Years later, there’s very little that I recall from its pages, but one bit of it still sticks with me today: customers are more likely to spread the word about an absolutely terrible experience than an absolutely amazing one. Sadly, this is the case today. I’ve recently posted my very first review on Amazon, and it’s pretty negative. It’s about a subject that I love: Dead Space. Particularly, it’s about the atrocious work of animation that is Dead Space: Aftermath.

I’ll spare the details here, and instead just link you to the actual review.

Sunshine

Since it’s fresh on my mind, I’ll go ahead and start with Sunshine. The most obvious here is the Sun. While it of course provides the object of the entire movie’s conflict, it is also an ever-present danger for the crew. On numerous occasions it fries, melts, and explodes things, including parts of the ship and even people. Next would be the second most obvious: the Cold Dead of Space. This danger presents itself quite frequently, and is pretty much unavoidable. The third one might not be so obvious, because the director did such a good job of blending it in seamlessly with everything: the knowledge that these guys are all that’s left, and if they fail, it’s all over. There are no second chances, there is no one else to help you. That knowledge is understood by every crew member, and it is there in every decision they make. Finally there is the “twist.” Yeah, sure, that’s a danger too (grumble grumble).

In summation:

• The Dying (yet still mega-hot) Sun
• The Cold Dead of Space
• This is our only shot
• The “Twist”
• Here’s a possible fifth: “Nowhere to Hide”

Other dangers present themselves, but only as short-term obstacles, and not really “core” dangers and threats. Even the “Twist” is more of a temporary thing, I guess.

What about some others? Read past the cut for my takes on them. I’ll try to keep them as spoiler-light as possible.

Pandorum

• Post-Cryo Amnesia
• Killer “Things” in the halls
• Rampant Systems Failure
• The Cold Dead of Space

Deep Rising

• The Endless Blue Sea
• Terrorists
• All Systems Down
• Weird Crazy Monsters from Below

Independence Day

• Aliens
• Terrible Writing. I really can’t think of anything besides Aliens, sadly.

Dawn of the Dead

• A horde of monsters
• The threat of Infection
• Dwindling Supplies
• The Collapse of Society

Titanic

• The Freezing Ocean
• The Ship is Sinking
• Clash of the Social Classes

What are some others?

Around the 1:15 time mark of the movie Sunshine, I experienced a feeling eerily similar to that post-dream sadness, and it still sits with me well into the day after. This feeling was born in my realization that the director had destroyed a beautiful work of art that was in its final stages of achieving perfection.

I was primarily recommended to this movie through friends and Netflix, due to my love of the movies Moon and Pandorum. Watching its first hour, I can definitely get the connection to the former, as that sense of isolated claustrophobia really drives down deep in each moment of the film. Moon did a near-perfect job of connecting me on a personal and emotional level with its cast of one (of which there were two). I felt like i was right there, with him the entire time, and when he cried, I cried. In the early part of Sunshine, the effect was the same; when the guy kept repeating “I fucked up! I fucked up!” I wanted so badly to reach over and grab his shoulder in a firm but understanding grip, letting him know that he needs to calm down, but also that I know exactly how much it sucks to make such a human error. And later, when that same guy sees the consequences of his fuck-up, I’m still right there with him. As a member of the audience, that effect, that expression on his face just tore me apart.

But the connection to Pandorum is one with which I can’t agree. Pandorum was a horrific sci-fi thriller, and I knew that going into it. It’s gruesome scenes fit perfectly within the context of its established subject frame. The “something here is killing us and I don’t know what it is” theme was introduced early in the movie’s story development, and everything that branched off of that resulting narrative was exactly as it should have been. In Pandorum, murders and chases and distrust and “run for your life they’re coming!” was all part of the premise, and exactly what I was looking for.

With Sunshine, the introduction of that new theme was so unexpected and heavy-handed as to be anathema to the intense-yet-enjoyable tension that the movie had fostered up until that very moment. Mere seconds after perhaps the most powerful scene of the entire movie, once the computer utters that one line involving the number five, everything the movie had built up was obliterated. The turn towards the slasher chase was unnecessary and unwanted, and I struggled to pay anymore focus to the screen as the movie finished its course – not because I was disturbed by the new delve into gore and terror, but because I was absolutely bored with it. Because my feelings were hurt. By a movie.

Were this any other movie, I would likely dismiss it, and tell my friends to stay away from it. But the buildup and execution of the first full hour of this movie is so wondrous, so compelling that I won’t be doing my heart any justice by telling everyone to avoid the film. So, instead, you should watch it up until the “hall scuffle” scene around 1:10 or so, and then turn it off. Just walk away, think about it, buy the soundtrack (which is simply stunning), press play and then sit down and write out your own ending. Take this story and make it your own.

Then send me the scripts you write, so we can enjoy them together.

* = I was discussing this line with some folks the other day, and someone made an amusing observation: youngsters today reading this book for the first time will have no idea what Gibson meant by this. To kids today, a “dead channel” on TV is actually a bright blue screen, instead of the staticky fuzz of the 1980s. How sad, in a purely nostalgic way.

Note to self: pick up Spook Country sometime soon. Really enjoyed Pattern Recognition, so let’s see how another non-cyberpunk Gibson novel turns out.

Last night I finally got around to watching The Transporter, and now I’m kicking myself for having not seen this sooner. The melee fight scenes from that movie were fucking amazing in their choreography. Story was pretty generic, but I wasn’t watching it for the story. I also finished the first season of Leverage, and am really excited to see the new season. It starts next month, and has been filmed almost entirely here in Portland. For those who haven’t seen it, this show is essentially Shadowrun, minus the elves, magic, and cyberpunk. The premise: five specialists work together doing thief-like jobs in the modern day, usually as “pro bono” revenge jobs for folks that have been wronged by crime syndicates or soulless corporations. As their organizer says, “we pick up where the law leaves off.” It’s like that awesome movie Sneakers – in fact it’s a lot like that movie. If you like “professional job” heist-like things, watch this show. It really makes me want to play Kane & Lynch, but it’s too bad the story in that game personally offends me in its sheer awfulness.

Over the last several months, I’ve had this itch to somehow soon return to that Sky Pirates styled game that I set up way back when with Drake, Chris, Melissa, and Eric. That game, and the follow-up I had with Chris, Sam, and Kevin, was host to some of the more awesome moments I’ve seen in Savage Worlds game. It was also the first time I ever used Monkey Knife Fight to resolve mook vs mook combat in that system (which worked fabulously, btw). What keeps drawing me back, though, are the characters. The scarred overzealous fire-warrioress, the gambling deserter-soldier, the seemingly ageless and ancient “honored grandmother” with a knack for sucking the souls out of things, the twin pilot-adventurers and more, those were some damn fantastic characters. I’m still fishing out for another supplemental game, and I don’t think the second Shadowrun game will work out just yet. I think come August, though, I just might try and get this game back together.

(x-posted from Livejournal)