Film Short - Gravity: Behind the Frame

I haven't seen the film yet, but with so many shorts like this one, I know it will be awe inspiring. So if you have or haven't seen the movie Gravity, know that it won seven Academy award and as you can tell even from this short that the film is a feast for the senses.

Review: Ender's Game

Directed by  Gavin Hood

Partial cast list
Asa Butterfield as Andrew "Ender" Wiggin -  Jimmy Pinchak as Peter Wiggin -
Abigail Breslin as Valentine Wiggin -  Harrison Ford as Colonel Hyrum Graff  -
Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham

Even if you are just lightly interested in Science Fiction it is likely that you have in passing heard the name Orson Scott Card or at the very least the movie based on the first book in his Ender series called Ender's Game.   Well the movie is out on DVD/Blu-Ray so I thought I would give it a go.

Taking on this project, the producers HAD to know that Ender's Game and the Ender Series is one of those Sci-Fi sacred cows you hear about.  But it did not seem the final product was in any way.  So we headed into the experience and ultimately felt that the effort worthwhile.

You see, Ender's Game is devilishly convoluted without seeming to be.  50 years ago an alien race called Formics (because of their resemblance to ants) attempted to set up a colony on Earth.  We managed to chase them off at great cost and they have never returned.  However the space military think it prudent to train and equip a standing fleet in the event of a recurrence .     Andrew Wiggins is the youngest of the family's children and like the others before him, he applies to battle school  and is accepted, but unlike his older siblings, he continues to advance. 

But as in a lot of movies not everything is as it seems.

So what did I think?  Well there was piles of stuff left out...Most only touched on.  This meant they took what could have easily been a three hour movie and managed to cram it into less than two.  Most of the sets are claustrophobic.  I do think that the cast was spot on for the most part....and overall I think that the film followed the book well enough, there were no glaring discrepancies which I was worried about.  They didn't do very good at setting up the second in the series and from what I hear is not a shoe in......damn.

So how would I rate it?  Well if you are into sci-fi and you know the series its a clear ehhhhhhhhhh n n n nine...?  Maybe 8.5.   However because the voice over really doesn't  do a great job of explaining anything, and if you had never heard of Orson Scott Card your going to be in the dark then and that/s an 8 and that.s a shame.

Totally Funny Rip on the 1997 Batman & Robin Movie

Batman & Robin was released in 1997 and right off the bat (I am not sure I intended that pun or not) people noticed that most of the movie didn't make any sense at all. Since then we have all seen at least one short video of Joel Schumacher demonstrating that he had totally lost his mind. So, why another one? Well, lets just say that this is the compendium of all compendiums. CinemaSins' offering here is the mother load of all that is stupid, insane, just plain wrong weirdness that leaves you wondering if anyone was awake behind the camera. Be prepared for a buttload of bat-s..t (yeah I meant that one)crazy nonsense!

here is the original IO9 article HERE

Review: After Earth

After Earth

Jaden Smith as Kitai Raige - Will Smith as Cypher Raige - Sophie Okonedo as Faia Raige
Zoë Kravitz as Senshi Raige

What does it mean when your first thoughts in the very first few minutes is "So this is what we can expect from Will Smith as he get older?"  That's what happened to me.  I think it was more the makeup used on Smith to make him appear much older, but then we are treated to his wooden delivery and I start thinking that this can not be a good thing.  I guess you could  attribute it to "bringing your work home with you" as it appears that the elder Smith as Cypher Raige seems to be doing.  

Part of the movie is very confusing because not enough time is really spent in fleshing out the alien encounter and subsequent war that makes Rangers of Cypher's ilk a valuable asset.  Being able to "ghost" is never clearly defined as a mutation or a trait.  Another aspect that might cause confusion is the very animals the Rangers are trained to fight.  It is only mentioned in passing that the creatures are not THE aliens, but bred to hunt humans, hunting by "smelling" their fear.  So,  it may be that the director and writers stepped away from telling the American viewing audience every little minuet instead of letting (read forcing) the viewers to discover why things are happening the way they are.   I could go on, but that would really mean giving away too much.  

