The best sci film ever is...

SHOOT: Does Lord of the Rings and Highlander qualify? If so they may have been just bubbling under these top 5 imho.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za The original Star Wars film has topped a new online poll to find the best science fiction movie of all time. The 1977 George Lucas movie, starring Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, was closely followed by the franchise’s second film, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in a survey carried out by Moviefone. Battlefield Earth, the 2000 John Travolta film about a group of humans fighting extinction by a race of aliens, was voted the worst sci-fi movie in the poll. The top five sci-fi films of all time is: 1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope 2. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back 3. Aliens 4>The Matrix 4> Blade Runner. - Wenn

Terminator Salvation Twitter game

You'll need this link http://twitter.com/Resistance2018 and login/register here: www.2018blog.com

clipped from www.gadget.co.za In the Terminator Salvation Twitter game, members of the human resistance communicate with each other through Twitter and turn to the community for help in decoding intercepted Skynet transmissions.  Players earn points through timely assistance in decoding these messages and, with these points, rise in rank within the Resistance Army.  Players must constantly be on guard against the machines, which periodically and randomly choose a number of players and penalise them a percentage of their points.  A companion blog augments the information within Twitter and hosts a leader board for the game. Users can follow tweets from the resistance at www.Twitter.com/Resistance2018. For more information on the film, see www.TerminatorSalvation-Movie.net

Star Trek beams cash into its its vaults, Wolverine still roars, Angels and Demons squeaks in with a so so opening weekend

NYT: “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was No. 3 with an estimated $14.8 million in sales, giving this 20th Century Fox picture a new total of $151.1 million in North America.

SHOOT: Terminator Salvation is next, should be good.

clipped from www.nytimes.com LOS ANGELES — “Angels & Demons,” much-ballyhooed “Da Vinci Code” sibling, opened to solid if unspectacular ticket sales in the United States over the weekend, hampered by poor reviews and limited interest among teenagers. But results were stronger overseas. But the expensive “Angels & Demons” — talent like the director Ron Howard, Mr. Hanks and the marquee writers Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp doesn’t come cheap — was expected by the industry to dominate its opening weekend easily. Instead “Star Trek,” the critically praised franchise reboot from Paramount Pictures and the director J. J. Abrams, came close to repeating as No. 1 for the second week in a row. “Star Trek” was No. 2 with an estimated $43 million in ticket sales. The movie, which has now sold $148 million in tickets in North America, has shown remarkable hold on moviegoer attention at a time when most big summer “tentpole” pictures open to huge results (thanks largely to megawatt marketing campaigns) and then fade quickly.

E.T to return with grown up Gertie

SHOOT: This could be interesting.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za Steven Spielberg and Drew Barrymore are in talks to bring legendary movie alien E.T. back to Earth in a big budget Hollywood sequel. Twenty-seven years after a six-year-old Barrymore melted film fans’ hearts playing little Gertie, a girl who befriends an extraterrestrial visitor, director Spielberg wants to reunite the pair. A source tells the tabloid, "Steven and Drew are being very secretive about this baby. But they want to do this project and work together. Steven has an incredible story in mind for the sequel that will bring E.T. back to earth." - Wenn

Star Trek: Symbolism and a platform for the regret that the grown-up children of the 1960s feel for letting down the youth of today, just as they might have felt they were let down by their leaders.

clipped from www.nytimes.com It takes a certain mix of optimism and frustration to contemplate the possibility of space travel. To dream of navigating the cosmos is to assume that man has the resources and the know-how to propel himself into the heavens, but also some compelling reasons to exchange his home planet for the cold vast unknown. “Star Trek” was meant to expand the notions of what a unified world could achieve — a mission that was deeply complicated by the turmoil of the era. And the newest incarnation of “Star Trek” arrives at a moment when the country again finds itself teetering between limitless potential and peril, yearning to boldly go in all directions but potentially stuck in neutral. The new film has plenty of modern-day angst to address too: the efficacy of torture is touched upon (though only the film’s villains employ it); an entire planet central to “Star Trek” lore is destroyed, intended by the writers as an amplified metaphor for the 9/11 attacks.

