A post-apocalyptic tale that immediately reminds one of the old Mad Max flicks, the violence in particular. The story line plays out very similar to other movies in that genre except Eli (played by Denzel Washington) is on a mission from God.

America is a desert wasteland and it has been 30 years since a world war destroyed civilization. It’s every man and woman for themselves in this stark world of burned out buildings and crumbling highways. Food and water are scarce and it is surprising what is considered valuable. Cannibalism is a problem, violence is the norm, and only the strong survive. A great world to live in.

Eli is traveling to the west coast where he believes that a voice from God told him to go and deliver his treasure- a book.  Turns out that the Book is a King James version of the Bible with one more wrinkle I won’t mention. It is supposed to be the last Bible in existence. The Bibles were all burned after the world war for some reason never fully explained.

Meanwhile, a town warlord –Carnegie (played by Gary Oldman) has roving armed bands attacking travelers looking for a Bible. He hopes to use it to control people better and expand his empire. The battle begins when Eli shows up in his town with a copy.

Eli makes it out of town and Carnegie and his goons pursue him. Also a young woman, Solara, ends up as his companion and helps him to his destination.

Lots of twists and turns in the story but Eli does complete his mission but Carnegie does get his hands on a copy of the Bible but one he cannot use as his little empire begins to fall apart.

At the end, the Bible is published again and takes its place on a library shelf right next to a Koran.

Many Christians might like this movie in spite of all of the violence. I did. I found it rather inspiring to see Eli make the best of bad situations and continue to pray and read the Bible. Is Eli a sort of prophet? Yes, in an Old Testament way and one who dishes out judgment in the process. He seems to have supernatural power at times in overcoming his enemies on the road. Way more than good luck or military training could ever account for.

Yes, I even believed that Eli did hear from God and was on a mission from God. In fact I had the feeling that he had actually been blind at one time but received sight to carry out his long journey. I swear at the last when his mission was done he looked like he was blind once more.            *Top

Genre: Animated, Comedy; Theater release: November 20, 2009 by TriStar/Sony Pictures; Directed by: Jorge Blanco; Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes; Cast: Justin Long (Lem), Dwayne Johnson (Captain Charles T. Baker), Seann William Scott (Skiff), Jessica Biel (Neera), Gary Oldman (General Grawl), John Cleese (Professor Kipple).

An alien from space lands on the planet and the folks respond fear, the military searches for the intruder, and the scientists want to study it. Meanwhile, the alien makes friends with the kids who try to help him get back home.

You have seen this scenario a dozen times before in E.T. and a bunch of assorted Sci Fi and Disney movies. Nothing really new here except the alien is an American astronaut from Earth.

My grandson loved it but I had trouble staying awake. Too many clichés to keep me interested. Besides Planet 51 and their culture was far too similar to planet Earth and the town featured in the film reminded me of ToonTown at Disneyland and the cars looked just like what we use to have in 50’s when I was kid.              *Top

The movie presents a time in the near future when nearly all American are living their lives out through substitute robots who carry on their everyday activities for them while each person stays safely at home in their bedroom connected to the robot in a virtual world. What the robot feels, sees, tastes, and does is sent on and experienced by the operator. If the ‘surrogate’ suffers some kind of injury however, the real person is not affected—well that is the way it was supposed to be.

Bruce Willis plays detective John Greer who is investigating several murders by surrogate. The robot was injured and the damage was somehow passed on to the real operator who was killed back at home. The detective discovers that the inventor of the surrogate program is somehow involved in the production of this fatal computer virus that effects both surrogate and operator.

It is an action film that demonstrates the superman qualities of having a police force that are essentially robots. However, the movie also reveals the disconnect with reality that people begin to suffer from when they live their lives in a virtual world where only robot surrogates talk, touch, and make love while their operators are essentially disengaged from real relationships.

Detective Greer doesn’t like what it has done to the relationship between him and his wife Maggie and would like to get together with her for real once more. A solution is presented and Greer has an opportunity to reverse the whole thing.

The movie does raise deep questions about how life in the future will cope with technology getting in the way of real relationship as increasingly more and more of our lives are carried on in an antiseptic virtual world.

This is definitely not a movie for children, the violence is far too graphic. The movie starts out like a TV documentary exploring a refugee village where nearly 2 million aliens live—aliens as in from another planet. Unlike other Sci Fi scenarios, these aliens seem to be leaderless and powerless to take care of themselves even though their technology had to be advanced in order to reach Earth, they are now herded together in horrible apartheid conditions in Johannesburg, South Africa and treated like animals instead of the intelligent beings that they obviously must be.

The commentator and main character starts out making fun of the aliens calling them ‘Prawns’ (they do sort of look like crustaceans with two legs) while he shows the audience the despicable living conditions they live in while callously informing them that they’re all going to be evicted from Johannesburg and moved to a new more rural location.