The plot is really not to terribly inventive, what am I saying, there is nothing new here at all.  That it is executed reasonably well, is no testimony to anything except that a fairly workman performance is all that was required.  Not that Jaden Smith wasn't interesting to watch, it is a shame though that as the movie progressed, his progress is rated on how wooden he becomes in the end.  Pity.  

Honestly, the whole movie is part and parcel, older science fiction themes sewn together.  There is plenty of action and personal conflict.  But it has all been done before many times and better.   Oh it is not a bad film, just doesn't set the screen on fire either.   I would say watch it for an evening's entertainment but don't expect or demand too much.

I would give the film an overall 7.   

Review: Ghost Machine

Right away, the title gives you a hint as to what is wrong with this movie.  Is it a ghost?  Is it a machine? Ahhh, I don't know and I suspect neither did the producer or the director.  The actors may have, but you can't prove it by me.  

So what is Ghost Machine?  First blush it seems to be a movie that couldn't figure out what to call itself so they just ripped off the first movie that even came close to the same plot, but believe me, not anywhere close enough.   But Ghost Machine is supposed to be a British SF movie about a group of hacker ( oh yeah, got to have hackers) no...they are online game players (oh even better) but wait...what game? Because now they are VR and they have absconded with a top secret military  hardware that runs a super secret VR SIM that I think they devised but now are hacking into?!!!  Oh and so they HAVE to steal it and set it up in a mental hospital / prison where medical experiments went on..  either way it's haunted...ummm but only in the machine....but can kill people in the real world.....  And you want to know what is worse?  The person who wrote the wiki article had less to say about this film that what I have written so far!  Did the director have the good graces to spread these tidbits through-out the film?  Nope, I got this in the first half hour and promptly shut the movie off.  

The only extra that this dvd needed was a way to destroy the disk and let out the evil spirits!

I am not even going to bother with more about this film.  I rented it, my loss, don't let it be yours.

Put the movie back on the discount rack and back away slow.  If renting...remove it from your cue before its' to late!

Oh, you want a rating?  without finishing the film is fair, but I feared for my sanity, but what I saw would hardly rate a 4....take heed.  This film blows.

Review:Rise of the Guardians

Chris Pine as Jackson Overland Frost or Jack Frost

Alec Baldwin as Nicholas St. North (Santa Claus), 

Hugh Jackman as E. Aster Bunnymund (Easter Bunny)

Isla Fisher as Toothiana or Tooth for short (Tooth Fairy)

Jude Law as Pitch Black (The Boogeyman)

Where are you likely to find a possibly demented Russian Cossack, A giant Ninja Rabbit and a human humming bird all in one place?  In a Dreamworks animated feature, that's where. 

The story revolves around the major holidays and the "Guardians" who protect the institutions against those who would see the holidays disbanded and no longer practiced.

Into this mix comes Jackson Overland Frost or Jack Frost one of many magical entities that have powers that are associated with holidays or times of the year.  Jack of course brings the cold and frost which seems to be all that he knows about his former life.  He knows that he is immortal,  but nothing about his former life. All he knows is that the guardians have all but ignored him over the centuries.   The Guardians find out that the ancient boogy man "Pitch Black" is planning to destroy children's faith in the Guardians with nightmares.  He convinces Jack that the Guardians do not care about him at all.  With Jack's help the Guardians are weakened as children stop believing in them.

Through another misadventure Jack begins to regain his memory and with the aid of the only child left who believes in the Guardians, beats Pitch Black.

As you can see, the plot is fairly simplistic but has enough twists to set itself somewhat apart from the totally derivative children's fare.  The computer 3d animation is more than adequate giving the viewer a visual treat in motion and color.