Star Trek kicks Wolverines hairy arse in an Imaginative Thrill Ride

Leonard 'Bones' McCoy: Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.

Star Trek will be the best flick of 2009. I can't see how Terminator will top this, or anything else quite frankly. Star Trek is vivid and powerful, and whops Wolverine's butt 6-0 in virtually every category.

I read a few reviews of Star Trek, some that I wished I hadn't, before going into the cinema with baited breath. I come out punch drunk after an amazing thrill ride. Star Trek is everything a sci-fi flick should be - big budget, fantastical, left-field, inspiring, an adventure and most of all, a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants thrill ride. In a word Star Trek is imaginative. J.J. Abrams delivers in the true spirit of Star Trek.

Christopher Pike: [to Kirk] You've always had a hard time finding your place in this world, haven't you?

While we know the Star Trek story as a brave search for alien civilisations, all along we knew it was also a search, in terms of the crew, to find their (and by extension 'our') place in the universe. This is especially true in Star Trek, where Kirk has to find out who he is and what stuff he is made of. We see him - more than any other crew member - pushed to the limits, both physically and otherwise.

Nero: James T. Kirk was a great man... but that was another life.

I have a bone to pick with reviewers who re-tell the plot and give away elements of the story, effectively stealing from the punch the flick aims to deliver firsthand. It is something of an art then to convey the ethos of the film without giving too much besides away. One reviewer said the following (if you haven't seen the movie probably best if you skip the remainder of this paragraph) - that there is a major plot twist halfway through the movie and if you can swallow this, well then the movie works.

I don't really agree. Star Trek is all about the plausible and less plausible, and it tests and re-tests our assumptions of logic. That is part and parcel of the Star Trek mythos.

For my part I religiously watched each episode of the original Star Trek series as a young boy with my dad, so I am a trekkie, and I am one of those people J.J. Abrams needed to bear in mind when making this permutation.

Scotty: I like this ship! It's exciting!

I thought the story was quite masterful, and the introduction of the cast was done with a great deal of wit. Most of all, J.J Abrams brings a combination of respect to the franchise and injects it with a powerful dose of youth filled vigor.

Undoubtedly we will see many more voyages of the starship, Enterprise.

Score: 9/10
IMDB: 8.6/10

Gavin Hood: It's about doing the best you can, not who you know

SHOOT: Fantastic advice. He's saying it's not a 'something for nothing' world. It's not exchanging business cards and show me the money. It's 'what have you done?' 'Where's your portfolio'. Exactly right. I wonder why there is such a morose picture of him in The Times though? Looks like he's just swallowed a beetle in his sparkling water and he's like, "I can actually feel it's alive, crawling in my stomach!"

clipped from www.thetimes.co.za What is it like working in Hollywood? There isn’t really such a place, it’s a sign on a hill, more of a state of mind, I think. But it’s great to be there because it’s the place where people who want to do films gravitate to, and there are people from all over the world who are very good at what they do in a fairly confined place. That’s both intimidating and exciting, because the competition is huge and there are lots of people whose dreams don’t come true. It’s a very strange place. For me, the best thing is to stay just outside of that world, near the beach. I surf with some friends who have nothing to do with the movie business and they keep me grounded. Was the Oscar your golden ticket to that world? Oh, no question. I’ve always said, “Do the best you can”. Young film makers always say, “Who do I have to meet?”. I never really met people, my films got noticed and I hope they got noticed because I made them as well as I could.