In the midst of the documentary, the commentator- Wikus Van De Merwe is sprayed by a black substance from an alien device and it triggers a metamorphosis. Soon Wikus is half human and half alien and becomes the first human who can actually use alien weapons and devices since all of the alien technology is bio based.

The story then turns into an action film as Wikus is on the run and being pursued by MNU forces of a multi-national conglomerate involved with trying to find ways to use alien weapons and technology.

Wikus links up with the alien leader who needs the black substance device back in order to power his space ship for a trip back to his home planet. He promises Wikus that he will reverse the metamorphosis and return him back into being fully human once more. Wikus ends up demonstrating alien weapons to his former friends as he holds off the entire MNU force while his alien friend make good on his escape from the ‘planet of the humans’.

I wish I could say that it was an enjoyable ride but it was thought provoking and definitely a different Sci Fi pic than your usual Star Wars or Trek film from the ‘future’ –this comes at you from the here and now and humanity is shown in the worst light possible until all the chips are down and played. Then one very unlikely human hero emerges and makes a difference.

An incredible ‘reboot’ of the Star Trek franchise with a whole new young crew of actors playing the familiar characters and ready “to go where no man one has gone before” once more!

The film features an innovative way of using time travel to wipe out the familiar ‘time line’ that trekkie’s like myself have watched for over 40 years. A change right at the beginning of the film—the destruction of Kirk’s father and his ship as James T.was being born sends the franchise into a new alternate time loop and makes it possible to do it all over again—differently.

James T.Kirk grows up without a father to guide him along and becomes a regular small town trouble maker before meeting up with Capt. Pike, a former friend of his fathers, who challenges him to seek his destiny with Star Fleet. We also get a glimpse of a young Spock—a half human picked on by other Vulcans and joins Star Fleet as a reaction to the lack of respect he receives from his Vulcan elders.

One by one we are introduced to all of the familiar Enterprise characters—played by a new bunch of young actors—Uhura, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov—way younger than they ever were even in the original series. But that is the point—an all new Trek for an all new ‘younger’ generation.

Just when the whole story seems rather confusing, the ‘old Spock’ (Leonard Nimoy) comes to the rescue and explains it all. Usually there is some kind of moral theme or commentary on current culture inherent in a Trek story line. This time the whole story is merely a vehicle to introduce the new crew and get them all together for the next adventure.

The special effects and the sound track are fantastic—far beyond where Trek has gone before. The film is fun and enjoyable on a number of different levels. It is a stand alone story that can be enjoyed by those who have never ‘Trekked’ before.

For me, it was great to see my grandson enthusiastically enjoy the film —he didn’t really care for the past Treks–and now looks forward to the next—and I look forward to seeing it with him-–to boldly go and do it all over again.

WARNING: This is not a family-friendly film. The ‘R’ rating doesn’t begin to explain what you will really see in this film. It is far more graphic with more nudity than the‘R’ would indicate.

That said, the quality of the film and the writing was superior. However, I can’t really say that I enjoyed the film-far more violent and than I really like. Also, not an enjoyable escapist experience-far too much to think about and consider.

The story presents you with a sort of parallel universe where super heroes helped to win WWII and the Vietnam war. Nixon is starting his 3rd term, the heroes have forcibly been retired by the government, and the world is on the brink of annihilation still in the middle of the Cold War.

The movie opens with the murder of one of the ‘heroes’- The Comedian- who is hurled out of his high-rise apartment to his death. Through the investigation we are introduced to the rest of the heroes one by one in person and through the effective use of flashbacks. All of these folks were interesting and all had major flaws– The Comedian for sure. The Nite Owl was probably the most sympathetic—the rest I really didn’t care for much.

The most interesting character of all was Dr. Manhattan who through a freak accident had gained ‘god-like’ powers. Increasingly it was becoming more difficult for Manhattan to identify with the rest of humanity as his limitless abilities increased. The major issue dealt with here—what really does separate god from humanity.

Then there was the arrogant Ozymandias who reminded one of a Greek Olympian who was also supposed to be the smartest person in the world. In the end it was Ozymandias who wanted to play god and bring an end to the ‘Cold War’—willing to sacrifice thousands in the process.

This is one of those movies where it takes 3 or more viewings before you really get everything that is offered up, though I am not sure I really want to see it again. Perhaps when the DVD comes out I’ll take it on once more.

20 Greatest Sci-Fi TV Shows:

1. TWILIGHT ZONE (1959-1964)

2. STAR TREK (1966-1969)

3. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (2003-)

4. THE X-FILES (1993-2002)

5. STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (1987-1994

6. LOST (2004-)

7. FIREFLY (2002)

8. QUANTUM LEAP (1989-1993)

9. DOCTOR WHO (1963-)

10. MAX HEADROOM (1987-1988)

11. HEROES (2006-)

12. V: THE MINISERIES (1983-1984)

13. BABYLON 5 (1993-1998)

14. OUTER LIMITS (1963-1965)

15. THE PRISONER (1967)

16. ALIEN NATION (1989-1990)

17. MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 (1989-1999)

18. THE JETSONS (1962-1963)

19. THE SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN (1974-1978)

20. BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY (1979-1981)

Response: Star Trek should be at the top. What about Stargate SG-1, it was good enough to hang around for 10 years and still going in spinoff– Stargate Atlantis. Also, was The Six-Million Dollar Man really Sci-Fi? I love the show but it seem to be more of a spy show with some advanced tech.