Extras on disk are slim.  One inclusion that bares notice is Paperman.  From the wikipedia:

• Paperman is a 2012 black-and-white 3D hand-drawn/computer animated romantic comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios
• The short won both an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 85th Academy Awards and the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject at the 40th Annie Awards 

Here is the wiki on Paperman  HERE

review: Robot & Frank

Robot & Frank

Staring

Frank Langella as Frank

Susan Sarandon as Jennifer

Peter Sarsgaard as Robot (voice)

Rachael Ma as Robot (body)

James Marsden as Hunter

Liv Tyler as Madison

Jeremy Strong as Jake

Jeremy Sisto as Sheriff Rowlings

''Directed by:

Jake Schreier

Frank played brilliantly by Frank Langella is an aging jewel thief that he spent time in prison for.  Now he is alone in an old house and his health and memory are both fading.  Franks son, with whom Frank has a tenuous relationship with at best, gives his father a choice, accept a robot caretaker or go to a managed care facility.  

Frank very reluctantly accepts the robot.  Finding weak points in the robot's program, Frank waylays the robot into helping him with a couple nefarious project  that turn into one of the oddest buddy movies you are likely to see.  

The plot moves along very well and manages to get it's point across without being heavy handed.  The ending is telegraphed but done so sweetly that you find yourself buying right into Franks conflict.  

The plot is subtly  broken in an undefined way.  Maybe it was the speed Frank accepted the device or maybe for the near future, the secondary characters seemed much further removed...but it IS subtle.  In the end it may be that the characters just are not all that well defined, leading to a one trick pony show. But again it is no where near bad enough to warrant a pass.  The movie is cute and whimsy in a kittenish kind of way.  And in any event you are ill used if you don't watch the film.   

For an Indie film, I am very impressed.  I would give it a solid 8 for acting and plot development.  

You can find it of all places on Youtube here

Review: The Dark Knight Rises

Mark comes through again with a great DVD The Dark Knight Rises

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman

Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth

Gary Oldman as Commissioner James Gordon

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle

Tom Hardy as Bane

Marion Cotillard as Talia al Ghul / Miranda Tate

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake (aka Robin John Blake)

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox

Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane

Directed Produced and Screenplay by Christopher Nolan  I know Chris is his generation's wonder kinder, but at what point does a project change from expressing one's art and delve into the realm of self aggrandizement?

First off the movie is Looooooooooong but doesn't seem to drift to far astray.  It is slow moving in the beginning.  I know that Wayne is hurt and may no longer believe in what he does.  Which is weird, I do not remember him so despondent in the last movie...huh.   But yeah, the movie is slow to get rolling.  There are moments but until it quite literally comes crashing down around him, Wayne spends a lot of time brooding or over coming self doubt.  

There are points when some of the things that are happening just seem gratuitous and over the top.   Maybe it is my belief that society is a bit stronger than Nolan seems to think.  Are we really just a few days away from total collapse of society?

Once things get going however, we find that ho we now have a Cat woman...I think...lol some cool new toyz for da boyz and some wicked ahas!!! at the end.  It goes without saying that you should see   or rent this movie.  It is kinda a pivot that Nolan has put his Dark Knight arc on.  Of course there are more questions made than answers answered if you catch my drift.  

I can't speak of extras, this being a rental it had NO extras.  So on it's own entertainment  its an easy 8 or 8.5.  If I can get my hands on a blu-ray, I will let you know and edit this listing accordingly.  Otherwise it is a pretty definite see it rent it borrow it...whatever.  It is a good dark Batman.  

BMU # 344 Land of Fire & Ashes -

I open with Fit and the Consumption’s “Sweet Sister Starlight”  Love this song!

From there, I do a couple of Star Trek trivia questions.

Then I review Abe Lincoln – Vampire Killer!  Maybe not as bad as you thought or worse!

From the Blog, news from David Scholes,  John Anealio has a free EP for listeners, have scientists uncovered the oldest dino to date!?   3D printers….and AR firearms…can they be controlled, and if so how?   Zombies Among Us!!!!  and is there POOP on the moon!

