George Lucas in Love (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)Several reviewers around here really seem to want a lot from a 9 minute film.
'George Lucas In Love' was a very fun short. From Lucas' roommate Benji talking about an 'all powerful force' to his friends Hal & Chuck working on Hal's 'fastest thing on campus' to a professor whose speech patterns resembled a well known Jedi Master, this film has a heck of a lot crammed into it's 9 minutes. If anything, the filmmakers should have done a 15-20 minute film! The film was very clever and enjoyable. Maybe just a tad bit funnier than 'Hardware Wars'.
The music, cinematography, and acting are all very good, indeed. Anyone who didn't enjoy this at least a little really needs to get a sense of humor. Of course, it's a bit cheesy, but it's meant to be that way. It's presented in the slightly corny, overblown way that 'Hardware Wars' or the 'Naked Gun' films were. The same people who didn't understand those films probably won't understand 'George Lucas In Love'. It's not a 'great' film, but who cares? It's a fun little short by a guy who really loves 'Star Wars'. Some have condemned the filmmakers doing this just for the money. I seriously doubt that Mr. Nussbaum will make a huge fortune from this film and if he does, big deal. Nothing wrong with making money from doing what you love or making money at all. Surely, none of the people who reviewed this film would go and work at their jobs for free and live in a cardboard box under a bridge somewhere! Anyway, GLIL is great fun and a great to watch before your next screening of 'Phantom Menace' or the original trilogy.

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Cosmic Voyage (IMAX) (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)What does the universe look like at the scale of atoms, or that of galaxy superclusters? What did the early universe look like, and how did it evolve into the cosmos we know today? What other life may have evolved and be wondering about our universe as we do?
These are deep questions, and no short film can possibly do them all complete justice. Instead, in its 35 minutes, Cosmic Voyage flies through a summary of what we know--just enough to whet your appetite for more.
Starting in Galileo's Venice, with familiar everyday scales of time and space, the IMAX film employs a common technique: expanding our perspective by successive factors of 10, until the screen encompasses the largest structures scientists know of today, and our own Earth is utterly lost in the deep expanse. A similar voyage takes us from the waterways of the Netherlands down into the nucleus of the atom, where (somewhat paradoxically) our knowledge comes from some of the largest experiments in the world.
The simulation of the early universe and the numerous galactic collisions is especially awe-inspiring. Usually, documentaries of this sort employ artists to bring the words of astrophysics journals to life; Cosmic Voyage was the first movie to make use of scientific computing and cosmic simulations on such a large scale. The sequence was computed under the direction of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), which also had an early hand in popularizing the World Wide Web. The result is an accurate and breathtaking depiction of how the oldest and largest parts of cosmic architecture took shape.
The temptation with any such documentary is to compare it to Cosmos, the PBS documentary hosted by Carl Sagan that ran in 1980. But the comparison is unfair. Sagan had 13 hour-long episodes, with a sweep at once broader and deeper than anything since. With only 5 percent of the length, Cosmis Voyage can't expect to duplicate that sweep, and to its credit, it doesn't try. It just stuns you with its imagery and inspires you to find out more, and it does so without straying from scientific accuracy. Provided you keep in mind the length and scope of the film, you won't be disappointed.

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Cosmic Voyage mixes ground-breaking computer animation with cutting edge science to give us a sweeping view of the universe. A "cosmic zoom" extends from the surface of the Earth to the largest observable structures of the universe, and then back down to the sub-nuclear realm - a guided tour across some 42 orders of magnitude. Cosmic Voyage explores some of the greatest scientific theories, many of which have never before been visualized on film.DVD Features:DocumentaryTheatrical Trailer

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Pandorum (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)The year is 2174. The population of Earth has reached over 24 billion. Famine and wars are commonplace. In a last ditch effort to save humankind, we send out a probe to find a planet that can sustain us. The mission is a success, though it will take over a hundred years to reach the new home...
Fast forward:
Two men wake up from deep sleep; alone, disoriented and suffering from memory loss. As their recollections slowly return, they realize they are part of the space ship crew navigating 60,000 settlers from Earth to the new planet. They have questions, but few answers. Where is everyone? How long have they been asleep? Why are they awake? Who's on bridge, flying the machine? And finally, once they discover they are NOT alone: what are those things, and where did they come from?!
Butterflies in my stomach? Check. Nails (my own ;o)) digging into my arm? Check. Conversing with friends about the movie long after the end? Check. All are side effects of a well made scary thriller (the sci-fi was just a bonus) and all were present in this case. The story has a great twist, but, best of all, it is largely plot-hole-free, as well as plausible.
So, why four, rather then five stars? Two reasons. Firstly, once answers start coming, they come fast and furious, to the point of being a tad confusing. Secondly, the two main characters are a bit lacking. Until the climactic end, Dennis Quaid spends most of the film saying "Bower, are you there...are you there, Bower?" He is a good actor but the script does not give him much to work with, leaving his talent underused. Ben Foster (the Angel from X-Men the Last Stand), disserves the top billing, as the action revolves mainly around him. Still, a more charismatic actor may have drawn us further into the character. There is a nice appearance from Cung Le, a Vietnamese-American real life martial arts champion (you may remember him from Fighting). He is a talkative passanger with all the answers, but, to Bower's frustration, no English. The man can move, but his awesome skills are not fully utilized here either. Shame...
This is not another Alien or Predator. It will not change the direction of film evolution. Still, Pandorum satisfactorily delivers scary, creepy sci-fi with a well put together story and a hopeful ending (I miss those!). It entertains!
Enjoy!


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In Pandorum, Dennis Quaid (Vantage Point, The Express) and Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, Alpha Dog) join Cam Gigandet (Never Back Down, Twilight), Cung Le (Tekken, Fighting), newcomer Antje Traue, and director Christian Alvart (Antibodies) to tell the terrifying story of two crew members stranded on a spacecraft who quickly – and horrifically – realize they are not alone. Two astronauts awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft.It's pitch black, they are disoriented, and the only sound is a low rumble and creak from the belly of the ship.They can't remember anything:Who are they?What is their mission? With Lt. Payton (Quaid) staying behind to guide him via radio transmitter, Cpl. Bower (Foster) ventures deep into the ship and begins to uncover a terrifying reality.Slowly the spacecraft's shocking, deadly secrets are revealed…and the astronauts find their own survival is more important than they could ever have imagined.

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