Warp Drive could work; Beaming me up - not in a million years [STAR TREK TECH]

SHOOT: Illogical captain. But it may work for television.

clipped from www.newscientist.com clipped from www.newscientist.com

Star Trek is a bright, shiny blast from a newly imagined past

By far his finest moments take place on the brightly lighted deck of the Enterprise, where against the backdrop of limitless space, Kirk, Spock and the rest of the young crew fumble with roles that — much like the young actors playing them, including Anton Yelchin as Chekov and John Cho as Sulu — they ultimately and rather wonderfully make their own. - New York Times

SHOOT: Star Trek's mythos is based on balance. Vision tempered by logic, passion tempered by reason, ration and reason set free into the magic and mystery of space. A masterful premise. I always hoped humanity would become civilised in the future, adopting the broad consensus we see in Star Fleet, with the broad goal being a cashless society bent on improving itself. The Star Trek protagonists are, interestingly, all altrusists. Something rare in entertainment and rea life history.

clipped from movies.nytimes.com A bright, shiny blast from a newly imagined past, “Star Trek,” the latest spinoff from the influential television show, isn’t just a pleasurable rethink of your geek uncle’s favorite science-fiction series. It’s also a testament to television’s power as mythmaker, as a source for some of the fundamental stories we tell about ourselves, who we are and where we came from. The famous captain (William Shatner, bless his loony lights) and creator (Gene Roddenberry, rest in peace) may no longer be on board, but the spirit of adventure and embrace of rationality that define the show are in full swing, as are the chicks in minis and kicky boots. Despite these visions, the flashing lasers and latex aliens, “Star Trek” is fundamentally about two men engaged in a continuing conversation about civilizations and their discontents. Hot and cold, impulsive and tightly controlled, Kirk and Spock need each other to work, a dynamic Mr. Abrams captures with his two well-balanced leads.

Star Trek - COOL VIDEO PREVIEW

Star Trek may wop the Wolf - It's a suck-your-face-back trip

WIRED: Together, they’ve crafted a 21st-century Star Trek every bit as sleek and shiny as the new Enterprise itself. Alternating thunderous battle scenes with quiet bits of equally consequential matters of the heart, Abrams serves moviegoers a wry, wise jolt of intergalactic adrenalin to go with that jumbo bucket of summertime popcorn thrills.

SHOOT: Wired gives Star Trek 9/10. This might be the kickass movie of the year. Wolverine was good - Trek may wop the Wolf.

clipped from www.wired.com The new Star Trek movie races through a suck-your-face-back wind tunnel of time travel, ego clashes, black holes, hot Orion girls and deep, dark villainy as director J.J. Abrams launches the next generation of Starfleet adventures. This expertly paced prequel hurls a crew of younger, faster Trek heroes against a stunning backdrop of spectacular outer-space shots. Framing the adventure as an origin tale predating Gene Roddenberry’s original Star Trek television series from the ’60s, screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (TV’s Fringe) trace the career trajectory of a cocky Iowa farmboy named James Tiberius Kirk who bests his hyper-rational rival, Spock, thereby earning the right to command the U.S.S. Enterprise. As Kirk, 28-year-old actor Chris Pine bursts with coltish energy, drinking deeply from the Han Solo well to inform his portrait of the captain as a young roustabout.

Wolverine Movie Review on Heroesonline: Exceed Expectations

Origins is filled with themes, from rebirth, to revenge. The package is cohesive, the script (from the pen of David Benioff) taught and riveting, the cast exceptional and the scenes carefully crafted and well executed. Jackman and his team have set a high standard and met them. They exceeded my expectations. Wolverine will probably punch you unexpectedly in the gut too.

SHOOT: Have you seen it yet?

clipped from www.heroesonline.co.za X-Men Origins: Wolverine Wolverine Movie Review: Exceed Expectations By Nick Van der Leek www.nickvanderleek.com Rating: 8.5 out of 10 I'm not going to write too much about this flick and I recommend you steer clear of reviews that run through the plot too much, because part of the thrill in Origins is the roller coaster the story takes you on. There's no redemption where I am going... What I enjoyed about this flick was its sheer masculinity. The proponents of this film are all intensely masculine, and charming, themselves. Schreiber, Jackman and even Gavin Hood himself, a man I interviewed a few days ago. The Wolverine mythos delves into all those things that young boys and men fixate upon - a man on his own finding his own way, wars, blood, physical work, fighting, strength, sweating in nature, rivalry and loyalty, love and betrayal.

South Africans laugh at themselves in White Wedding

“I am elated with the way South African audiences have received the film.”.

