Tag Archives: movies
Salvage This
So the other day I was watching Danny Boyle’s SF disaster movie ‘Sunshine’ for the umpteenth time—not because it’s great, though it does have great moments—and I realised why I have such a love/hate relationship with this film (and others like it). It starts off brilliantly. The multicultural crew of the Icarus II is en […]
Sci-Fi Quiz: Movie Couples
From budding teen romances to epic love sagas that cross light-years and even alien species, the pairing of science fiction movie couples has kept us enthralled, nauseous, captivated, and eye-rollingly amused for decades now. Some take centre stage, while others bubble away in the background. The best are for the ages; the worst can suck even the most promising premise into […]
On Artificial Intelligence
You could say it all started with Frankenstein. Man creates lifeform using science. Lifeform yearns to be like man. Realises it can never be. Seeks to punish man. Man becomes trapped by his own creation. It’s one of the staple themes of science fiction, and one of the most popular: the revenge of technology on […]
Dances with tropes
I have to avoid the site TV TROPES at all costs, unless I’m willing to lose two or three hours of my day. For me, it’s worse than Wikipedia, Dictionary.com and The Onion all put together. Once I land there, I just can’t tear myself away. For the uninitiated, here’s a description from the site’s main […]
Top 10 favorite sci-fi moments
I’m not about to attempt a ranking of the best sci-fi moments of all time. If you want some of that, there’s Ultimate Top Ten Sci-Fi Moments, 20 Great “All Seems Lost” Moments in Sci-Fi/Fantasy or Classic Sci-fi Moments Recreated in Lego, among others. Or you could check out Top 10 Dumb Moments in Sci-Fi […]
Science Fiction at the Oscars
I like watching the Academy Awards and will always watch them. Shallow though the show itself may be, it’s a celebration of (some of) the year’s best achievements in entertainment, be they artistic or technical. It’s an opportunity to briefly meet the men and women behind the magic. And it can be a pretty good spectacle in its own right. But […]
Top 10 SF Movie Heroines
After finishing my latest SF novel, Sparks in Cosmic Dust, which features three tough, resourceful heroines, I decided to go back and pinpoint the major influences on those characters. Most of them are movie heroines. Though there are some actresses/characters I like from 1950s SF, they’re very much in their heroes’ shadows, and the birth […]
SFM: Science Fiction Music
If, like me, you’ve been addicted to science fiction for pretty much your whole life, it’s easy to rattle off a list of books, comics, movies and TV shows that have shaped your passion for the genre. They’re visually and intellectually seared into your imagination. But consider for a moment another element, largely overlooked, that […]
Science Fiction Movie Watch: 2011
A fortnight ago I looked back at some of my favourite classic SF novels, so I thought I’d try the flip-side today: a look ahead to the year’s upcoming SF movies. It’s a real mixed bag, with some odds-on-to-be clunkers, a few fascinating concepts on the lower budget end (as usual), and one or two […]
