murphy also based a film around this idea, to which I believe the correct response is "Eddie who?"

Night Terrors also involves miniaturization but it's a clever twist - to say more would be [breathy Alex Kingston voice] "Thpoilerth...." There's no sci-fi here although the backstory is borrowed from John Wyndham, instead everything is explained in terms of an unusually powerful mind, which is not really any explanation at all. This episode may also be the prequel to one of the Silence encounters earlier this year.

The original concept for Doctor Who included scope for the TARDIS to bring the Doctor and his companions into macroscopic or microscopic environments as well as travelling in space and time, allowing potential for some great sci-fi and educational storylines. This capacity was almost never used - a rare exception is the excellent William Hartnell story Planet Of Giants - so it's great to see the series having some more fun with miniaturization.

"2007" Screening: Kino London

2011-10-15T14:14:00.000+01:00

Exciting news: " 2007" will be screened at the Kino London short film night on 3rd November 2011, at the Vibe Live venue in Brick Lane. Entry £4. Details at the Kino London website or Facebook event page.

Work in progress: dark side

2011-10-10T19:06:00.003+01:00

Created in Blender 2.5

"2007" Update Part VIII: I'm Gonna Wait 'Til The Midnight Hour

2011-10-01T21:57:00.000+01:00

Post production on the music video for "2007" is now complete. I'll post news about any screenings or online viewing, and I also plan to write a little more about the experience of making this video - twice - and everything I've learned along the way. Now I think I'm going to sleep...

Tenderstar have a presence on Facebook - look them up for details of gigs. You can also listen to 2007 and other tracks on their website here.

Not such fungis after all [Reviews: Dark Entries, The Sheriff Of Yrnameer, Finch]

2011-09-26T00:32:00.000+01:00

Dark Entries, Ian Rankin: Of all Ian Rankin's graphic novels that I've read, this is certainly one of the best.

The Sheriff of Yrnameer, Michael Rubens: Of all the space-operas that I've read where the plot revolves around a cargo of freeze-dried orphans, this is certainly one of the best.

Finch, Jeff Vandermeer: Of all the fantasy-noir detective novels set in a future where humanity is ruled by the MUSHROOMS this is certainly one of the best.

Vatta Vatta Everywhere And All The Boards Did Shrink [Review: Command Decision]

2011-09-20T23:42:00.000+01:00

Kylara is now set on bringing together some kind of space force to combat the pirates. Cousin Stella continues to rebuild the Vatta trade empire from her new shop-front on Moscoe. Aunt Gracie, spymaster and fruitcakerer, takes on the planetary government that sold out Vatta to the pirates. In other news, Rafe Dunbarger, somewhere between Blackadder's friend Flash and Rimmer's alter-ego Ace, takes on the ISC conspiracy in the boardroom. So for the most part this reads less like a space opera and more like an episode of "The Apprentice."

I thought this novel was the weakest of the series so far - in particular, while the conspiracy plot moves forward there's very little character development and this is a shame. Ky's personal journey of discovery, as she comes to terms with the fact that she likes killing people, has been fascinating to follow through the earlier novels, and other, lesser characters have also developed in interesting ways. As I've pointed out before Elizabeth Moon isn't afraid to allow her heroes to learn by their mistakes.

Fans of ship to ship combat will be bored silly until the final third of the novel but will then thank their lucky stars they persevered: the plot builds towards a classic space battle between four fleets, once again Ky and her allies are outnumbered but the scale of the battle has increased by an order, and once again it all comes down to intelligence rather than brute force.

It's Only A Paper Moon [Review: Apollo 18]

2011-09-16T22:40:00.000+01:00

Has the found footage genre had its day? Apollo 18 might be a good point to stand the genre down. True, at time of writing it has a meta-review score of 28% over at Rotten Tomatoes. True, it tells an unoriginal and highly predictable story within a lazy, generic Military-Government Conspiracy (TM) frame. True, it was launched at a press conference where dumb claims were made about the providence of the footage. Yawn.

In its favour, this is one of the few found footage films where the basic premise makes sense. Most FF films require the presence of an obsessive filmmaker or videographer: look, if some fifty-storey tentacled sea-beast and it's crab-like spawn are pursuing you through New York as the skyscrapers collapse around you, and you are actually sane, would you a) drop everything and run, or b) keep hold of fifty kilos of professional film equipment? What better way to show your girlfriend how much you love her than to stand there and video her while she is being attacked by demons?

It is logical that an Apollo moonship would carry lots of cameras, and that the astronauts would film everything. The film has purportedly been edited together from a collection of sources by a mysterious conspiracy website: so thankfully there's no attempt to tell the story in real time. Different film sources have different colours and looks, plus some are hand-held while others are fixed, remote controlled or motion-sensitive: so there's much more shot variety, and slightly less nausea-inducing shakycam (even so, you may still wish to take your preferred travel sickness pill before viewing.) It helps. Performances are good although not Oscar-worthy, sets and visuals are authentic. While Apollo 18 might not be the best advertisement for the future of the space programme (that would be Space Camp, obviously) the film really does bring back the magic and high drama of the Apollo missions: for me this was more of a draw than the horror element.

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch.) I enjoyed this film but I concede it could have been better.

"2007" Update Part VII: Delete Default Cube, Add New Cube

2011-09-11T01:52:00.002+01:00

Up late working in Blender on the 2007 video. The challenge is to stop the project getting unmanageably complex - as you can see from my current timeline I'm succeeding beautifully.

If caffeine was also a free, open-source download then the world would be perfect.

Bred For Speed

2011-09-04T14:12:00.001+01:00

I started this animation in Cinema 4D back in 2009, and posted some work-in-progress stills here and here. At the time I was working on using complex textures, and also I was a long way from anything human - I still am! but wanted to do some soft-body animation. It's been left on the shelf for the last year or two as I've taken on other projects mostly in Blender.

I've returned to C4D recently to complete and render the last few shots, using Blender just for the final edit. There's not really a plot except in the sense that a football match or any other sporting event has a plot.

I'm reminded that, while it's not free (far from it!) even the ancient edition of C4D that I've been using has a really intuitive interface (the opposite of Blender although things are improving steadily) and some powerful features. I have one or two more unfinished C4D projects on my hard drive - it's tempting to return to them too when I get the chance.

White Collar Boy On The Run From The Law [Review: The Next Three Days]

2011-09-02T23:14:00.000+01:00

"What kind of criminal drives a Prius?"
"A socially responsible one?"

The Next Three Days stars Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. Lara is convicted of murdering her boss on what appears to be extremely strong evidence. John, her husband, is convinced of her innocence and as appeal after appeal fails he puts together a plan to spring her from jail.

Crowe's character is attempting to escape his and Lara's fate, so The Next Three Days is science fiction. This is also a jailbreak movie but instead of hardened criminals or captured soldiers there's an ordinary man - an English Lit lecturer - trying to do something extraordinary for love.

In addition to Crowe and Banks who are excellent, Liam Neeson and Olivia Wilde have smaller but memorable roles. Meanwhile Crowe gets to make crazy diagrams on walls again, something I loved in A Beautiful Mind. See below for details of the other central cast member.

The film also provides a helpful tutorial on prison breaks including how to make a bump key, and how to force a car lock using a tennis ball. The plot relies on luck slightly too often but this is still an extremely enjoyable fantasy. The subtle influence of Don Quixote is a nice touch, as is the fact that one of the main characters is diabetic. However not everything is quite so subtle.

Did I mention the car? For two thirds of this movie Crowe is seen driving a black Toyota Prius in almost every shot. The car is as central to the plot as John himself, it gets shot at and damaged, and many of the Prius' most interesting features are showcased: for instance, in one scene it reverses into a short child. This is plausible given the poor rear visibility, but surely the child would have been visible on the rearview camera?

On second thoughts, I'm sure Russell Crowe can park without a parking autopilot so maybe he only has the T3 trim. The camera lingers lovingly over the Toyota logo, and in case you missed it all, there's the exchange above between two policemen puzzling over the Prius' presence at the scene of an attack. Product placement? I don't know what you're talking about.

Freight Night [Review: Cargo]

2011-08-20T00:50:00.000+01:00

The Swiss film Cargo is set in a future where the Earth's ecosystem has collapsed and humans live in orbiting refugee camps. Anna-Katharina Schwabroh stars as Laura, a ship's doctor who takes a berth on the Kassandra which is preparing a run to a robotic supply station. It's a long voyage and the crew take turns at the watch while their crewmates are in cryosleep - but guess what: Laura starts to feel she is not alone. I've never seen Schwabroh in anything before but she is perfectly cast: very human, strong in some ways, vulnerable in others.

The Kassandra is a great addition to the claustrophobic spaceship sub-genre, from Laura's first day at work as she struggles to get through the half-working airlock to the obligatory Nostromo or Event Horizon coridoors to the massive automated cargo vault. Laura's predicament and her decisions to wake other crew members lead to mistrust and arguments between them.

Anna-Katharina Schwabroh as Laura

Cargo attempts a complex plot with lots of mysteries, twists and reveals, a few of these are too obvious and there are slightly too many different ideas or sub-plots. On the other hand this complexity does distance the film from many other science fiction films which are often based entirely around a single concept.

It's a mini adventure! [Review: Arrietty]

2011-08-06T18:10:00.015+01:00

"The Borrowers" by Mary Norton, the origin of the film Arrietty, is a much-loved children's novel from the UK. I have no idea how it fell into the hands of director Hiromasa Yonebayashi: without generalizing too much it seems Japanese animators have good literary taste.

The Borrowers are Little People living in the floor and wall spaces of a house and "borrowing" what they need. For some reason in my house they seem to need a lot of biros. Little People are found in the stories and legends of any country where alcohol is readily available. The film is about a 13-year old Borrower child, Arrietty, whose coming of age trip into the world of the Human Beans goes awry when she is spotted by a young Bean who is not asleep.

The UK release of this film features some of the best voice talent you could hope to find, led by Hanna's Saoirse Ronan as Arrietty. None of which was any consolation to me as I found myself unexpectedly watching the subtitled release instead. Still, if you have to watch any film in an unfamiliar language, it might as well be a Studio Ghibli film: no translation is needed for ivy leaves in the rain.

The artwork of this film is simply beautiful and beautifully simple. Arrietty cuts a dashing pose in her red dress, clothes-peg hairclip and pin sword: it's been noted elsewhere that, alongside Rapunzel in Tangled she is one of the very few female leads in children's animation this year.

The film does make good use of the centimetre-scale setting, interestingly this is less about Arrietty's father Pod making steampunk contraptions from cotton reels and safety pins (although he does do this) and more observation of fluid dynamics - tea, poured from a doll's house teaset, forms giant droplets. The Borrowers are always tiny and vulnerable and so their dilemma on being discovered by the Human Beans is real and affecting.

Voyage At An End

2011-07-24T01:10:00.007+01:00

The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed safely, ending 30 years of the Space Transportation System. In addition to the research and engineering achievements the programme has opened up international collaboration in space.

With seven novels, eight films and rather a lot of Lego tie-ins the Harry Potter saga draws to a close. Thanks to Harry, Luna, Dobby and Neville reading is officially cool once again. Amy Winehouse passed away at the age of 27. It's no exaggeration to say she had an extraordinary talent as a singer, a unique voice in British music.