Finally Part one of Colin P. Davies excellent short story “Land of Fire & Ashes”  It is so good to see Colin back on the program.   If you are not familiar with his work or possibly forgotten, you are in for a treat of  excellent story telling from one of the best!

Direct link to the podcast file here

Enjoy

BMU ep. 340 Now Online!

And hello gentle beings! Welcome to episode 340 of Beam Me Up!

Boy, the hour goes by quick today! After the opening monologue I start with the first story of the show.

This week is part 2 of Poul Anderson' s “Call Me Joe”. This is proving to be one of the more excellent multi-part stories. Anderson's story holds up REAL well, because he downplays the tech end of the tale forcing your imagination to depend on the characters for support.

Next I travel to the Star Trek universe for Star Trek Trivia. This week I begin to do questions from the animated Star Trek!

This week I review The Hunger Game and Prometheus movies, that's right! Two movies!

People often take science in the movies as fact but in truth, most are just so much fluff. I challenge listeners to come up with some that we may have missed. I mention a few as do some readers and the IO9 article mentions a couple....If you have a favorite, write in the blog's comment section with additional material. Some of these are so bizarre!

And I end with episode 14 of the Dark Inspectre series In Plain Sight.  

Review: Prometheus

Directed by Ridley Scott

Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Charlize Theron

First, lets take a look at what Wikipedia says about Prometheus

• Prometheus is a Titan or better, a Greek culture hero and trickster figure who in Greek mythology is credited with the creation of man from clay and the theft of fire for human use, an act that enabled progress and civilization. He is known for his intelligence, and as a champion of mankind.

First off, I am going to agree with the trickster.  There must have been some major tricking going on to get people into the movie houses to see this tragedy of a science fiction film.  Is it a tragedy per se?  No, and there in lies the trick.  Prometheus is, according to the posters a sci fi thriller....ahhhhhhhhh yeah.

Well my friend Mark brought the dvd by and said "I could only get half way through! And I have yet to figure out what the first 10 minutes are all about.!"   So, a bit intrigued, I took the film to see if I could do any better.  Well the first ten minutes are some sort of pan-spermia and Let there be life bit by a humanoid being, but it doesn't seem to have any link to the balance of the movie, other than it would seem to have happened soon after our world obtained free flowing water.  From there we move into the future, but it would seem to be a century or two into our own future.  

So, lets look at what we have so far....We have a ship that obstinately doing one type of science but may be secretly doing different science.  The Prometheus has an "android" to "aide the humans"  but seems to have been programmed with another agenda.  When they arrive, the crew finds that giant humanoids were killed under mysterious circumstances.  When they enter the ship/building, the crew find a room full of short obelisk  or maybe tubes on end, that appear to contain life.  A few moments later, a storm rolls in and two of the researchers are trapped.  

At this moment I turned the dvd player off and removed the disk and sent it back to Mark.    What movie did I just describe  Oh here is another clue...the tunnel leading into the building/ship has a very ummm organic look...so, what movie?  Anyone?  Did I hear Alien way in the back?  Hey, rent the movie and see if I am not correct.  Someone was asleep at the wheel when this project was started, now it is a copy a sad copy.  

Now if you want a science fiction / horror / thriller  and you are not aware of the Alien franchise, then you may well find this movie worth the watch, but if you have seen your fair share of sci fi you are going to find it horribly derivative.  

The camera work is good and the movie as a whole looks great. so I would give it a 5 and an honest give it a pass   Ridley....tell me it ain't so!

Stanley Goes to Space

Here has got to be one of the cutest flights to the edge of space I have seen ever.  Here is the video text:

• On Aug 24th 2012 we sent my son's favorite train "Stanley" to space in a weather balloon with a HD camera and an old cell phone for GPS. He was recovered 27 miles away in a corn field and we got some great footage of the trip. This video documents the journey from liftoff to landing.
• PLEASE read below, it answers most questions I get emailed.
• My 4 year old and Stanley are inseparable like Calvin and Hobbes. He's been attached to him since he was two, and they play, sleep and do everything together. I animated Stanley's face with After Effects and Photoshop to bring him to life how I imagine my son sees him. 

