Tolerance and tension: Christianity and Islam in Africa
What to do on 9/11
A reading of Blade Runner
No Script for Firefox
Category Archives: sf
TBTM20100907
Funny (and good) review of the Star Trek reboot.
Syllabus and book list for those wanting to explore sf further; and some classic tropes.
Washington we have a problem
The myth of religious violence (I love Cavanaugh)
Christianity, the Enlightenment and Islam
What Britain could learn from Portugal’s drug policy
Moon
Quite brilliant, and very interesting, well worth a re-watch – but not sure if there is a religious sub-text or not (as opposed to simply a meditation on being human). Excellent ‘riffs’ on 2001 et al. 5/5
TBTM20100623
District 9
Probably the best sci-fi film of at least the last ten years, a highly intelligent, sharply observed and meaningful movie which packs a hefty emotional punch. Obviously, if your preference in alien films involves Arnie and a big gun, this might be a bit disappointing (although the action-packed third act is very exciting), but if you want an original vision that is fully realised and executed, you won’t go far wrong. Marvellous. 5/5
TV/ Movie notes
I’m really getting out of the habit of these.
Duplicity 3.5/5 Entertaining and a good ending
Push 3/5 So-so
Seven Pounds 4/5 Very interesting and well done, not sure it’s at all orthodox though.
Now for the trashy ones:
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans 3/5
Friday 13th (remake) 4/5 Better than the original
Lesbian Vampire Killers: 2/5 utter drivel
Also watching at the moment:
Torchwood (season 2) – gets better and better, particularly liked the memory episode
Caprica – excellent, really engages with the themes of identity
Lost – is managing to raise my hopes that it will achieve a better resolution than BSG
24 – average
Fringe – Walter Bishop is a genius character, but the programme as a whole has lost its way
I’ve also been a very naughty boy. Let’s just say I now have the capacity to play Bioshock 2, but not on my PC….
Killing Monsters (Gerard Jones)
A very interesting polemic against all the scare stories saying (eg) ‘video games make children violent’. Jones’ argument, if I manage to summarise it fairly, is essentially that children require “violent” fantasy in order to process the very real extremes of emotion that modern life puts them through – and that removing fantasy violence makes them more emotionally crippled. I found it a very plausible analysis. Recommended.
Avatar
Highly enjoyable with a lot of great visuals, but I’m not sure it’ll go down in history as a great film. I think 3D is overrated too. 4/5
Surrogates
Good, solid science fiction.
UPDATE: because I’ve been thinking about it a lot since watching it, especially about the wife character, I’m upgrading the verdict to 4.5/5. I think it will bear a great many repeat watchings.