Endings have been on my mind this week. There's no direct connection between these three stories and I don't want to make this too contrived - it's just that while each of these endings is sad in a different way, there are also aspirations for the future and real achievements to remember and celebrate.

Baja Honour [Review: Hunter Prey]

2011-07-11T01:00:00.009+01:00

Hunter Prey opens to a scenario not unlike Pitch Black: a spaceship crashes on an inhospitable world, the survivors include a prisoner, the last of its kind, captured by the army who destroyed its homeworld. The guards quickly realise that the prisoner has escaped and must recapture it.

Comparison with Gareth Edwards' Monsters is also appropriate: this is another indie sci-fi movie with a small cast and crew and ultra-low budget, powered by enthusiasm and goodwill, and shot on location in Mexico. Before making Monsters, Edwards directed a winning Sci-Fi London short; Hunter Prey director Sandy Collora gained a following from an impressive Batman fanfilm. Whereas Monsters relies heavily on subtle CGI, Hunter Prey is more traditional with much more use of costumes, prosthetics, make-up, props and models. Almost everything is on camera.

Hunter Prey takes a scenario that is superficially very simple, and develops it into a more complex plot: there are twists and surprises, a fascinating Sleuth-style cat-and-mouse dynamic between the runaway and his main pursuer, and another interesting relationship between the pursuer and his portable computer. While each alien is almost incomprehensible to the other, there are enough similarities that they are able to goad, challenge and learn from each other, in doing so gradually revealing the galactic events that have brought them together.

There are one or two missteps including a directorial cameo which is undeniably cool but lacks the gravity of the rest of the film, but on the whole this movie is excellent. It's more than just watchable, with characters and conflicts that draw you in. Everything comes together in this film thanks to excellent pre-production. It's not only the script and backstory which are very well thought out, but also the costumes and creatures and the choice of location. Shot on a Red camera against the yellow dunes and deserts of Baja, there's not a single scene in this movie that isn't just beautiful.

"2007" Update Part VI: First Impressions

2011-07-10T22:05:00.003+01:00

A re-shoot took place for the "2007" performance roll a week or two ago and I've started post-production. There are several artistic and technical changes, including upgrading the project to HD, with live footage taken on an HD-DSLR. Here's the shot I'm working on at the moment, with a frame from the earlier version for comparison.

[Produced in Blender 2.57]

Oh! Vatta Lovely War [Review: Engaging The Enemy]

2011-07-06T01:00:00.000+01:00

The third Vatta's War novel finds Kylara Vatta travelling to a series of amusingly provincial worlds as she seeks to put together a privateer force to strike back at the pirates. Each planet has its own eccentricities such as Moscoe, where there are millions of by-laws and regulations to enforce basic politeness standards, and crimes are tried in front of the Tree Lord in a mock forest court. Anyone appearing in this court must be dressed appropriately or face the penalties - "it is extremely rude to appear with an uncentered stripe."

This is the least action-heavy of the novels so far, although the plotting and scheming is more devious than ever and the plot does build to a climactic and inevitable space battle. Also, for all the light-heartedness, there are some deeper themes being developed. It's not enough to make Ky always the underdog, she is also allowed by the author to make some seriously bad judgement calls, alienating would-be allies and not necessarily winning all her battles. Stella Vatta is developed as a major character and the rivalry and personality clashes between Ky and Stella are deep and bitter even though they must trust and rely on each other.

Elizabeth Moon seems to be developing some ideas about capacity for violence through the books: Kylara has a genetic predisposition to enjoy killing, but this is separate from morality. Ky remains a very moral and caring character if somewhat on her own terms. It turns out certain other Vattas have also had this secret tendency, turning some into effective secret agents and others into psychopaths.

When the space combat scenes unfold they are good, although lacking the sense of large-scale tactical reality found in David Weber's Honor Harrington series - the appeal here is again Kylara's scheming that snatches victory (of a sort) from the jaws of defeat.

Holy Wood Part II [Review: Me Cheeta]

2011-07-02T09:03:00.000+01:00

Me Cheeta is the autobiography of chimpanzee Cheeta, presented here as the co-star of the original Tarzan films alongside lifeguard-turned-actor Jonny Weismuller. It's ghost-written by James Lever, making it precisely as authentic as 90% of other Hollywood autobiographies and arguably better researched, although there is a tendency to downplay the fact that in real life Cheeta was played by a series of chimps.

I don't usually read autobiographies of any sort - if I did I'd have probably enjoyed this spoof even more, but it's a strong comic novel in it's own right.

This is a one-joke novel, but the joke itself has enough complexity to sustain the plot - Cheeta at the end of his career is looking back knowingly on his innocent beginnings, always enthralled by humanity, and the more he is exploited, the more he loves us. It's the perfect frame for a series of stories about Weismuller, David Niven, Maureen O'Sullivan and the rest of the set. The No Reel Apes campaign to end use of live apes in cinema is name-dropped from time to time although Cheeta himself is scathing. "That's what CGI is, Don, just men in suits."

Holy Wood Part I [Reviews: Day Of The Locust and Moving Pictures]

2011-06-30T01:00:00.000+01:00

Nathanael West's short, bleak novella Day Of The Locust is narrated by a hard-up artist working as a scene painter in Hollywood, doomed to a life of unrequited love and unrecognized talent. The object of his affections is the typical actress-in-waiting, turning tables and sometimes tricks to get by in the absence of the "big break." The craziness of Hollywood is laid bare - in a defining, dream-like scene, the narrator walks through an elephant's graveyard of discarded props.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld is not actually a disc but a lens - through it some aspect of the real world is brought into focus, usually for the purposes of ridicule. In Moving Pictures, the Discworld alchemists discover a celluloid-like material that enables an entire industry to spring up overnight, but the hypnotic power drawing people to Holy Wood to seek their fortunes hints at the revival of an ancient evil. The new opportunities turn Discworld society on it's head: suddenly trolls are in huge demand, and seller of sizzle Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler finds his skills are perfectly suited to the role of movie mogul.

Both novels turn on the exploitative nature of the movie industry. This is still true to some degree even today, but arguably that's nothing compared to the outright abuse of the "Golden Age Of Cinema" and, when modern day scriptwriters or other movie professionals go on strike, it's worth remembering that this unionisation might be the only reason things are even slightly better.

Ai Weiwei Released

2011-06-23T09:57:00.001+01:00

I previously wrote about Sunflower Seeds and artist Ai Weiwei's disappearance here. Yesterday and today BBC News has been reporting his release.

How To Review A Book

2011-06-21T23:00:00.003+01:00

I think it's fair to say that many of the reviews on this blog are not technically "reviews" but more "responses" - I'm not trying to provide a Which? Dystopian Novel service but to write honestly about my own reaction to what I've seen or read, and where it takes me. So I fail on two counts - I've been held up on occasion for failing to give a score out of 10 (thank you Actress Confessions sweetie) but nor am I writing traditional literary analysis.

It's good to learn, grow and develop, so here are some ideas about how to write more in-depth book reviews, together with an example drawn from a classic piece of utopian-dystopian fiction. This is neither comprehensive nor ecumenical: I intend to draw on some, all or none of these points in future and would be interested in other approaches to reviewing as well.

What is the book about?

The novel is set in an eco-friendly future where, possibly due to genetic engineering "even the trees are happy." The protagonist, either the engineer of this society or some kind of mascot, becomes restless and walks beyond the boundary of the known into an unfamiliar forest, where chance discoveries bring him face to face with a genuinely miserable person - at which point he must make the most important choice in both their lives.

What does it achieve?

The story develops a highly optimistic philosophy: universal happiness can be achieved but misery must be acknowledged and confronted rather than excluded.

How does it achieve it?

The setting is simply presented as fact: the workings of Happyland society are never revealed. As Arthur C. Clark almost said: "Any novel about sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic realism." The hero is the archetypal Happy Man, and his nemesis the Miserable Man he meets at the foot of the staircase is identical in every way apart from his unexplained melancholia, so is clearly an unconscious facet of the Happy Man's psyche as well as fulfilling a scapegoat role for the Happylanders.

Place it in context:

This novel is the first and most familiar in a long-running series: while each book ostensibly takes as its focus a new protagonist, the Happy Man recurs throughout and through his relationships with other archetypes develops several longer story arcs. The series has had a positive reception over the years with several television adaptations and a second, feminised spin-off series to offset the male dominance of the canon.

Enforced happiness is a common trope within the utopia-dystopia science fiction subgenre. This novel draws heavily on classics such as Brave New World and has in turn influenced subsequent visions of the future: Equilibrium (2002) Demolition Man (1993) and The Happiness Patrol (Doctor Who, BBC, broadcast 1988) are particularly indebted. The latter is an inversion of the basic plot with the Happy Man replaced by the sinister Kandy Man who kills through excessive joy. Symbolic elements of this story have also been influential on their own: the spiral staircase separating the Happy Man from his Miserable counterpart is "borrowed" to great effect in GATTACA (1997.)

Give an honest reaction:

There's often a tension between optimistic and dystopic science fiction. This novel clearly falls into the first category. I enjoyed the plot with it's many twists but felt the optimism went a little too far, with the ending even hinting at totalitarianism. Is absolute happiness either achievable or desirable? In this society, even though the Miserable Man can be welcomed, he does in the process have to abandon his misery altogether: there's no room for either legitimate misery or for the blues. The Happiness Patrol at least ends on a different, more satisfying harmonica note.

You can buy "Mr. Happy" by Roger Hargreaves at all good bookstores.

Infinite Number Of Monkees Part II: Moon Child

2011-06-15T22:20:00.001+01:00

There is one reason I am willing to forgive Micky Dolenz for his creation of Metal Mickey and it is this.

Luna, first broadcast in 1983 is one of the strangest sci-fi series ever to be fired from a CRT gun towards a phosphate glass screen.

Where to start? The date is 2040. In the Efficicentre, possibly the last human city after some pollution apocalypse, cloned humans live together in randomly allocated family units. You will be "obliviated" if you lose your e-passport and Luna comes dangerously close to this fate in the first episode. "Technotalk" is spoken, a language not unlike Orwell's Newspeak but designed to be easier for computers to digest. And teapots are outlawed. It's a dark, dystopic, brightly coloured, child-friendly sitcom: the bureaucracy of Brazil and the sinister social control of 1984 meet The Wonder Years.

This show was one of the defining memories of my diminibeing years, yet for a long time I thought I'd dreamed it. While the series apparently still exists in archive, it's never been repeated or released.

Where can you watch it? You can't. Certainly not here.

I was extremely happy to see Luna again. Not everything has aged well - the wobbly old-school Doctor Who-style set for one, and some of the gags are equally wobbly. But I think you'll agree that Luna is still very watchable, and the tone, the essential weirdness and 72 Batch 19Y's indomitable spirit all shine through. With thanks to the Lunaviron fansite.

Infinite Number Of Monkees Part I: Pedal To The Metal

2011-06-12T01:00:00.004+01:00

If you had an infinite number of Monkees, and an infinite number of typewriters, then, given paper, ink ribbons, lots of WD-40 and sufficient time, would they eventually come up with some truly classic sci-fi television?