SHOOT: My neighbor gushed over this flick over the weekend. Looks different.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za It’s official! Local actors Rapulana Seiphemo and Kenneth Nkosi’s debut feature film, White Wedding, is set to make the two artists millionaires. Just over this past weekend, after its opening night, it has hit records for attendances and box office earnings. The film grossed more than R1,1million at the box office when it was released on circuit this weekend, and these results are in line with the opening weekend performance of the smash hit Slumdog Millionaire’s gross earnings in March this year. White Wedding has been seen by 48000 people since its release on Wednesday April 29, and has in fact outperformed X-men Origins: Wolverine at cinemas such as Ster-Kinekor Maponya Mall, Sterland, Savannah Mall, Southgate and The Wheel. “We have watched every kind of local audience watching our movie, and what every screening has had in common are the smiles on people’s faces when they leave the theatres,” said director Jann Turner.

Orndorf gushes over Star Trek

"Star Trek" is a stupendous revitalization of a concept bled dry long ago. It offers nothing but pleasures to those in tune with Gene Roddenberry's original creation, and provides ample comfort to newcomers who should immediately set aside anticipated Trekkie bias and suit up with Starfleet for the true roller coaster ride of the still-virginal summer.- Brian Orndorf

SHOOT: Haven't seen Orndorf gush much; good to see him supporting this flick. If Orndorf likes this it might - as he concendes - be the best flick of the year.

clipped from english.ohmynews.com ©2009 Paramount An artistic blood transfusion of immaculate execution, the new "Star Trek" boldly goes straight to the senses, providing a full-throated rush of operatic sci-fi, cleverly conceived characterizations, and a swarm of franchise homages and surprises that take incredible care of the brand name's impossible 44-year-long pop culture reign, while forging firm new ground for those who couldn't tell Kirk from Spock with a gun to their head. Director J.J. Abrams has achieved what many thought to be impossible, reaching bare-handed into the venomous depths of absurdly rigid canon, pulling together a sublime space adventure that flies as confidently and triumphantly as "Trek" ever has before. It's not only a victorious series highlight, but perhaps one of the best pictures of the year.

MTV Movie Awards: Twilight steals the Limelight

SHOOT: I watched Twilight over the weekend. It's slow and subtle at first, but it's a deep, beautiful and poignant flick at the end of the day.

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Teen vampire film Twilight has taken the lead with seven nominations at this year's MTV Movie Awards. Twilight, the story of a passionate romance between a mortal girl and an enigmatic vampire, is also nominated for best female for star Kristen Stewart, best fight and best song - for Paramore's Decode. Kate Winslet, who won an Oscar for her role in The Reader, is up for best female performance, along with Angelina Jolie for Wanted, Anne Hathaway for Bride Wars, Kristen Stewart for Twilight and Taraji P Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Star Trek: A Gorgeous Film with no Soul [The Canadian Press]

If there's any social or political subtext, as in the original series, it's difficult to determine; this "Star Trek" seems solely made to entertain. It's an absolutely gorgeous film with impeccable production design - the lighting is wondrous, almost heavenly - and lovely, tiny details frequently emerge from within the larger, grander images.

SHOOT Star Trek opens in South African cinemas on 8 May.

clipped from www.google.com LOS ANGELES — J.J. Abrams' hugely anticipated summer extravaganza "Star Trek" boldly goes to the past within the distant future of the "Trek" universe, years ahead of the TV series and the myriad movies and spin-offs it spawned. Kirk and Spock, you see, weren't always pals - at least not in this revisionist history. This "Star Trek" pits them as opposites and adversaries until they must reluctantly learn to function side by side for the greater good. Kirk was a brilliant young hotshot causing trouble in rural Iowa, talented beyond his years but self-destructive nonetheless; Spock was a brilliant young math whiz whose mixed ethnic heritage made him the target of Vulcan bullies who were just as geeky as he was. Pine gets the womanizing and the ego of Kirk, but in a younger state there's also a likable boyish enthusiasm about him; Quinto, meanwhile, plays Spock as a little more tentative and less Zen-like. But maybe that sense of inner peace comes in time.