Sci-Fi Squad Sci-Fi Movies, News, Trailers, DVDs and More

A guy like Brad Pitt can do anything he likes. He's handsome, he's talented, he's rich, he's funny and outspoken ... and apparently he gets to play sci-fi-action-type video games long before the rest of us. (Bastard!) Variety reports that Mr. Pitt and his Plan B production company have snagged the rights to an upcoming Capcom game called Dark Void. Their report indicates that the game is about "a pilot who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle following a routine mission and wakes up to find himself in an alternate world."

You can learn more about Dark Void at its Wikipedia page. For example, I just learned that the awesome Bear McCreary is doing the music for the game. (I say keep that guy around for the movie version.) You can also see a bunch of nifty Dark Void artwork over at Capcom's blog. Could this be the beginning of a swanky new action franchise for Brad Pitt? I say the guy has earned one by now.

More information on this project as it becomes available. At this point I just want to check this game out. It looks pretty cool. (Game trailer after the jump!)

Seems like every other person I know is sick these days, and I'm no exception. I spent the Halloween weekend sweaty, sneezy, and shivery. No parties, no appetite, and no end of misery as the Yankees took two World Series games here in Philadelphia. (But, as of this writing, the Series isn't over yet!) And since I'm the type of guy who likes to lock the doors and hibernate near my TV (and computer) when I don't feel good, I needed something ... long to watch. Not even something along the lines of the Lord of the Rings extended trilogy would fit the bill -- and so I looked to some TV entertainment to keep me company.

Fortunately I noticed that Netflix's "watch instantly" department was offering the first four seasons of LOST, and that seemed like a pretty solid fit. I'd already seen the first season during its original broadcast run, and while I didn't dislike the series, I felt that it fell prey to that oldest of "serialized" problems: Basically, that everything I was watching was a loooooong trip through Act II. In other words, the show was piling up more vague questions than satisfying answers, and I (often) got the impression that the writers were spinning their wheels in between the juicier plot points ... which, in my opinion, were fairly few and far between.

I was recently inspired by friends and readers to put together a Top 100 Horror Film list, and I had a lot of fun doing it. You can see it right here at Horror Squad. So as soon as the dust cleared on that one, the obsessive-compulsive movie freak that controls my brain spoke up and said "Hey, dummy. Do one for science fiction now!" Actually, that may have been Erik Davis saying that. Either way, here's the list.

Ah, and I feel I should preface it with the same words I used for the Horror 100: "Call 'em my "favorites" (although I'm sure I left some out) or call 'em "required viewing" for an aspiring horror sci-fi freak. I'm cool with either. And while I'm the manager of a scary movie blog and the film critic for an excellent horror outlet, the only thing that really qualifies me to MAKE such a list ... is that I cared enough to see all the flicks (and hundreds more) and then rank 'em. You should try it sometime. Feedback and outrage is, of course, welcome ... although I'll tell you right now that I'm already working on list #2, so don't get too crazy."

This is what I bought a blu-ray player for: the ability to relive great movie memories in the highest possible quality. So it was with no small sense of enthusiastic nostalgia that I ran out to buy the new blu-ray edition of Nick Castle's The Last Starfighter. This unassuming 1984 space adventure (which is equal parts sweet, funny, exciting, and family-friendly) showed up in the summer of Gremlins and Ghostbusters, and while it certainly wasn't a FLOP, it's safe to say that The Last Starfighter should have done a little better than its $29 million domestic haul. (I remember seeing it on a double feature with Richard Franklin's Cloak & Dagger. Fun night!!)

But solid movies (particularly solid sci-fi movies) tend to stick around for a good long while, and this fan favorite has been earning new friends over its 20+ years of cable re-runs and home video releases. (In case you haven't seen it, The Last Starfighter is about a bored but decent young man who has a gift for video games ... and quickly finds himself stuck in an interstellar battle between good and evil.) As with many mid-'80s space adventures, TLS adopts a rather "Spielbergian" tone, but also manages to tap into a cinematic innocence that predates E.T. by a few decades. I thought I loved this flick when I was a kid, but after more than two decades since I last saw it, I can now say the "grown-up" me likes Starfighter even more than the kid did.

You'll notice that there's no slash (one of these: /) between Sci-Fi and Horror up there in the slug. And I did that on purpose: Right now we're not talking about horror and/or science fiction films; we're talking about "science fiction horror" films. If there's a super-specialized sub-genre that I've been obsessed with since day one, it's the one that occurs when the two coolest genres come together for interstellar mayhem.

The film that started this obsession was, of course Ridley Scott's A L I E N, but I distinctly remember seeing It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) on one slow Saturday afternoon years earlier. (Ditto 1957's Invasion of the Saucer Men and 1953's Invaders from Mars! Ah, the good old days of B/W UHF sci-fi / horror double features.) The idea of an alien invading a spaceship and causing carnage is little more than a fresh spin on the "haunted house" concept ... only with the added coolness of the "house" being stuck up in space and therefore all but inescapable.

True-blue straight-faced (non-comedic) Sci-Fi Horror films aren't as common as your more basic "slasher" or "monster" movies, but they've kept popping up over my last 30-some years, and (no matter how rotten they may look) a true "SFH" film is always priority number one in my screening book. I recall a freaky triple feature of Embassy Video's Roger Cormanized trilogy of Forbidden World, Horror Planet, and (my favorite) Galaxy of Terror. Similar: William Malone's Creature (aka Titan Find), which is ... cheesy.