I was recently reminded by a fellow blogger of the many talents of Mickey Dolenz, the voicebox of The Monkees and the man responsible for:

"The four kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor
there are birds out on the sidewalk and a valet at the door
he reminds me of a penguin, with few and plastered hair
there's talcum powder on the letter, and the birthday boy is there."

You may also have noticed Mr. Dolenz' recent cameo in Mega Python Vs Gatoroid. More importantly from a cultural perspective, he was the creator of this.

Metal Mickey is a progamme I remember from my childhood as being embarrassingly bad. Of course I was probably too young to pick up on the subtext, or to appreciate the subtle nuances of irony. However I have to acknowledge the iconic status of Mr. Mickey (the metal one.)

Mickey's quest to understand human emotion is a crucial sci-fi narrative that has perplexed Johnny Five, Marvin, the Terminator, DATA, O11iver and other great fictional robots. Mickey's LED heart is also echoed by GERTY's emoticon screen - could they be related?

Bad Girls Go Everywhere [Review: A Good Man Goes To War]

2011-06-10T23:40:00.003+01:00

The Doctor's finest hour? Or his greatest fall?

The Doctor, backed by a rag-tag crew of companions and allies, takes on a powerful military-religious establishment to rescue Amy and baby Melody. Naturally the entire set-up is a trap ready to spring shut, and the evil Madame Kovarian is a serious threat. The Doctor is on the warpath, more violent than ever, at one point destroying a Cyberman fleet just to persuade their leader to cooperate with Rory. However the main story is the cat-and-mouse interplay between the Doctor and Kovarian.

This episode provides a lot of answers, not just limited to the story arc - in fact these are the least surprising twists. The Doctor's full name is finally revealed, at least for those of us who read Gallifreyan. I have been waiting for this since 1963 which is in itself an achievement since I wasn't born until the following decade.

The script is also full of red herrings and misdirections - is it wrong of me to say that I was disappointed to learn that Professor River Song is not a later incarnation of the Doctor? (This would have implied that relationships of this type are quite OK for Time Lords.) Madame Vastra and Jenny are a joy to watch and definitely spin-off material, and there are some truly memorable, utterly bonkers moments.

Rory (to Sontaran Commander Strax): "You're a warrior!"
Commander Strax (dying words, to Rory): "I'm a nurse."

In addition, it's clearer than ever that Moffat is bringing a much darker tone to Doctor Who: non-human deaths are emphasised, characters are given fake deaths over and over again, and interrogation, torture, humiliation, and slavery are constant companions. The new monsters are extremely sinister and the so-called Headless Monks are no exception.

Amy's treatment in this episode and, it turns out, the whole series, has been particularly cruel and there's an ongoing discussion about treatment of women in Doctor Who over at io9. OK. It could be worse - at least these days they don't get asked to do this [1:45]

[The Time Warriors, Sarah Jane Smith's first appearance.]

As a whole, A Good Man Goes To War was a daring and horrific episode, a real classic Doctor Who moment. But I don't buy the statement that this battle is the Doctor's finest hour, or his greatest fall - for all the climactic music it's still just another verse in the legendary ballad.

I Can't Believe It's Not Vatta [Review: Moving Target]

2011-06-09T01:00:00.000+01:00

Moving Target is the second novel in Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War sequence. The delightfully psychopathic Kylara is stranded light years away from her family and homeworld with a loyal crew but a crippled spaceship, while the Vatta trading family and their allies, InterStellar Communications, are decimated in a series of attacks which also destroy the ansibles, the FTL communication devices that hold the various worlds together.

In the first novel Kylara faced down a series of enemies, including a shipload of mercenaries, with almost no weapons. This time she makes some effort to beef up the ship's defences but still has very limited resources, so she remains outgunned and has to apply brainpower and guts to come out on top. This is true underdog fiction and Kylara's plots and schemes continue to amaze. I can also report that the plot remains happily horse-free but points have been deducted for gratuitous puppy elements.

Blockbusters [Review: Attack The Block]

2011-06-06T14:40:00.002+01:00

First a heads-up: Digging through the murky depths of YouTube a day or so ago I made a really exciting discovery which I have every intention of sharing presently. And no, it's not the Snake easter egg. Watch this space for further announcements.

We now return you to your scheduled broadcast. Attack The Block, directed by Joe Cornish, illustrates several current film trends:

The Resistible Rise Of Nick Frost: Also, when reviewing this movie, it seems comparison with Shaun of the Dead is obligatory so here goes. Attack The Block is a bit like Shaun Of The Dead in some ways.

Knife-Wielding Teenagers Are The New Mafia: I would single out Noel Clarke's films in particular for really developing this theme. Attack The Block has a similar gang setting, and there is some social commentary as the youngsters learn responsibility while the adults get their prejudices knocked about a bit, but this is not Kidulthood and most of the characters and situations are played for laughs.

Low Budget Is The New Mega Budget: Moon and Monsters proved you can do sci-fi on a shoestring, standing in a giant cat litter tray with a crew of six. Attack The Block has an understated concept: invasion on a tiny scale as aliens converge on a South London estate.

Aliens Are The New Robot Zombie Vampires: Those alien invasion movies just keep coming. Skyline, Battle Of Los Angeles, Battle: Los Angeles, Monsters, and there's more! soon Cowboys and Aliens, Super 8 and Apollo 18. And Bridesmaids. There's an interesting discussion about this trend over at io9 too. A nice touch is the way Attack The Block's monsters are minimalist or even impressionist in nature - their silhouettes are the exact opposite of Skyline's fractally detailed biomechanoids.

Return Of The Script: Also, trust your cast. Gareth Edwards' two leads improvised much of the dialogue of Monsters. For Attack The Block, the younger cast members re-wrote parts of the slang-heavy script, so the gangsters actually sound plausible* while Luke Treadaway's posh student is the one trying to fo shizzle and respek his way to unattainable street cred.

Television Is The New Film School: Mickey from Doctor Who, Moss from The IT Crowd and now Joe from Adam and Joe have all been at the helm of successful films. And good ones too. This is Joe Cornish's first feature (not counting Tufty Club) and it's a professional job: funny, fast-paced and very likeable.

*While it sounds plausible I should add that I have no idea whether this is authentic gangspeak or whether the joke is on us. Fo shizzle.

River of gold

2011-06-03T01:04:00.001+01:00

Produced in Blender 2.57.

Flying Spaghetti Monsters [Review: Rango]

2011-05-21T13:57:00.014+01:00

The greatest mystery of all time: why do good ol' Spaghetti Westerns suck so much, while tributes to the very same Westerns are awesome? I'm thinking of Blazing Saddles for instance, a spoof from the pre-Scary Movie era when spoofs were still allowed to be well-written movies in their own right. Mel Brooks was a large figure in this genre - you can't say he wasn't - and Blazing Saddles one of the best comedy movies ever.

Then there's Firefly. It's unbelievably cool to watch bar-room brawls, cattle rustling and train robberies in space - why, when the same plots out West leave me cold? Blame the sci-fi gene deficiency again... on the other hand, some things about the earliest Westerns are off-putting, including the unthinking racism of the cowboy and injun roles. The constant send-ups of racism in Blazing Saddles prove that the older filmmakers had no excuse (although admittedly, along with the greatness there are some misfires in there too.) I'm wondering exactly how Cowboys and Aliens will work this one out.

The animated movie Rango stars Johnny Depp as a thespian chameleon who finds himself an unwelcome stranger in Dirt, a tumbleweed town populated by lizards and other desert-dwelling animals. The animation: realistic is the wrong word, for example, if you're describing the animation of a rattlesnake with an automatic pistol for a tail. Or a Mexican guitar-playing owl. Or for that matter a chameleon wearing a bright red shirt. A better word for the animation would be "awesome" and it serves the tone of the story very well.

Like the best Westerns* there is action, tragedy, comedy, romance and gratuitous riding across sunsets. Unlike the best Westerns, there is also a village of inbred water-rustlers who ride on bats, setting the stage for a Star Wars-style canyon chase.

I raised the ghost of Blazing Saddles for a reason: Rango is as much a tribute to this movie as to the real Westerns, from the themes of reality vs fiction to the heroine, a lizard cowgirl named "Beans."

* I will admit to liking High Noon if you ply me with enough cactus juice.

Only Fools And No Space Horses [Review: Trading In Danger]

2011-05-20T01:00:00.000+01:00

Trying to explain the appeal of 8-bit phenomenon Elite to non-players, I sometimes describe it as a little like Only Fools And Horses, set in a future where the single-handed wheelin' dealin' interstellar trader is king.

Trading In Danger, a really enjoyable novel and first in the Vatta's War series, describes a similar future that is more commercial than naval. You may be familiar with Elizabeth Moon's track record: I am pleased to report that while polo is mentioned in passing, she has reined in her hippophilia and written a space opera almost devoid of horses, repairing what is arguably the Serrano Legacy's mane failing.

Kylara is a Vatta heiress - a member of both the Vatta family and their space logistics company. She chose the military over the family business but has been kicked out before completing training. To escape the paparazzi but also, we suspect, as a family punishment, she is sent on what should be a boring trade run saddled with a worn-out starship and her aunt's extremely dodgy fruitcakes.

The plot moves forward at a fast canter. Kylara herself is made of the Right Stuff and packs a decent right hook - her dismissal does not reflect a lack of fighting spirit but her tendency to fall for a good sob story, a likeable but potentially fatal Achilles' heel. While I'm not sure she'd be a match for Honor Harrington or Bet Yeager at close range, I think she'd at least make them work for their victory.

What gives Kylara's dilemmas, and this book, the upper hand in a photo finish, is that Honor too often has the upper hand - surprise, experimental weapons or disguised warships, extra intelligence and sneaky telepathic cats. Especially the cats. Kylara has to face up to mercenaries and other threats in a trading ship with literally no weapons - outgunning them is never an option and she has to stay calm, use the resources she has and know when to wait and when to raise the whip.

King Of The Wild Front Tyre

2011-05-15T22:10:00.005+01:00

His papa was a rolling stone
His mama was a rubber tree
He rolled into town
Laid some skidmarks down
And embarked on a killing spree

Affectionately known as Robert
An unbalanced worn down tyre
Named in the credits Robert
He don't need a getaway car

He came looking for trouble
He found it in a scrapheap yard
And he watched through the wire
As the tyre pyre fire grew higher
And he hungered for vengeance hard

Apparently his name was Robert
An unbranded black rubber tyre
He doesn't sign his name Robert
He's the king of the wild front tyre

He's the star of a film called Rubber
It's some kind of weird metaphor
About cinema exploitation
And the search for sensation
Continued in Rubber 2, 3 and 4.

The Boulevard star will say Robert
A telekinetic killer tyre
The premiere fans will scream Robert
He's the king of the wild front tyre.

It's Grimm Up North [Review: Hanna]

2011-05-14T14:10:00.000+01:00

Some films entice you in with awesome sequel promises, then disappoint with boring originality. Catfish is not the sequel to Sharktopus. The same goes for Donkey Punch and Sucker Punch, or Tron:Legacy and Tron. Miley Cyrus fans may experience similar disappointment at the opening of Joe Wright's film Hanna: is this tale of an albino child being raised by a rogue CIA agent as a warrior in the Arctic Circle as distant from Disney's popstar-alter-ego fairytale as you can get?