The old BattleStar Galactica 70′s series was as good as some mentioned here. Also, what about the Star Wars Ewok Mini-Series and some of the latest SW animated derivatives? It is my observation that Star Wars movies have influenced a lot of the series on this list. 

This is not only the major blockbuster of the year, but is probably going to become the largest $ grossing film of all time–Titanic here comes The Dark Knight!

There is some remarkable acting in this sequel to Batman Begins. Christian Bale holds his own, Gary Oldman does a remarkable job as Lt. Gordon, Aaron Eckhart adds interesting dimension to the part of Harvey Dent as hero and villain. The small parts played by Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are icing on the cake.

However, the real show stopper in this film is the Joker played by Heath Ledger. One can’t imagine a more chilling presentation of a truly diabolical character than the one created for us by Ledger. A performance that will go down in the history of film as one of the greatest and most remarkable villains of all time.

The Heath Ledger character forces Batman to choose between the normal life he was seeking and his continuing roll as savior of Gotham City. In the midst of the battle, he forces Batman to make choices that end up being unpopular with regular folks.

However, the most diabolical choice that he puts before the Dark Knight is to force him to choose between what is best for the city or the life of the one he loves. Batman is forced to make the ultimate choice here–a no win situation–and in the final analysis it is all for nothing.

Batman in this film goes from being everyone’s action hero, to becoming a lawless uncontrollable benefactor who acts on unpopular choices that no one else is willing to do for the good of all.  In the process he sacrifices part of himself for the salvation of Gotham.

It is an interesting film on a number of different levels, one that delivers at the theater, and powerfully impacts the observer long after the popcorn has been eaten and the credits have rolled.          *Top

This is one of those movies which are perfect for a father and son or a grandfather and grandson to view together. Continual action and loud noise throughout. Those in their 30′s will recognize the characters which were popularized by Hasbro Toys and by the animated TV series in the 1980′s.

‘The Transformers’ try to save the human race from the evil ‘Decepticons’, a major battle at the end pits the Transformer’s leader Optimus Prime against his evil nemesis Megatron. Prime save the day and in a sacrificial way he saves the planet and all humanity. A wonderful good vs. evil/ good triumphs story.             *Top

The story begins 5 years after “Superman II” (1980).  Superman returns from space after a 5 year failed attempt to discover any remaining remnants of his home planet, Krypton.  Brandon Routh does a very good job of playing Clark Kent/Superman, and picking up the role that Christopher Reeve defined.  Clark gets his old job back at the Daily Planet, and seeks out his old friends, particularly Lois Lane, who he finds out has ‘moved’ on and is living with her fiance, along with her 5 year old son.

One immediately begins to wonder who’s son he really is.  Kate Bosworth is beautiful to look at and does a good job playing Lois Lane, but she lacks the ‘cutting edge’ aggressiveness that Margo Kidder use to bring to the table.  Superman eavesdrops on the new ‘family’ with sadness and longing from afar, then goes about his usual business, catching crooks and saving lives.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor is out of prison, taking fortunes from dying old ladies, and hatching his next plot, which includes destroying the eastern half of the USA.  Kevin Spacey does an incredible job in this diabolical role.  There is a humorous side to the Lex character, and then there is a contrasting dark-brooding-evil persona that completes the Luthor identity.  Spacey is able to present both sides in a convincing way.

The story is good, the graphics are incredible, and the movie is first-rate.  It goes down well, and leaves you hoping for more and speculating about the future.

Religious Themes:

This movie picks up the religious themes from the original 1978 “Superman the Movie”,   Superman as a ‘Christ figure’ is obvious.  Jor-EL (Marlon Brando) is cameod and talks once more about ‘The Father and The Son’, he also says:

The people of earth can be a great people…They need a light to show them the way.

At one point in the movie, Lois says:  The world doesn’t need a savior, and neither do I.        At this, Superman replies:  But every day I hear people crying out for one.   (There is one scene where Superman is hovering above the earth and hears the thoughts and prayers of seemingly thousands of people.)

***Continue if you have seen the movie:

Superman saves the USA once more, as he floats back to earth, his body is in the form of a cross and he lands hard upon the earth.  The emergency doctors try to save him, but he appears to die.  Later, he inexplicably comes back to life.  At the end, he visits Lois’ son while he sleeps, and talks about “The Father and The Son” and how they are forever tied.

The movie leaves me hoping for the coming of the ‘real’ superman–Jesus Christ.  The world does need a savior and so do I.  What will the world really be like following his coming?  Come Lord Jesus.

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