Read the rest over at Horror Squad

What would it take for you to get up, leave your house, spend a few dollars ... all to enjoy a film that you already own on DVD? Put another way, would you fly halfway across the country to see a brand-new 35mm print of your all-time favorite movie? Well I did last weekend! As it stands I only need the flimiest of excuses to visit Austin, Texas, but last week I had a chance to see a friend's film in front of a packed, horror-hungry crowd (it was The Collector, and I dug it) -- followed only a few days later by an Alamo Drafthouse sold-out screning of (wait for it) Ridley Scott's A L I E N. The near-flawless* sci-fi horror film that still resides at #1 on my lifetime list.

So I sat down with a bunch of great friends (and a huge batch of wonderfully well-behaved audience members) to see a film I've gone over ... about 25 times. So what new stuff did I see? First off, I was struck by how much the audience loved Yaphet Kotto as the ever-griping space mechanic known as Parker. He's the only real source of light humor in the film, and virtually all of his dialog was met by appreciative chuckles from the audience. Especially when he keeps warning Dallas and Ash to "freeze it, freeze the damn thing! Why don't they freeze it?"

I expected this seasoned movie crowd to hoot and holler through the little alien's dinner table debut, but nope ... a theater packed with hardcore A L I E N fans and they all sat stock-still, either frozen by the scene's impact (yet again) or choosing to remain dead silent out of respect for their co-viewers. (THIS is why you watch old movies at the Alamo, people.) I did notice a few unexpected giggles when nasty old Ash flips his lid, but I suppose that's inevitable for such a strange and shocking scene. But things got serious again in a hurry.

Once again we have a high-profile director behind the scenes of yet another big-budget sci-fi effects show. Once again, Ivan Reitman tries to Xerox his classic Ghsotbusters motif into something resembling a "new idea". And once again, the overblown and ultimately uninvolving special effects overshadow some actors working pretty damn hard. I suppose a filmmaker can't be blamed for going to the well once too often. When Ivan Reitman signs on to direct an expensive "summer movie", it's only logical that the studio would shoot for Ghostbusters-like box office numbers. Unfortunately, Evolution comes off more like a thinly- disguised sequel than something new and original.

Aside from a few funny sequences and a handful of winning performances, there's basically nothing of note to be found in Evolution. The creepy-crawly alien effects are colorful enough to hold your interest...but then again, so is your average screen saver. Things have improved a bit recently, but Evolution seems firmly stuck in that "cool FX = good movie" mindset so prevalent a few years back. As the film opens, we see a dagger-shaped meteor crash down in the Arizona desert. The first one to come across the artifact is Wayne Gray, a goofy young man training to become a firefighter. Wayne contacts two professors from the local community college, Ira Kane and Harry Block. After doing some initial tests on the meteor, the doctors discover that the rock contains biological life forms. And of course these life forms are growing! The army quickly swoops in and takes over the crash site, while Ira and Harry quickly find themselves out of the loop.

That's when Ghostbusters 3 kicks in.

The main problem with a concept like Alien vs. Predator is that we simply don't care who "wins." (As if either species could actually "win" -- thereby negating potential sequels.) In their respective series, both the Aliens and the Predators were the villains - very slick, very slimy and very violent villains. And in that capacity, these creatures reign supreme. Jam the two species together for a claw-to-claw brawl-fest and the rooting interest is gone ... unless you actually have some human characters in there to offer some rooting interest. And this is where AvP fails. Resoundingly.

...and to think that all of this started with just a little in-joke from one of the Predator 2 set designers...

It's true. As any bona-fide fanboy can tell you, there was an "alien" skull cataloged among the predator's many trophies. From such inauspicious beginnings came a very popular comic book series, a line of best-selling video games, toys, keychains, etc. Even after Predator 2 and Alien: Resurrection were dismissed as disappointments (at best), the "Alien vs. Predator" revenue stream continued unabated. So it comes as no surprise that this movie has finally hit the screens, following many jettisoned screenplays and false starts.

This might just be a shady way for Fox to reposition their bargaining chips, but great zombie Jesus ... this just cooks my clams. According to Forces of Geek (and the Facebook pages of the actors themselves), it sure looks like Fox is trying to re-cast some key Futurama voices. Oh ... only folks like Fry, Bender, Leela, Farnsworth, Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, Kif Kroker, and about a dozen others. Yep, we might actually be looking at a Futurama without Billy West, Katey Sagal, John Dimaggio, and Maurice Lamarche. Actually, make that "WE" a "YOU," because there's no way in holy green hell I'd watch a Futurama episode without ALL of those people on board. You could even break out the Hypnotoad and I wouldn't budge.

Thanks again to FoG for bringing this horrific story to our attention. (They even have the casting calls posted over there! Ye gods!) And as one of the biggest Futurama freaks you'll ever meet (check out my Twitter page), I assure you that I'd be just as livid if Fox tried to replace the producers, the writers, the animators, or the guy who does all the darn music. (The brilliant Christopher Tyng.) Clearly Fox is planning new Futurama episodes because the original series (and the four subsequent movies) sold really damn well. And here's a freaking news flash for you: Without Billy West and the others, you have NOTHING.

FoG has a Fox contact you can email, but don't be childish with your opinions. Try thanking them for bringing the show back (again), and then firmly state that you won't buy the damn things without our beloved cast members. That we even have to bring this up is sort of pathetic.

Lots of movie geeks (yes, like us) have been abuzz with the vague discussions regarding the Predator remake / reboot / sequel / whatever. All we really knew was that the generally kick-ass Robert Rodriguez was on board to oversee, as the producer, but now we have confirmation have Robert's good pal that the director has been named. And that name ... is Nimrod.

Nimrod Antal, to be precise, who fest-goers will know from Kontroll and thriller fans will recall from Vacancy. Harry's got a whole bunch of cool info on the project right here, but I've chosen a small segment that makes me particularly happy: "It involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors." Yes! Plus Mr. Rodriguez shares some enthusiasm from a Fox colleague: "No one is going to talk about AVP again after this movie. I stake my life on it."

Read the rest at Cinematical