Maybe not quite so distant. Hanna's training leaves her unfulfilled and lonely: she wants to know what music feels like and, it turns out, her long-deceased mother was a talented singer. After her recapture and escape from a CIA base she befriends another tweenager and before the abandoned theme-park finale (all films should end in an abandoned theme-park) there are plenty of familiar pre-teen angst moments: awkward friendships, trust and secrets, almost killing boys who try to kiss you, skinning rabbits for breakfast and so on.

The deer's heart of this film is ripped from European fairytale, and of course this is a Grimm rather than Disney retelling with plenty of grue. Hanna (Saoirse, pronounced "K-ai-t," Ronan) is by turns Snow White, the Ugly Duckling or Red Riding Hood, while CIA handler Marissa Vigler (Cate Blanchett) is the wicked stepmother and Erik Heller (Eric Bana) the kind-hearted huntsman. It is this fairytale layer that turns Hanna from just another spy vs spy thriller into something much more captivating.

However there are other influences too. Hanna has a tendency to spout definitions like a walking Wikipedia: this was a central theme of my 2009 Sci-Fi London short Too Much Too Soon and I'm big hearted enough to take this as a tribute rather than any kind of plagiarism. Thanks Joe!*

Erik and Hanna reminded me of Kick-Ass superheroes Big Daddy and Hit Girl. While the question is the same - is there a scared child inside the trained killer? But Hanna's identity is defined by her origins, training and mission - she is the bullet.

The film relies heavily on national stereotyping - the Brit tourists that Hanna befriends will be familiar if you've ever come across the Modern Parents strip in Viz and are the funniest Brit stereotype I've seen for a long time, even including The King's Speech. The German stereotyping of the agents on Hanna's trail is more painful, although in dramatic terms they are portrayed as efficient and emotionless team players rather than bungling or argumentative crooks - so at least make a credible threat. Vigler's accent? American reviewers should drawl their own conclusions.

*this paragraph flagged for irony moderation

One Silent Leap For Mankind [Reviews: The Impossible Astronaut and Day Of The Moon]

2011-05-07T11:00:00.002+01:00

"So we're in a box that's bigger on the inside than the outside and travels in time and space."
"Basically, yes."
"So how long have Scotland Yard had this?"

Doctor Who returns: and a central character did indeed die as promised. I don't quite believe they have the guts to completely follow through with this decision - but if they do... before tonight's pirate-based entertainment begins, a look back on the series 6 opening episodes.

The Impossible Astronaut and Day Of The Moon reunite the Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song in Utah, and from there it's one small step back to 1969, Nixon's America and the lead up to the historic Apollo 11 flight. The Silence make their appearance - a new, Munch-inspired alien horde who have "owned" the Earth since the dawn of mankind, controlling us through hypnotic suggestion and disappearing from our memory as soon as we turn away. The Silence were a silent presence throughout series 5, and their influence may explain some of the series 5 mysteries including the gaps in Amy's memory.

Why the long face?

River Song and the Doctor also make their relationship clearer - travelling in opposite directions relative to each other, they are lovers in the Doctor's future and River's past. A timeline can be seen here - expect updates to this chart as series 6 progresses. This is exactly the kind of pretzel-twisted timeline Moffat seems to like, and does best.

Steven Moffat's writing always generates more questions than it answers. Why are the Doctor and River fated to always travel in opposite directions? The Silence have gained complete control over the human race through millenia of hypnotic programming - but why is the Doctor, an alien from a much older civilization, just as heavily affected? What about the countless other hostile takeovers of Earth (in Doctor Who continuity) - did the Daleks, Yeti or Autons not see them either, and were the Silence worried by the incursions into their territory?

Keepin' It Unreal [Reviews: The Game and The Joneses]

2011-05-04T01:00:00.007+01:00

Who can you trust? Are the people around you who they say they are, or are you surrounded by actors playing their part? I present two films that prove you don't need Matrix or Source Code high-tech wizardry to take a hammer to your perception of reality.

The Game - a David Fincher classic from 1997 - stars Michael Douglas as Nicholas, a successful, bored superbanker drawn into a mysterious real-life roleplaying game. The Game is often quoted as a precursor to Alternate Reality Gaming but this is misleading: unlike The Game's premise which is tailored to the individual, ARGs seek to draw groups of players together to cooperate in real life or online; also, unlike poor brain-frazzled Nicholas, ARG players (I generalize) like to be in on the joke. The Game re-writes the rules of reality every few scenes, upping the stakes each time.

Steve and Kate Jones (David Duchovny and Demi Moore) are The Joneses, the perfect new neighbours moving in next door with their two perfect kids: everyone they meet falls in love with the charm act. Thing is, they're actually a "stealth marketing unit" - four unrelated salespeople masquerading as a family, enticing jealous neighbours to buy into their consumer lifestyle. It's a great conspiracy theory, at most two steps away from real-world celebrity endorsement.

Cleverly, the Joneses' immediate neighbours are old-school beauty product salesfolk themselves: they are the past, defenceless and blown away by this new style of aggressive marketing. Duchovny's character, despite being a smoothly successful car salesman is new to stealth marketing and the masquerade takes its toll on all four "family" members even as the locals fall over themselves to get into ever-increasing debt. This is an intelligent film that asks the right questions of advertising: just how powerful is it? is it truly harmless? is it ethical? and, where is it going?

Work in progress: River of gold

2011-04-30T02:12:00.004+01:00

[produced in Blender 2.56. With thanks to 3D World magazine for fiery orb guidance]

With A Bit Of A Mind Flip [Review: Source Code]

2011-04-27T01:00:00.001+01:00

I'm really, really excited about Duncan Jones now. I was impressed by his soulful debut picture Moon. Source Code, to me, proves that he is more than a one-hit wonder and is capable of consistently intelligent filmmaking and I look forward to his next film.

I have to admit though, I thought the title was misused. Source Code to me suggests a way of re-writing the program underlying existence itself - as in the Matrix, or perhaps Greg Bear's novels where quantum reality turns out to have computational properties. Source Code here is just a cool codename for a time-travel project. The trailer was misleading too - speeding trains, running plus explosions in trailer language translates as action-thriller with superhuman stunts. While there is certainly action, it's on a much more human and believable level and the film is more of a postmodern whodunnit with (naturally) existential twists.

Jake Gyllenhall plays a soldier, Stevens, sent back in time into the mind of a passenger on a doomed train, in order to work out the identity of the bomber. He can't avert the crisis which has already happened but the hope is to stop a second, larger attack.

Stevens can be sent back repeatedly, replaying the scenario in different ways - but if this is another Groundhog Day it is a particularly viscious one in which Stevens dies violently at the end of each iteration. The plot also reminded me of a short-lived time travel series, Seven Days, which also featured an experimental team led by a paraplegic scientist (here played by Jeffrey Wright.)

Source Code's plot relies on a particular version of time travel theory and the scriptwriter understands the implications and paradoxes, something missing from Seven Days. It's well-written drama too: the exchanges between Gyllenhall trapped in his capsule between sorties, and his commander Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) are particularly emotional. While the film gives up some of its secrets slightly too easily, the overall plot develops in ways that are captivating and surprising.

Sunflower Seeds

2011-04-25T01:00:00.001+01:00

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's installation Sunflower Seeds: a vast, grey seed-sea. There is an immediate reaction: is this about the significance, or insignificance of humanity? What can you achieve as just one simple seed, and is there any real meaning to individuality? The setting, the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern further multiplies the sense of scale: not only are you one seed in ten million, but even the ten million are tiny specks of dust within a vast machine.
I resisted the Philip Dick-inspired urge to create a "fake fake" by adding real sunflower seeds.
Not only are the seeds artificial, they are neither robotic nor sweat-shop produce but each one has been hand-crafted and painted by someone. That's awe-inspiring.
For Weiwei the sunflower seed has a particular meaning: sharing of this snack has been a form of street comradeship under an oppressive regime and from there it becomes a symbol of resistance. If proof of the significance of this work is needed: Weiwei remains a political prisoner in China.

UPDATE 23.6.11 BBC News reported today that Weiwei has been released by the Chinese authorities following a "confession" apparently relating to tax irregularities.

Go Fish

2011-04-23T23:52:00.000+01:00

[produced in Blender 2.56]

PSI: Special Victims Unit

2011-04-14T00:21:00.012+01:00

For some reason, Quentin Dupieux' serial killer tyre movie Rubber only had a few one-off screenings in London so I missed my chance to see it on the big screen. Should have made tracks I suppose. Rubber has divided critics into two groups - those who pun and those who don't.

I felt let down by the Guardian's reviewer - the best he could come up with was "a road movie with a difference." So thank heaven for Clare Moody at Filmwerk who put the pressure back on with "You'll be wishing for it to hit the road after the first 15 minutes." There were several retreads: Clare and also Tim Evans at Sky Movies thought it was "tiresome" while Rob Vaux at Mania review, Kurt Loder at Reason Online and Brian Orndorf at brianorndorf.com decided it either "exhausts itself" or "runs out of gas." Stephanie Zacharek at Movie Line goes one further, accusing the director of "overinflating" the picture while Glenn Kenny at MSN wished it looked "a little less, you know, plastic."

David Edwards of The Mirror disagrees, finding Rubber to be "a gripping experience." It "bounces gamely along" for Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times, "merrily rolls on" for Manohla Dargis, New York Times, and doesn't "follow in any other movie's treads" for Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail. According to Jason Anderson at Eye Weekly it's an "absurd and ingenious delight for any viewer willing to roll in its direction."

Cole Smithey at ColeSmithey.com gets the award for the most obvious missed pun with his conclusion "This film sucks." Blows, surely, Cole?

However the award for overall best review goes to Sukdev Sandhu at the Telegraph even with minimal punning. This is why I still want to see the film:

“There are advantages to having a tyre centre-screen. It’s a pleasing shape, dynamic and easy on the eye, and because of that large hole in the middle, it lends itself to framing the background scenery in a way that, say, Shia Labeouf, does not.

But the truth is, as a protagonist, the tyre leaves something to be desired. I’ve seen worse performances, but its range is surprisingly limited. It only comes in two modes: coasting, or venting (when he’s angry, he wobbles and undulates alarmingly). It wouldn’t be much of a stretch for any actor. For a tyre, you might say it’s stuck in a rut.”

Am I Hot Or Not Part II [Review: Rate Me Red]

2011-04-12T01:00:00.003+01:00

Richie Chevat's e-book Rate Me Red is a Brave New World to rival Blind Faith's 1984. It also describes a future extrapolated from today's Internet: again we have Facebook-style sharing and liking, together with a combination of YouTube vlogging and Second Life where your real-life clothes are cheap, but you then pay thousands of pounds more for your vid avatar to be seen wearing them.

Unlike Brave New World, where social mobility is zero and caste is defined before birth, Rate Me Red and Blind Faith describe futures where your social standing depends totally on your popularity – the Oranges and Yellows of Vidnet know that a chance encounter could precipitate a life-destroying chromofall at any time.