 Hummmm I wondered about that! lol Anyway, here is the video....
 

Review: Predators

Predators

Starring
Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins
Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo

Another dvd from my friend Mark. Here we have a film in the Predator franchise. I would not call it a reboot, but Predators calls more to the first movie than any other. As in the first Predator movie, the setting is a sub tropical jungle, the first twist though is none know of each other. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I am not going to spoil the very inventive opening sequence. I will say that nothing is quite what it seems.

Laurence Fishburne is a survivor who is clearly around the bend, unfortunately his time on screen is very short, which is really a shame.

Not being a fan of earlier movies, I can say for sure if some of the reveals are already accepted, but for me, I had an Oh that’s cool, - moment.

Predators for the most part follows the first movie, just more aliens and perhaps more humans.

So, what can you expect? Well the movie is a straight ahead action movie. Plenty of blood and gore, big and even bigger guns, predictable plot, but the ending sets up a Predators 2 (oh I know) I will say the ending is not a gimme, otherwise it rote by the numbers. Forget about extras. Brainless entertainment, good photography, well framed action sequences, but the end result is MEH

If you’re entertained by this type of move, the action and the “surprise!” moments will do it for ya, but for me overall it is a 5. If you’re a fan, go ahead, if you have never seen a predator movie, go ahead...otherwise, don’t waste your money.

Review: Lockout

Lockout

staring
Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Vincent Regan, Joseph Gilgun, Lennie James, Peter Stormare

My buddy Mike had been waxing eloquent about this prison break/rescue movie called Lockout and had offered it to me several times. No mention was made about science fiction being the main thread, Mike it seems in not really a science fiction fan. But sorry Mike, Lockout is a Science Fiction flic no question!

The basic theme is your standard framed warrior/police person/ merc is pressed into service to rescue a high level dignitary. Lockout follows Snow a man framed for a crime he did not commit, is offered his freedom in exchange for rescuing the President's daughter Emilie. The kicker is this time the prison is an orbital prison called MS One which he inmates have taken control of.

There are several sub plots about Snow’s “crime” and a mysterious briefcase and others that are tied up at the end.

The plot of Lockout will soon become familiar to fans of the space station /prison venue. Or the rogue soldier/officer or the main character who’s methods are viewed as anachronistic etc. such as say “Outland” or “Demolition Man” There are very familiar plot devices and as such takes very little chances. Matter of fact none. The special effect are adequate and plenty of them though some are definitely going to make you go HUUUUH? But even these are elements from other films, just applied a little gratuitously here.

So, Lockout is if not lazy every bit derivative. The square jawed main man, the femfatale who always seems to have a thing for bad boys. The obligatory psychopathic megalomaniac with a retinue of various malcontents.

But if you’re out for punch him in the throat and stomp on his head brainless fun, then Lockout is your entertainment for the evening. The direction is competent and the cast never seemed to camp it up even you the Wilhelm scream was way early...lol.

Because I only had the dvd the extras were a bit slim, but there was a few decent shorts but no director’s comments but on a dvd can’t say I expected them.

So, I would give the movie a harmless entertainment 7 with a 6 for extras. An overall 13 and a 6.5 rating. With a “its not a rip off, and not bad to boot, rent it I would say, just don’t expect more than good entertainment.” review and hey, that aint so bad!

13 Minute Featurette Dark Knight Rises

Here is a YouTube featurette of the Dark Knight Rises. As the uploader promises "No plot spoilers but may be considered spoilerish by folks looking to avoid as much info as possible. Mostly just a look at the cast, themes of the film, and the epic shooting schedule."

