the fourth kind

Looking for something good and geeky to watch? Check out this week's new sci-fi DVD releases:

The Fourth Kind (DVD and Blu-ray)
Milla Jovovich stars in this sci-fi flick that, sadly, doesn't involve her firing two machine guns at once or kicking zombies in the face. But The Fourth Kind makes up for its lack of Resident Evil-style action with some decent chills and genuinely creepy moments. Jovovich plays a psychologist investigating a string of alien abductions in Nome, Alaska. But despite the fun scares, the film mostly falls apart when trying to balance its grainy "actual" footage of alien abduction craziness with its overstylized "reenactments."

Astro Boy (DVD and Blu-ray)
I don't know much about Astro Boy, the mega popular Japanese manga series first published in the 1950s. But I do know that Astro Boy fans were mixed over this derivative if ultimately good-hearted CGI kid's flick.

Also new this week: Mystery Science Theater 3000: XVII and Clash of the Gods: The Complete Season One.

2009 is almost over, and it's been a banner year for science fiction. More than three dozen science fiction themed films have seen release in the US. Some emphasize the science fiction more than others, and a couple may be more occult/horror than actual science fiction, but they're close enough.

While the quality of the films listed below varies wildly, the fact that science fiction elements are featured in so many wide released films is outstanding, and there are at least three critical and box office hits among the list below. At least three of the movies listed below give me hope that smart science fiction films are still viable.

I can't help thinking I'm missing something. I didn't include TimeCrimes because it came out on DVD. What else should be on this list?

9
2012
Alien Trespass
Astro Boy
Avatar
Battle for Terra
The Box
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Cold Souls
District 9
The Fourth Kind
G-Force
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Gamer
Gentlemen Broncos
Knowing
Land of the Lost
Men Who Stare at Goats
Monsters vs. Aliens 3D
Moon
Pandorum
Planet 51
Push
The Road
Star Trek
Stingray Sam
Surrogates
Terminator Salvation
Thirst
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Watchmen
X-Men Origins: Wolverine

TV and straight-to-DVD, or otherwise extremely limited theatrical release include: The Mutant Chronicles, Dante 01, Eden Log, Before the Fall, Sleep Dealer, The Objective, and Outlander.

What was your favorite?

An honest attempt to explore a phenomenom reported in Nome, Alaska, The Fourth Kind walks a fine line between science fiction and reality. Videotaped interviews with a psychologist (played by Milla Jovovich) and her patients are recreated as she employs hypnosis to dig into disturbing memories. Our own Jenni Miller found it "pretty damn scary" while Todd Gilchrist questioned the validity of the "actual" footage and felt the movie unraveled quite easily. Personally, I appreciated the effort by director Olatunde Osunsanmi to make a different kind of UFO movie, even though his concept of mixing documentary-style footage with high-gloss narrative didn't entirely succeed. You can decide for yourself when The Fourth Kind opens in theaters tomorrow.

Aliens and UFOs are a common sight in sci-fi movies, though most often they come in peace or come out fighting. Abductions, the so-called "fourth kind" of alien encounter, are relatively rare. Television shows have explored this arena much more than films, but here are the top ten alien abductions in sci-fi movies; it's another very subjective list, to be sure, so your recommendations, additions, and disagreements are welcome.

1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Presenting a more "fantastical" kidnapping, little Barry (Cary Guffey) is stolen right from under the nose of his frantic mother (Melinda Dillon). Steven Spielberg made this a heavy-duty workout for his special effects team, from the rolling clouds to the suddenly animated toys and kitchen appliances. The best special effect, though, was the look on little Barry's face when he sees his abductors. Close that door, boy!

I am a bubble burster, always have been. My first experience with The Fourth Kind was writing up the trailer for SciFiSquad with the slug "Trailer for 'The Fourth Kind' Might be Lying to You". I have no innate grudge against the film, but I am aware that we live in the year 2009 and that I am surrounded by magical Interweb-enabled devices that can tell me whether or not I should believe a movie that purports to be "based on actual case studies". Immediately after watching the trailer I set out for confirmation as to whether or not its claims about alien abductions in Nome, Alaska had any basis in this world. I found nothing.

However, I have since then seen The Fourth Kind and I can tell you flat out that it is fascinating. Not because the film is, in fact, fact, but because of how intentionally delusional it is in its approach. It's interesting that people assume/remember The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity both sold themselves as being "real footage" because neither did. Both just played with conventions of the first-person perspective to create an illusion of truth. The Fourth Kind is not content with such a linear ploy, though. It not only contains the same 'found footage' gimmick as those two films, but it pretends the footage is real. It has its star actress literally walk right up to the camera and tell us that the movie is unadulterated truth.

And while that tactic annoyed me at first, I've since come to respect it. I cannot think of any film that has ever used the Door-in-the-Foot technique so brilliantly. I'll explain.

I'm not sure exactly what quality it is that real people possess and actors lack, but any time a film pretends to document real behavior, either literally or as a reenactment, something is almost always missing. Sometimes the problem is a deliberate decision to enhance events with artificial emphasis or drama, and sometimes it's simply too great a sense of self-awareness in the actor, who knows he or she is performing. But while there are a precious few movies that nail that authenticity, notably the recent underdog-blockbuster Paranormal Activity, such is certainly the case in The Fourth Kind, a film that purports to build an argument for alien abductions using "actual" footage from case studies.

While much of the movie's so-called source material carries the convincing roughness and deficiencies of homemade, handheld recording, too much of it seems far too calculated, both in its technical proficiency and the performances contributed by its "real" people. Further, its accompanying reenactments by recognizable actors undermine the possibility that audiences can take its case seriously, all of which adds up to thriller that unravels easily even if it nevertheless occasionally qualifies as a scary good time.

Read the rest over at Cinematical

The Fourth Kind is a new film from Universal presenting itself as a dramatized account of a purportedly real string of stories from the isolated town of Nome, Alaska. A town that inexplicably has a hard time keeping its residents safe on Earth. An excerpt from the official synopsis:

"Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.

Using never-before-seen archival footage that is integrated into the film, The Fourth Kind exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film."

Now when something is marketed with that much confidence it's only begging to be picked apart. Though I think that particular brand of cynicism should be reserved until after you've seen the trailer, which Sci Fi Wire unveiled recently.