For the most part Vidnet society is a Machine Stops lifestyle - the novel follows hero Gordy through a real-life date and sexual encounter with his girlfriend Poppy, which is such a rare, shocking occurrence that it will surely boost both their ratings. The way everyone belongs to massive transnational corporations also reminded me of Max Barry's novel Jennifer Government, reviewed here.

You face a double humiliation in this future: not only must your every failure and embarrassment be made available to everyone over the net, but even worse – no-one’s actually watching it. In Blind Faith etiquette requires that you tell everyone how much you’ve enjoyed watching them argue or have sex, but of course no-one actually does because they’re self obsessed. In Rate Me Red you can’t actually keep up with all of your Twitter-style followers – so you buy a digital avatar who can do it for you, right down to replying to your e-mails.

Rate Me Red is bursting with ideas, from the ghetto-bound Blue underclass and mythical Purple untouchables to the pathetically intellectual Rejectionists. I particularly liked the idea that you couldn't be a success until you had a hate campaign against you - luckily Gordy's best friend is happy to oblige.

Neologisms TM have defined the dystopic fiction genre since 1984 and Clockwork Orange. They’re widely used here and while this is often effective there are a few misfires such as the constant referral to Real Life TM. This would be my only Criticism TM of Chevat’s writing – and on the other hand, perhaps because Chevat is also a playwright, the dialogue is particularly funny and well written, and the novel as a whole has a great pace. You can find out more or download the e-book from the author's website.

Am I Hot Or Not Part I [Review: Blind Faith]

2011-04-10T23:52:00.007+01:00

Global warming meets Am I Hot Or Not by way of 1984 in Ben Elton's novel Blind Faith. The setting is a Facebook-style future following a rise in sea-level. Privacy and secrets are now perversions: you are required by law to share every aspect of your life. Consumerism, voyeurism and constant ratings are the norms, and there's a chatroom moderator in every block of flats constantly monitoring and interfering with your lives.

Elton uses this setting to tell a story that isn't really about Internet culture but about the rise of ignorance and celebrity obsession in general. Tabloid-style mob justice keeps everyone on their toes and there's a sinister populist religion that has taken advantage of the situation. In this future, the neonatal death rate has skyrocketed and the people have forgotten that it was not always so - a third of the way through, the story changes direction and follows a secret order who continue to provide children with vaccinations in a world where the ignorant population has rejected them as evil and unnatural.

This change in direction doesn't really help the narrative. Nevertheless the satire is spot on - the religious council that suddenly declares that everyone is now a celebrity, or the much repeated slogan "What's not to like?" are products of a society that is self-obsessed to delusional levels. I fully endorse the aims and methods of this novel, and it's an enjoyable satirical read if not quite on a par with Gridlock, Stark or Popcorn.

Rage Against Los Angeles

2011-04-04T01:00:00.005+01:00

Battle Of Los Angeles is a SyFy channel TV movie produced by The Asylum, starring Nia Peeples as a katana-wielding version of the Men In Black. [Review to follow.] You may notice that a movie with a similar title, Battle: Los Angeles, has recently opened in cinemas, and you may even have wondered if one was perhaps some kind of rip-off of the other. It's an understandable mistake.

In fact both movie titles are ripped from Rage Against The Machine's 1999 album "The Battle Of Los Angeles" which in turn takes inspiration from classic science fiction. Many of the songs feature quotes from George Orwell's 1984 as well as other Orwellian themes and references.

Music videos were made for three tracks. Two of these, "Testify" and "Sleep Now In The Fire" were directed by Michael Moore, better known for documentaries such as Bowling For Columbine. "Testify" combines B-movie science fiction with a Moore-style swipe at the politics of presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore.

In the years following this music video, Bush "won" the election and became King of the World for a bit, while Gore now makes documentaries himself. Strange times.

"Testify" Rage Against The Machine

Hold On To Your Hats

2011-04-01T01:00:00.000+01:00

Some more thoughts about The Adjustment Bureau: the film carries a rather obvious message about people who follow religious orders to the letter without thinking about their meaning, so I’m going to ignore that one and take this in a different direction.

See, in real life we probably do have free choice. I know some people don’t believe this, and of course such people are free to choose such a belief. In the pages of a novel we don’t: the characters are playing out their lives under the predetermined plans of supernatural forces: the author, the editor and often the publishers and marketing teams exert this control. An extreme example is the Mills and Boon romance formula which is adhered to strictly by the small team of hand-picked authors; the Adjustment Bureau’s G-men who lose sleep over David and Elise sharing a “real kiss” at the wrong time are thinking along similar lines.

Admittedly, there are a authors whose publishers give them more creative freedom – their characters may have real, meaningful existences within the imagination of the author and such a novel can change direction mid-flow as the characters take events into their own hands.

Now transplant this idea into cinema. A film isn’t made by an author, editor and a handful of publishers. Hundreds or sometimes thousands of people are named in blockbuster credits. The script may involve several people, and most are written to a formula far more exacting than the Mills and Boon recipe. Scenes, plots and whole films are written or selected to meet the needs of the studios and distributors, while endings are changed and dialogue is re-written to reflect the opinions of the investors or the test audiences. Films often rely on intertextuality, recreating whole scenes from previous films – and don’t get me started on re-makes which are often judged on faithfulness to their originals.

Fictional characters who take control of their lives are themselves a great fantasy theme: in Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair, when book-jumper Thursday Next finds herself in Jane Eyre and “accidentally” changes the ending all hell breaks loose; both The Truman Show and Stranger Than Fiction place fictional characters in conflict with their creators.

Directors may be the most freakishly controlling of all control freaks – the idea of letting events in films shape themselves is anathema, and I think the attraction of CGI to many is not that you can now portray anything but you can now control anything. That tsunami wave looks great but how about a little less vapour to the lower left? I don’t like the shape of that cloud, can we change it? Thank goodness for the exceptions: superb directors like Kevin Smith, Mike Leigh and Gareth Edwards who are willing to take risks with the structure and let actors build up characters and improvise, often with spectacular results.

Been a long time...

2011-03-29T01:00:00.000+01:00

Asteroid animation based on Andrew Price's asteroid tutorial at Blender Guru. Similar technique used to create the rock walls in the tunnel. Produced in Blender 2.56

Superheroes Come To Feast

2011-03-27T13:00:00.000+01:00

Sci-Fi London 10 will run from 23rd April to 2nd May. The full programme isn't out yet but details of the All Nighters are emerging plus some awesome events are planned above and beyond the films themselves. SFL is a great indie festival with a friendly, sociable atmosphere and naturally I'm looking forward to it. Check out their website or Facebook page for more details.

The Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge will be running this coming weekend, 2nd to 4th April, and is bigger than ever - there are 350 teams registered. I am all cut up to report that this year I won't be entering a team - I'm planning to be back next year ;) - but I'm looking forward to seeing any entries that make it online, and if you're in London that weekend and see anyone with a camera, give them a smile!

"Super" directed by James Gunn, confirmed for SFL 2011 closing night.

The Stockbrokers of NIMH [Review: Limitless]

2011-03-27T00:10:00.000Z

Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) the protagonist of Limitless, chooses to take a drug to boost his intelligence - turning him from that greatest of failures, the writer who has yet to write a single word of his novel, to a smart seductive polymath, full of energy and motivation who can learn to play the piano or the FTSE in days, or single handedly fight his way out of a street gang ambush. The opening events of the movie leave Eddie in possession of a supply of the drug that is not limitless, and no apparent way to score any more.

As a film about drugs Limitless both succeeds and fails. It fails to be fantasy, or to say very much new about either drugs or intelligence - the stereotypes of bankers and cocaine, or artists and hallucinogens (or cocaine) are too familiar, with the benefits of creativity and vision, better concentration and alertness offset by paranoia, flashbacks, nausea, withdrawal, dependence and entanglement with the equally stereotyped criminal underworld. It succeeds in being a cautionary tale without straight-to-camera morality lessons, and the Clear Pill encompasses the features of many different drugs - in addition to the creativity or alertness there are hints of Viagra and E plus of course Dutch courage.

Limitless succeeds as a combination of psychodrama and thriller and this comes down to the performance. A little like Sam Rockwell in Moon, Bradley Cooper plays several different versions of Eddie: Eddie as drop-out, Eddie as super-suave high achiever and Eddie paranoid, desperate and in pain. Abbie Cornish and Robert De Niro are also great but their time on screen is limited to a few intense scenes each while Cooper is the constant presence.

An impossible zoom in the title sequence, accompanied by the first themes of a powerful and melancholy soundtrack, places Limitless squarely in the music video domain. Director Neil Burger uses every trick in the music video book to visualise Eddie's higher state of consciousness: colours brighten, view angles widen, and Eddie's intelligence is superimposed over reality - for example, stocks and shares rotate across the ceiling. The impossible zooms recur, adding momentum to the movie and symbolising both the way the drug smooths Eddie's route to success but also the way it controls his life and takes him to unexpected places.

Overall, despite its flaws Limitless is a sexy, addictive movie that you can immerse yourself in until your senses are overloaded - and watch out for the comedown after you leave the cinema.

No mice called Algernon were harmed in the making of this movie.

The Norman Conquests [Review: Tarnsman of Gor]

2011-03-26T01:00:00.011Z

If you’re going to create a fantasy or sci-fi series with a (seemingly) misogynistic slant, there’s no point doing things by halves. I mean, no-one’s going to sign up to a “lifestyle choice” inspired by the novels of Ben Bova, are they?*

John Norman’s Counter Earth novels are set on an alternative Earth where are city states ruled by the sword, and where slavery is the norm. The biology and culture of Gor is imagined to a level of detail comparable to Frank Herbert’s Arrakis and while there are some planet-wide organizing principles there is also plenty of diversity. The novels are highly readable pulp fiction with action and dry humour.

Lecturer Tarl Cabot is taken to Gor by the mysterious, unseen Priest-Kings who watch over the planet and set limits on technology. After rigorous Warrior Caste training, Cabot is drawn into the planet’s wars and intrigues and becomes a Boys Own action hero to stand alongside Tarzan, Quartermain and Conan. Is James Cameron secretly a Gorean? Gorean warriors and Pandoran natives bond with and tame their tarn (giant bird) or ikran (flying lizard) mounts with uncanny similarity.

On Gor there are plenty of male and female slaves – but Norman is mostly interested in the male master-female slave relationship which is the theme of the novels. Cabot’s initial discomfort is gradually replaced by a more open-minded perspective. The advantages of being a fiction writer are never more apparent: in your own created world, everything that happens will be in support of your own world view, thus in Nomads of Gor, Elizabeth, a secretary from Earth who finds herself under harsh conditions even for Gor, really does reach an epiphany of self-discovery through slavery. It’s feminism, Jim, but not as we know it. The books have strong adult plots but are almost never explicit – the focus is on the relationships more than the acts; by comparison the trappings of slavery – the ritual dances, the clothes, right down to the first closing click of the collar that no slave-girl ever forgets – are extremely detailed.

It’s not easy to swallow but it’s fair to point out that there are societies and religions on Earth that place more restrictions on women than those of Gor: in Norman’s imagination, it’s possible for women to be enslaved without being devalued. Also there are those who find that the perfect balance of power for their own personal relationships is not the role equality favoured by others: some of whom have chosen the Gorean lifestyle on Earth. There's an interview with John Norman, including some discussion of this lifestyle, over at io9. Personally I think that, if alongside the Goreans and the Archers Anarchists more people lived their lives according to fantasy-based values the world would be a happier place.