If you are into DVD extras, this is very much in the "making of" type of short. Something along the lines of what kind of effort was put into the production. Very good little short.

Looper: Trailer

Oh wow, Bruce Willis in a time travel movie! How absolutely unique idea! Ok, I will stop and in truth "Looper" sound interesting as in a few newt twits kind of thing.

Here is the blurb that youtube had on it.

• In Looper, time travel will be invented -- but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper" -- a hired gun, like Joe (Gordon-Levitt) -- is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good... until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self (Willis) for assassination.

Review: Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Indians

Starring Daniel Craig Harrison Ford Olivia Wilde

Directed by Jon Favreau

Talk about covering all the bases - Every kid from the 50s and 60s played Cowboys and Indians and since then everything Aliens is golden. Combining the two is like "you have chocolate in my Peanutbutter..."

So here we are in the late 1800s in a slowly dying. The sheriff is all but a figurehead. The real power base is the local beef - baron, who's son  terrorizes the locals and is generally above any laws.  That is until a man with no name comes to town.

Fights and show down ensue until strange flying craft begin capturing locals.  

From then on its the tech disadvantaged locals against ruthless aliens - there is even a plucky dog!

I was ready to hate this movie, but I was surprised by the depth of the actors in the film and they didn't seem to be walking through their parts.  Plus a reasonable amount of action both real and cgi.  

So up to this point, I was pleasantly surprised and even willing to overlook some of the little quirks.

And then one major problem.  I make no bones that I rent my movies.  I like the fact that I can watch it at anytime I want.  Plus the disk often offers extras about the movie.  I like that often as much as the movie. 

This is the way I choose to view the movie.  I don't care for a movie that only plays at a certain time,  or has to be returned within a certain time.  I feel the rental gives you the best bang for your money. So you can understand that when all the menu items are there but each brings up the message that this disk is a rental and words to the effect that unless you plan on buying a "real" disk, then you are out of luck.  So the disk rental is the bottom of the heap.  That I paid real money for the rental, seems to be moot.  Fairview Studios, along with Platinum and imagine Entertainment can collectively kiss my ass.  I do not enjoy the message being foisted here.  Its a cheap shot and in good conscience  I can't recommend  the rental.  The movie itself really is just passable so if I had to I would give it a 5 if  I had to.  If you enjoy the extras....your out of luck.

Review: In Time

In Time

Directed by Andrew Niccol

Starring
Justin Timberlake as Will Salas
Amanda Seyfried as Sylvia Weis
Cillian Murphy as Raymond Leon
Olivia Wilde as Rachel Salas
Alex Pettyfer as Fortis
Vincent Kartheiser as Philippe Weis
Johnny Galecki as Borel
Collins Pennie as Jaeger

At the risk of being to flip with this movie review, how many people remember Logan’s Run. For the most part that movie was about a society where people only lived until I think it was 25. At that point, a flower in their hand would change indicating that they should report to voluntary euthanasia areas where some mystical dance would take place and they would be pleasantly terminated. But Logan (an enforcer of all things) fails to report for voluntary termination and “runs”, has various adventures, returns and society realizes the error of its’ ways.

In Time has that feel at first. People timing out, running for time, earning time, no on has enough time.

Will Salas is living from day to day until he rescues the mysterious Henry Hamilton who has a whole century on his clock. Because you see, everyone in truth is immortal, but the argument is that if everyone lived forever there would be widespread famine and riots, so everyone has a clock that how much time they have to live. If it zeros out, you die. Rich have centuries of time and the poor have hours or minutes. Beggars beg for spare minutes. But Henry Hamilton rocks Will Salas’ world view when he tells Will that there is more than enough of everything for everyone. Gives Will a century and proceeds to commit suicide by timing out.

The balance of the movie is Will trying to make the time rich pay for the death of his mother and father and or running from the time enforcers in a Bonnie and Clyde type of mentality when he teams up with the daughter of a powerful time broker.