*Wannabe Rock Rats feel free to prove me wrong - credentials and photo to scifigene@operamail.com.

Work In Progress: Rat Run

2011-03-23T22:15:00.006Z

The Blender Guru asteroid recipe can be used to create other rock surfaces:You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike... Always read the label...

Questions, Questions, We All Got Questions [Review: Exam]

2011-03-22T01:00:00.000Z

“There is one question before you, and one answer is required. If you try to communicate with myself or the guard, you will be disqualified. If you spoil your paper, intentionally or accidentally, you will be disqualified. If you choose to leave this room for any reason, you will be disqualified. Any questions?”

Eight young men and women are escorted into an examination room by an armed guard. They are smartly dressed but some have mysterious cuts or bruises. They are candidates for a highly prized job and the exam is the final stage of the selection procedure. The invigilator stresses that the unknown employer is so powerful that within these walls they can make their own rules. However the penalty for breaking a rule is not execution but simply a bus ride home – and failure.

Stuart Hazeldine’s film Exam is set in a cleverly designed concrete bunker which is reminiscent of Cube, as is the ethnically-diverse group of characters with complementary skills and the philosophical undertone to the dialogue. Exam does not rely on Cube’s cheesewire-trap shocks, although the setting is never “safe” and the danger escalates as the LED clock ticks down. The one-room concept is strictly adhered to – apart from the opening sequence in a washroom, the camera is entirely limited to the exam chamber itself and about two metres of coridoor outside the obligatory sliding door: this works in the film’s favour – a location that initially appears bleak turns out to have secrets and surprises behind every feature.

Exam is based on your own personal examination nightmare, and predictably the candidates turn their papers over to find that they are blank*: happily this is just the opening gambit in a series of puzzles, twists, red herrings and trust-betrayal dilemmas. The key is in the rules, or rather what the rules do not say. For instance there’s no rule against communication between the candidates, so they can cooperate to work out the nature of the question – but the same rules also leave open some interesting ways of disadvantaging each other. The cast of Exam try to resolve their situation within these rules rather than escape them so Exam is not science fiction.

Adar Beck as "Brunette" in Exam

Cinematically this is a tense and extremely watchable film. Exam is tightly scripted and does a very good job of gradually hinting at each candidate’s background as well as the nature of the mysterious employer and the state of the world outside. Colin Salmon is perfectly cast as the suave invigilator and Adar Beck is particularly good as a psychologist who turns out to have previously worked for the company – the others turn on her as they suspect that the exam is some kind of experiment. The ending is clean, resolving the mystery firmly and fairly: it’s well done but sometimes, as in Cube or, say, Blade Runner, it’s good to leave a little ambiguity.

*For those readers whose exam nightmare involves finding that instead of a paper on your desk there is a slice of black forest gateau, my condolences – but watch out for the sequel.

Work In Progress: Rock Rats

2011-03-19T13:33:00.005Z

Asteroid generated using displacement modifier.

Textures, rock fragments, nebula background Compositing noodles for spacecraft porthole effect

Still image after compositing

Images generated in Blender 2.56. Tutorials are a great way to learn software like Blender - I made these images by following Andrew Price's asteroid tutorial at http://www.blenderguru.com/.

Where Did You Get That Hat? [Review: The Adjustment Bureau]

2011-03-17T17:50:00.003Z

Adapted from a Philip K. Dick short story, The Adjustment Bureau is a more light-hearted movie than I expected, going easy on the paranoia and the reality-bending metaphysics and adding elements of comedy and romance.

It's also reminiscent of several other films. It's a story about the power of love overcoming the power of fear, with magic doors as a symbol of the choices we make in our lives - great, but Mike and Sully got there first. The idea of our world being organized precisely by a secret cabal of control freaks was explored superbly in The Truman Show, itself a PKD-style slice of paranoia. Unlike Truman, Matt Damon's character is shown the true nature of reality early in the film but is sworn to secrecy.

The Adjustment Bureau - Seasonally Adjusted

The plot centres on the romance between Matt Damon's would-be senator David and dancer Elise, played by Emily Watson. In the grand scheme of things (which for the purposes of this film is a literal concept enforced by the mysterious Bureau), they're supposed to meet once but never see each other again - a series of chance encounters throws them together and threatens to derail the plan.

The romantic element is not ironic and borrows heavily from the standard fate-obsessed rom-com blueprint as seen in Serendipity but I forgive them, because when David makes his obligatory sprint to the chapel to stop Elise marrying someone else, his out-of-breath you-were-meant-to-be-with-me speech doesn't win Elise's heart over but makes him look like a psychopathic stalker.

I also liked the idea that, unlike the Truman Show's production crew or the Men In Black, The Bureau agents themselves are error-prone and tied up in bureaucratic red tape: as a result, although they are less threatening it's a much more interesting organization. Douglas Adams would be proud: bucks are passed, memos are taken down and things are kicked upstairs. The hats are also a nice touch, and as with those MIB sunglasses they are there for a reason.

Location, Location, Location

2011-03-15T19:10:00.000Z

Indie filmmakers are often advised to limit films to the minimum number of sets, and I can personally vouch for this: moving from place to place and setting up over and over again in new locations wears everyone out and eats up valuable slate time.

Some films make a virtue out of this minimalist approach: Exam (review to follow) and the Cube series are all based around ingeniously designed one-room sets, while Buried goes even further and sets all the action in a coffin. Other variations include 127 Hours featuring a protagonist trapped on a mountain, while the two swimmers in Open Water spend the entire movie treading water and avoiding sharks.

This inventiveness also extends to other minimalist films like Phone Booth which is based around one location although the action does cut away sometimes, or The Hole (2001, starring Thora Birch, not the many other films with the same name) with a single location for about two-thirds of the film.

This is not a new phenomenon and there are some classic one-room films: Sidney Lumet’s Twelve Angry Men is superb and influential (leading into, for example, several of Tony Hancock’s television plays.) Several people also recommended Hitchcock’s Rear Window to me, a classic film I have yet to see.

There are also plenty of films that are limited to a single building or suite of rooms such as 1408 or Paranormal Activity. Films set inside aeroplanes also have a similar feel – Flightplan, Snakes On A Plane, Airplane! A group of people trapped in a house is a trope of the whodunnit genre, from Agatha Christie’s novels and their adaptations to another classic Sleuth: as with Cube, Exam and Paranormal Activity, the limitations are part of the puzzle which has to be solved if we are to escape.

One-location films subvert the potential scope of cinema – the freedom of the camera, and therefore the narrative, to go anywhere. It’s closer to theatre where, with exceptions, a small number of locations is the rule. These films also create an intense experience by playing on common fears of confinement. There may be a metaphorical explanation for many of these locations: life itself, or the Earth, is limited in all sorts of ways, and ultimately there is only one escape from it although we may dream of others.

With thanks to all the blogcatalog members who helped me research this article.

It's for their own good! [Reviews: Never Let Me Go and Tangled]

2011-02-26T20:11:00.000Z

From where I'm sitting, cinema is looking up for 2011: The Sci-Fi Gene is particularly looking forward to Apollo 18, Sucker Punch and The Adjustment Bureau although I'm hoping the latter isn't just another Philip K. Dick story turned into a chase movie.

Now to business: two recent films about wrapping children up in cotton wool. There's been much said about the pupils of Hailsham and the fact that they don't rebel against their organ-donor status but instead seek meaning and love within the parameters of their short lives: apparently that's why Never Let Me Go is literature rather than science fiction.

Tosh. Good science fiction is about taking extraordinary concepts and exploring their implications in a world that is otherwise recognizable. The best science fiction does so in a way that is relevant to all of us. Kazuo Ishiguro's novel is amongst the best, and as far as the film goes, if you missed the universal themes, there's an unnecessary voice-over at the end to spell it out. This doesn't spoil the film which is so beautiful and poignant (there were tears) and that should tell you how good the rest of it is. Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan act their little hearts out.

Incidentally one way in which Ishiguro's story stands out from Spares, The Island and the rest of the clone army is that the Hailsham kids are not personal clones of rich individuals but, amazingly, part of the National Donor Programme - a state sponsored, socialized medicine scheme and an alternate history version of the NHS.

Moving on. Like the children of Hailsham, Rapunzel was confined throughout her childhood by the walls of her tower and by horrific scare-stories about the world outside - and in Disney's latest film it turns out this was because she also has a part of her body - her hair - desired for it's healing qualities.

With the aid of her trusty frying pan Rapunzel escapes her captor, so Tangled is science fiction. It's also a fine film where all the strands are neatly plaited together - the beautiful art and animation, the plot, the original characters and humour, and the obligatory Alan Menken score. There's lots of slapstick and sentimentality for younger viewers, but there's also a strong rebellious theme and a (subtle) loss-of-virginity metaphor for those old enough to know what a metaphor is.

Meteor, Right? [Reviews: Nemesis and Wormwood]

2011-02-24T01:11:00.000Z

While I love gung-ho tales of brave oil miners being drafted into the astronaut core and nuking meteorites, giving their lives so that their colleagues can marry Liv Tyler, I'm pleased to report that, at least in written sci-fi, there are some excellent novels that take the meteorite theme somewhere a bit more original.

Bill Napier's novel of asteroid deflection, nuclear stand-offs and medieval heliocentrists, Nemesis, may not be the most accurate depiction of this topic: but it certainly feels like it. The CIA has brought together a group of world-class scientists to form a secret think tank, as they suspect an asteroid has been diverted towards Earth by the Soviets. Up against the clock, the scientists' main challenge is to actually find the asteroid, and tensions rise as they theorise and try out different strategies - while most of the team focus on different telescopes, Webb, the hero, wonders whether the asteroid might have been sighted historically and starts a search for a 17th century manuscript he suspects is the key. Meanwhile the military engage in larger and larger simulations of the impact, and international tensions rise as leaders debate a nuclear response to the attack. Impressively, the scientific, political and military strands are all convincing and while the initial scenario is similar to that of Meteor or Armageddon, the plot develops from pure disaster novel into a much murkier political thriller.

Wormwood, by author of Shadowmancer G.P. Taylor, features a comet bound for Earth, again apparently predicted in an ancient tome. The setting is London, 1756, and the comet is identified by Dr. Sabian Blake, a scientist with alchemical and spiritual leanings very much in the Newton mould. The story is told from several viewpoints but the two main characters are Blake and his thieving housemaid Agetta. It quickly becomes clear this is no scientific romance but a dark tale of Kabbalistic sorcery, ghosts and fallen angels: the comet is the focus for a series of paranormal events and horrors.

Level Up

2011-02-17T00:17:00.008Z

I just finished the final cut of the "2007" music video so to celebrate, here are my three favourite elevator-based music videos. More news on "2007" soon.

In third place: Neon Bible - Arcade Fire

In second place: Push The Button - Sugababes

And there can only be one winner:

Realities Check [Review: Transition]

2011-02-16T01:00:00.000Z

As Iain Banks’ novel Transition opens the reader is presented with a series of different narrators in quick succession. I was initially confused – were they the same person at different times, separate narratives linked only by theme, or would the link between them be a metaphysical one? Iain Banks’ novels are mostly thrillers and while there are plenty of plot twists they are still easy to follow. An exception is The Bridge, which is more complex, and like Inception or Life On Mars it takes place on different levels of consciousness. My first, misguided impression was that Transition was heading somewhere similar.

This opening makes for a difficult, off-putting first third of the novel and some readers may not pass this stage. I therefore feel I am performing a public service by broadcasting the fact that this is not randomness or surreality but the opening gambit of an extremely well-planned novel - soldier on and much will become clear.

It gradually becomes apparent that the narratives are the voices of separate people, all employed in some capacity by the shadowy Concern. As with much of Banks’ writing there are parallels to be drawn with American interventionalism. Concern agents travel across alternate realities and make changes to the course of local events. Ostensibly the Concern’s mission is the greater good of humanity, but the agents are assassins and torturers while the leadership is, naturally, all about personal power, privilege and immortality, while the layers of the Concern may hide a darker agenda.

There are no thoroughbred heroes in Transition but amongst the ranks of villains and antiheroes there are insiders questioning their loyalty to the Concern or their understanding of its' mission: these insiders, like double agents, make for interesting stories driven by character development and change.

Transition is one of Banks’ best and freshest novels for a long time and if it’s not shocking compared to, say, Complicity (aww bless, he’s writing about torture and orgies again…) it’s gripping and satisfyingly complex. In the UK the book has been presented under the name Iain Banks rather than Iain M. Banks – the Earth(s)bound setting may mean this novel is more accessible to readers who are not already Culture citizens, although as onesuch myself who am I to say?

However, while Transition is not a Culture novel, it’s built on similar themes of power, abuse and politics, and on familiar sci-fi concepts: Quantum Leaping into the minds of others, Sliding across alternate realities. In addition to the basic skill of transitioning, Concern agents may have a range of other psychic powers: Tandemers can take passengers with them – for some agents this can only be achieved during sex – Trackers can track other agents through transitions, Blockers block other agents’ powers, and some agents have a limited form of foresight. Similar psychic powers turn up in the film Push, although exploding fish seems beyond the reach of the Concern.

Is There A Doctor In The House? [Review: Outcasts]

2011-02-11T15:54:00.006Z

The challenge for every BBC producer on a sci-fi show: to not end up making another Doctor Who. Other UK channels don't really worry about this, that's why ITV were able to make Primeval. However I suspect it’s thanks to this creative pressure that the BBC came up with Life On Mars and Being Human.

The first episodes of a new eight-part series, Outcasts, premiered this week and it does seem to promise something different. Carpathia is a ten-year-old off-world colony with a few teething problems. They’ve survived some sort of plague, there are divisions between the trigger-happy security officers and the emerging bureaucrats, and everyone has some kind of secret past or emotional baggage. Meanwhile a shipload of refugees from disaster-stricken Earth repair their damaged ship in orbit, hoping to survive the dangerous atmosphere and join the colony.

Ashley Walters and Hermione Norris

The scenario is colonial sci-fi in the tradition of countless Golden Age authors – Anne McCaffrey springs to mind, as does the Heorot series by Larry Niven and other authors, and the characters also come straight from this sub-genre: in particular Jamie Bamber's maverick anti-hero Mitchell.

This is the kind of situation where The Doctor and Amy would leap in, resolve everything quickly with a combination of luck, smarts and that annoying sonic screwdriver thingy, then disappear during the celebrations. In the absence of this wizard and his magic wand, the colonists of Carpathia will be forced to deal with their own problems, and the consequences of their mistakes will be played out in full. Watch this space.

Bitmap Shades

2011-02-08T00:17:00.003Z

Added: index pages for my short films, book reviews and film reviews.

The Rime Of The Ancient Submariner [Review: 2010: Moby Dick]

2011-02-06T01:00:00.000Z

I'm writing this review carefully: The Asylum's 2010: Moby Dick is not the only modern adaptation of a seafaring fantasy in the village, and I'll be sure to hold up Jack Black's Gulliver's Travels re-boot to the same standards.

Moby Dick is the kind of nonsense The Asylum loves to make over and over again: oversized ancient sea-creatures, submarines, beautiful brainy women and crazed soldiers. Let's take a look at each:

The sea-creature is Moby Dick, a survivor from prehistoric times of a whale species that ate other whales. MD is a giant, white, toothy CGI creation with intelligent black eyes and a sonar signature "like a hole in the sea."

The crazed soldier is Captain Ahab, a submarine commander who survived a brush with MD, losing a leg - and a large percentage of his sanity - in the process. The white whale becomes his bête noir and he spends the last twenty years of his naval career scheming to get his own back. Ahab is played by Shakespeare-class actor Barry Bostwick who puts everything into his performance and then some. It doesn't stop there, either, at least according to the Making Of featurette: it seems Mr. B wasn't too impressed by the Asylum's props department, so turned up on set with his own kick-ass mega-harpoon that he'd knocked up in his garage the night before. As the demented captain fighting to maintain the loyalty of his crew, Ahab also gets the best of the script - of course the best lines of all are those borrowed from Herman Melville.

The beautiful brainy woman is marine biologist and whalespeak expert Dr. Michelle Herman (see what they did there?) who is kidnapped by Ahab to help him in his quest. Michelle is played by Renee O'Connor, who some of you may recall as Xena's "close friend" Gabrielle - she's a pro and gives a great performance but is underused: her main job is to sit and look pretty wearing a pair of headphones, then suddenly notice things on the sonar that no-one else can see or hear. In this respect the lack of imagination on the part of the writers is inexcusable.

Ahab's submarine, the Peaquod, has been secretly upgraded in preparation for the day when Ahab goes rogue and hunts down the whale. Externally it's a CGI job and a poor one - rarely convincing. Internally it's better although not claustrophobic enough for a sub, and I think I recognized a few re-deployed sets from the Transmorphers underground city. It's a time of austerity so recycling is good, right? Lucky Dr. Michelle gets to sleep in the torpedo bay with nuclear missiles hanging from chains above her head.

2010: Moby Dick is not Shakespeare, however it is an enjoyable hour and a half. Despite the flaws, I would recommend it on the strength of Bostwick's performance and the attempt to stay in touch with, or at least make use of, the original story. In particular the arch-nemesis relationship between Ahab and MD is very well staged, and I think this gives it a bit of an edge over the many other Asylum creature features. I guess we should look forward to The Asylum's re-boot of The Ancient Mariner, featuring a 200-foot prehistoric man-eating Mega Albatross and Tiffany as the crypto-ornithologist who holds the key to defeating it.

So Long, Suckers [Review: Attack Of The Giant Leeches]

2011-02-03T01:00:00.000Z

Roger Corman has directed or produced several hundred films - all but a handful of which have turned a profit. Sci-fi horror with a side serving of cheese is pretty much the order of the day but there are Corman films in all genres and at all budget sizes, and he's worked with some of the greatest actors and actresses in each generation. Over the years has Corman either lost his touch or become too serious? I'm not sure - I think I'll just watch Sharktopus then I'll let you know. Corman's IMDb entry is here.

You made it back? Great. The Giant Leeches (also released as Attack Of The Giant Leeches, and as Demons Of The Swamp) was produced by Roger Corman in 1959.

The plot could have been scribbled on a stamp still leaving room for the postmark. An alcoholic poacher in a Florida village comes across a mysterious creature hiding in the 'glade swamps. He fails to kill it, and no-one believes him until the disappearances start - and bodies begin to appear with mysterious holes in their necks. The origin of the monsters? In a brief and obvious expo-dump the characters speculate about nuclear rockets being launched from nearby Cape Canaveral and leading to mutations and gigantism in local species. The moral? Every American's God-given right to enjoy the innocent pleasures of dynamiting lakes.

The worst thing about this film? The leeches. They suck. You might say that back in 1959 audiences would be petrified by the sight of two men (Guy Buccola and Ross Sturlin) in pantomime leech costumes. You might. But I wouldn't believe you. Audiences who would have been exposed to The Thing From Another World* (1951), War Of The Worlds (1953), Tarantula (1955), Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers (1956) or even The Blob (1958) would know a real scare when they saw one, and would surely have laughed themselves silly at the sight of these suckers.

The best things about this film? The Everglades make for a truly creepy setting, and the absence of alligators is a nice touch. Most of the performances are hammed up but there's a pretty good turn from Jan Shephard as Nan Greyson, the prim and proper daughter of local doctor and scientist Doc Greyson. There's some truly gruesome leech victim make-up too. Ultimately this film is fun in places, unwatchable in others, and there are more unintended laughs than intended scares. One for the dedicated Rogercormanologist only.

*Strictly speaking, audiences who had been exposed to The Thing From Another World would be either feeding on the flesh of their fellow filmgoers or becoming increasingly paranoid as they try to work out who are the imposters in the surrounding seats.

I've Got No Body To Love [Review: Surrogates]

2011-01-29T01:00:00.000Z

Surrogates is a fun but underwhelming B-movie mixing action and conceptual sci-fi. The concept here is that, as in I Robot, we all have our own personal robots, but this time instead of just ordering them about we stay in our bedrooms and live our lives through the robots who are younger, stronger and better looking versions of ourselves - the Surrogates.

The film does come up with a lot of inventive ideas connected to the concept. Many of these are similar to present day Internet issues - for instance, you never really know who you are speaking to online; identity theft becomes possible; your online actions can be monitored - and shut down - by any number of government or commercial organizations; a range of issues around cybersex which for some might be a pale imitation of the real thing while for others it is better, or the only option. Issues of identity are critical to the plot and come up over and over again in different ways.

I enjoyed these and the many other ideas that are thrown out but I was disappointed they weren't taken further - in particular the ability to take over different surrogates, jumping from body to body, could easily be developed further for both action and dramatic sequences, and I think they've missed a trick here. The action sequences focus mainly on the fact that the surrogates are stronger so Radha Mitchell can leap around the tops of buses. Also despite the parallels, there's no sense that the film is actually trying to say anything deep about either identity or cyberspace.

I didn't really buy a few aspects of the scenario. Having just one corporation producing Surrogates, for example, or the idea of a weapon that could kill the operator as well as the surrogate - at the end of a day, if you shoot down a RC aircraft nothing happens to the controller! Thinking about it, I suppose it's vaguely plausible that there could be some kind of feedback loop that does something to the operator's blood pressure, with Scanners-type consequences.

Apart from the under-used but clever ideas, I found myself enjoying all the nods to other sci-fi films but wondering which of these were deliberate tributes, which were just lazy scriptwriting, either cliche or plagiarism, and which were coincidental. There were scenes that reminded me of I Robot, The Stepford Wives, Terminator and Independence Day, plus a moment in the ending which echoes Logan's Run and rightly so, it's a nice touch. I liked Rosamund Pike's character as by the end of the film you actually understand why she has come to view Surrogacy as such an attractive option. It's also fun seeing all the cast in both their ridiculously perfect Surrogate form and in their malnourished "meatbag" form, the result of spending all your time living through a Surrogate.