For the most part the movie takes no real chances. Its a by the numbers movie that could be any futuristic or otherwise movie about a person from the other side of the track, constantly at odds with whatever government is in charge, winds up teaming up with a disenfranchised boy/girl from the well to do who happens to know many inside secrets with which they are successful or not in changing the status-quo.

The movie’s locals and sets are good at inferring the mood, but again very simplistic. The people that inhabit them are equally simplistic. Dark angry and desperate for the slums, clean, cheerful and carefree for the well to do.

The movie at times is hard to watch for just this reason. Poor ignorant boy in a restaurant doesn’t know what fork to use..... Time cop born in the ghetto ashamed to admit his roots and on and on. Action chase scenes are ok though. But overall the movie barely rates a 7

As for extras....well, no commentary, but can’t say I am surprised. There are deleted scenes and a faux documentary which in truth is better than the movie! Other than that it’s just previews and trailers. Worth an 8 just for the “documentary” which gives us a 15 or 7.5 overall. if it is just for a diversion, yeah its ok, but if its to watch a good sci fi flick...don’t bother.

Wikipedia article  In Time's Casino Website

Review: Batman Year One

Batman Year One

Directed by
Sam Liu
Lauren Montgomery

Starring the voices of
Benjamin McKenzie as Bruce Wayne / Batman
Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle / Catwoman
Bryan Cranston as Lieutenant James Gordon
Katee Sackhoff as Detective Sarah Essen
Alex Rocco as Carmine "The Roman" Falcone
Jon Polito as Gillian B. Loeb

based on Batman: Year One by Frank Miller. Batman Year One is an origin movie much like the tale Batman Begins. There are significant differences between the animated and live action films. Batman Begins is much more in line with the comic book history of Batman.

The main bullet points are the same. Bruce’s parents are killed while he witnessed it. He spends a protracted time away from home and returns with a conviction to end crime in Gotham City. A few of supporting characters we have come to expect, Gordon, Dent and Catwoman is onscreen for a couple of scenes.

The bulk of the movie is watching Wayne/Batman and Gordon flesh out into the characters we have come to expect. I really enjoyed the inside look at Gordon’s early days on the Gotham police force, dealing with a police force rife with corruption. Bruce also finds himself deeply involved.

The animation is good, but like the dark storyline, many of the scenes are dark as the plot line.

No expense was spared on the extra either. There is a Catwoman short, a couple of Batman the Series episodes and a commentary track which has the director and voice coordinator plus a couple others from the staff talking about the movie of course but their parts as well an in depth history of the franchise.

Overall I found the movie and extras well worth the wait. I would give the movie an 8 and the extras a 9 for an 8.5 which may be a bit conservatives.

Beam Me Up episode 295 now online

This week on episode 295 of Beam Me Up I start with Alexander Perls song Data Base just to get the blood pumping.  Then just to start a slow boil I rant a moment about an old Apollo 13 note book containing some of the calculations Jim Lovell used to bring his battered craft home.   Next a short from Earth Sky asking do meteors make noise when they enter the atmosphere, even Xnewsman says that yes they do and he has experienced it!  Fascinating!

Our first story is a strange tale of time travel and murder called the Lightening Gun by Antoinette Rydyr.  

From here we progress to the Beam Me Up Blog for a review of the blu-ray / dvd  of Captain America the First Avenger,  certainly not a terrible movie.  Next I see that ST:TNG is going to get an HD remastering that is truly stunning!  Look for the upgraded video later in 2012.    Did you hear that scientists have succeeded in hiding an object in both space AND time?  Could moons of gas giant planets that are in the habitable zone possibly harbor life?  There are several really big problems on sending people to the stars, I speak on what I think are the top 3 most important and difficult to overcome problems.  Finally what kind of gift do you get the Star Wars Fan just about Everything?  I think I may have found, if not the best choice, the most ….well....I will let you be the judge!

And finally for the last story of the night Transmutation from Harris Tobias