The Not-So Secret Of My Success [Review: Outliers]

2011-01-25T01:00:00.000Z

The cover of Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, is misleading. This is not a self-help novel of any kind and thankfully there is no mention of cosmic ordering. I mean, seriously Rhonda, it was supposed to be a Secret!... Instead this is a book in the vein of Levitt and Dubner's Freakonomics or John Allen Paulos' Innumeracy, looking at surprising historical and social examples to shed some light on the nature of successful individuals, and dispell some of the myths about genius.

Gladwell's conclusions are hardly rocket science - guess what, most successful people are clever but not ridiculously so, plus they had a lot of help and sometimes luck, and took the opportunities that presented themselves to them, they practiced very, very, very hard - the 10,000 hour theory - they had a positive attitude towards hard work and do not give up easily, plus (and this is perhaps the most interesting part) the cultural and family background of the individual plays a much larger part in all of the above than you might think, and success often requires that this is accounted for.

Some of the examples are straightforward. The way that children are picked for sports clubs at a young age means that the oldest in the year have a huge advantage - in many countries the vast majority of adult hockey players are born in January, February or March. These children once selected are given many more hours of practice than their contemporaries and so the difference in skill quickly grows - leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The series of coincidences and opportunities that placed Bill Gates in the right place at the right time to become the dominant figure in his industry are also well documented and have been acknowledged by Gates himself, and the way that the Hamburg clubbing scene gave the Beatles eight days a week of live music practice and turned them into, well, musicians, seems to add up. As golfer Arnold Palmer once said, "It's a funny thing - the more I practice, the luckier I get."

Gladwell's other examples are more far-fetched and slightly more controversial - his connection between rice-growing cultures and mathematical skill, for example, or the cultural explanation of why, until recently, there were so many Korean air crashes. There is a certain amount of selection in the examples, however he argues his case well each time and is usually, if not always, convincing. This is very much an argument against genetic causality - many of Gladwell's examples are able to rule this out by showing that people from the same genetic background, if living within a different community or circumstances, have very different outcomes.

"2007" Update Part V: Pulling Me In Just Like Gravity

2011-01-22T13:47:00.006Z

Sorting out the weightlessness scenes took some time but it's all coming together nicely.

Also managed to add weightlessness to the lift:

[all scenes produced in Blender 2.54]

Wheels On Fire [Review: Whip It]

2011-01-20T16:56:00.010Z

First there was this re-make of Day Of The Triffids with that one minor plot change. Now we have Whip It! - the new Rollerball, without the murder, the future media politics and the balls, but just as much blood and elbowing.

This non-sci-fi film has a lot to recommend it to sci-fi fans. Directed by, you know, Charlie from Firestarter, it stars Ellen Page as a reluctant beauty pageant contestant who defies her 50s-style parents and secretly joins a Roller Derby crew. With it’s Blockers, Pivots, Jammers and unmitigated high-speed aggression, Roller Derby is the closest real-world sport to Quidditch and the film is an extraordinary juxtaposition of shy, geeky teenager coming-of-age and high-speed rollerskating carnage. Page as Bliss/Babe Ruthless is brilliant – well, we wouldn’t expect anything less, and Drew Barrymore delivers a very watchable sports film, earning her director’s wings while still finding the time to cameo as the accident-prone Smashley Simpson.

Roller Derby is gaining ground fast in the UK with two leagues active in London and several more across the country - the London Rollergirls became the first UK league to join the WFTDA last year. Naturally The Sci-Fi Gene is a fan of the steampunk-lovin' Steam Rollers team. Many RD players give themselves names that appeal to my sense of pun - soccer, golf or snooker would be vastly improved as sports if the players included R. Meg Eddon and Nuke Leah.

Chekov's Crossbow [Review: The Host]

2011-01-18T01:00:00.000Z

"If you show a gun in the first act it had better have been fired by the third act" - Alfred Hitchcock, presumably paraphrasing Anton Chekov.

The Host (not to be confused with The Host by Stephenie Meyer, reviewed here) is a Korean horror film and one of the greatest monster films ever: the story of one dysfunctional, bickering family's quest to rescue schoolgirl Hyun-Seo from a gigantic newt-like creature that has emerged from the polluted Han river. Where a Western film might separate two lovers, here we have a mobile-phone obsessed daughter, a loving but brain-damaged, childish and narcoleptic father, an uncle who is college-educated and unemployable, the wise but stubborn grandfather, and the aunt who is an international sportswoman.

It is here that the principle of Chekov's Gun applies: Nam-Joo (Doona Bae) appears on television in an early scene, juxtaposed with the scenes of monster rampage chaos outside the caravan. When she hesitates before firing her crossbow, earning a time penalty and losing out on the gold, you feel you know exactly how this film is going to end. Your prediction will be both right and wrong. Chekov's Gun is indeed fired; however the ending is neither a classic triumphant parade nor a classic horror-film twist in the tail - instead the film closes on an understated, melancholy note.

Doona Bae as Nam-Joo

I thought the cinematography was stunning, from the stark laboratory-set opening introducing the theme of chemical pollution, to the claustrophobic action in the sewers, to the final confrontation and scenes of chemical warfare there are too many memorable shots to count. The film also succeeds in making you love the cast of grief-stricken and unlikely heroes who try, fail and try again.

"2007" Update Part IV: Push The Button And Let Me Know

2011-01-13T01:00:00.002Z

Performance video was filmed on bluescreen from two angles - foreground and reflection. Lift interior modelled and composited in Blender. Red lights with a simulated backlight.Neon.

Sunlight.

[All images produced in Blender 2.5]

Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

2011-01-11T01:00:00.001Z

Audrey Niffenegger's book The Time Traveler's Wife has everything: it's intelligent and accessible, serious, fun, full of action and emotion, and it tells a great story about human nature and relationships while also exploring a well-worn science fiction concept in new and fascinating ways - time travel portrayed as an uncontrollable genetic disorder. I sometimes wonder whether it could also be seen as a book about the lover of someone with manic depression or another episodic illness who might experience a similar roller-coaster ride.

Robert Schwentke's film is a watchable and enjoyable romance that rises well above the average rom-com but falls short of the sheer resonance of the novel. Claire's life as Henry comes and goes is often bitter and painful and constantly tests her resolve and her love; meanwhile Henry's own life is painful and perplexing too, constantly leading him into danger and taking him away from Claire without warning.

The novel takes all of this to the limit, covering the whole range of experience, the highs and the lows of this unique love affair, while for the most part the film centres on a sentimental rom-com relationship. Occasionally it does go outside this comfort zone and into the much more uncomfortable territory of the book: the first time from Claire's point of view that Henry kisses her, and the way that this single act decided the rest of her life, is an example and the film is the better for including it.

The story is also simplified a little. The pretzel has a few less twists if you like (Damn you, Kate And Leopold! Get out of my head! Bad film!) although when you do get to the paradoxes and twists, such as Henry and Claire's unconventional wedding, or the way Claire manages to get around the limitations of Henry's vasectomy, they are particularly enjoyable scenes.

Casting is great - both leads Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana are talented character actors. They can do rom-com in their sleep and in the few scenes where they are given the chance they really bring out the pain and deep emotion of their characters in a totally human and credible way. I wish they were given a little more room to spread their wings. Did I dream that at one point a certain Mr. Pitt and Ms. Aniston were slated for the lead roles? It seems so long ago.

"2007" Update Part III: The Only Way Is Up

2011-01-10T22:58:00.004Z

Modelling the exterior of an elevator for the "2007" music videoMore detail, starting to add textures A first attempt at setting up the lights

[All images produced in Blender 2.54]

Hallow Darkness My Old Friend [Review: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part I]

2011-01-08T15:26:00.000Z

The final Harry Potter novel has been split into two parts for film adaptation. While there are obvious commercial benefits in keeping the cinema franchise going for another year, this was also the right decision artistically, and David Yates' new film HP7i is the proof.

As the HP novels got heavier, the films suffered either by trying to cram too much in, or by cutting until the plot was incomprehensible. Cut the novel in half and suddenly there's room to breathe again: filmed refreshingly in 2D, HP7i has atmosphere and pace, with enough time on the clock to create authentic settings, linger on significant scenes or build tension. At the same time, the plot, slightly simplified, remains coherent although you will struggle a little unless you have read the preceding books. There's a lot of borrowing from Lord of the Rings as the Fellowship of the Potter travel magically around the world to seek out and destroy a Horcrux: this borrowing is the fault of the book rather than the film.

As with the book, there's far less humour than the previous films (though by no means none) and plenty of death, darkness and despair. The characters have grown up, but the actors unfortunately more so: Daniel and Emma just about pass as older teens, but if CGI can make Jeff Bridges or even Brad Pitt look young in Tron Legacy and Benjamin Button respectively then surely they could have done the same for Rupert Grint. However if the ageing is dodgy the acting and direction is awesome - all three turn in their best performances so far and you really get a sense of isolation, and how different their magical upbringing has made them.

Conclusion: full marks, and I look forward to HP7ii.

Robot High School

2011-01-06T23:10:00.003Z

Searching for inspiration for 2007, I asked other bloggers over at blogcatalog to suggest favourite music videos. They came up with some absolute gems, not all of which will embed. The list included many of my own favourites plus several incredible films I'd not come across - this demonstrates just how much variety and originality there has been in the music video genre.

Category: Best Animated Fantasy (tied)
Arcadia - Missing - suggested by Hankmann

Category: Best Video Of Thom Yorke Being Drowned
Radiohead - No Surprises - suggested by samhaydenjr

Category: Hardest Working String Quartet
Bond - Explosive - suggested by dyeve

Category: Best Space Invaders Tribute
Royskopp - Happy Up Here - suggested by jaythehated

Category: I Want To Live In Your Dimension Award
Lady Gaga - Bad Romance - suggested by Lovy Boheme

Category: Best Animated Fantasy (tied)
The Presets - Girl And The Sea - suggested by xxjamberxx

Category: Best Non-CGI CGI
My Robot Friend - Robot High School - suggested by clockworkkitten

Category: Best Cowbell-Led Performance
B52s - Rock Lobster - suggested by PetLvr

With thanks for all the suggestions - there were far too many to include here! Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson were popular amongst bloggers and in addition to the works of art above we shared some comedy videos including our favourite Literal Videos.

Category: What Do You Mean That's Not Actually The Director's Commentary Award
Total Eclipse Literal Video - suggested by JaneneMurphy

Finally no music video collection would ever be complete without these guys:

Category: Best Choreography
OK Go - Here It Goes Again - suggested by tarahlynn

"2007" Update Part II: Make Room, Make Room

2011-01-01T01:00:00.001Z

Happy New Year! As an amateur filmmaker, I would say the single biggest difference between amateurs and professionals in this field is: sleep. You can be an amateur filmmaker and go to sleep - of course you can! You just won't finish anything.

A second strand of the "2007" music video includes scenes that were acted out on bluescreen to represent or complement the lyrics - these plus the sound visualizations make up the B-roll or interpretative part of the video. I previously blogged about the bluescreen shoot here. The scenes take place in a virtual set - an office - where some strange things will happen. The environment was initially bare but I spent last night creating some assets to give it more of an office feel, plus to have some things to throw around when the room becomes weightless later on...

These assets appear in the background and in some scenes are defocussed:

Images produced in Blender 2.54. To be continued...