Title: Minority Report
Year: 2002
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Tim Blake Nelson
Rated: PG-13
My Review: This film is based on the short story by Philip K. Dick, who is a master science fiction writer. Writer of Total Recall (We Can Remember It for you Wholesale), Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), A Scanner Darkly, the Adjustment Bureau, and Paycheck. In the beginning of the film, you see the crime carved out into a wooden ball. When I first saw this, I thought, "we wouldn't be using wood like that in the future! we'd be using some form of plastic." But with the way things are going now with the world of oil. Wood seems to be more likely to used more. That's was this film does a great job doing, predicting the future. A lot of research went into what technology will evolve into. And as you watch, things start to look familiar to things that are happening now. With touch tablets, hand gestures and voice recognition. In fact, three years before production started, he assembled a team of 16 future experts to brainstorm about how 2054 would be. Now the whole thing about the PreCogs is pure science fiction fantasy. But it makes for a great unpredictable scenario of something that might happen. The "PreCogs" were all named after famous myster writers. Dashiell Hammett, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie. Steven Spielberg proves why he is the master of film making. His camera work of course is brilliant. The story is compelling and very original. Nothing has been overlooked. The details in this film are awesome, right down to the traffic system (which makes for a great action sequence), to the non-lethal weapons. Great scifi action film. Highly recommended. 8 out of 10
Jonny's Review: This was a very nice film. It had the right amount of action, sci-fi, and mood. Though I kind of think of Tom Cruise as being a total dork, he does well in this movie, and especially Max Von Sydow as the director of the Pre-crime division. Just a nice treacherous old fart. What I loved about this movie was the fact that it was a detective story, and that even the viewer can keep up to solve it as well. It was also fun to get a full view of all the technology of the world, to get a glimpse of possible toys that I may get to play with. I’m all about the future, and even fictional technology interests me a lot, no matter how much advisement was slapped to this flick. There are parts of the film that seemed a little out of place or even odd, but I think those may be nit picking and nerd banter about crap. This story doesn’t need any of that, it’s great for what it is, how it was told and didn’t trip over its self while it was also trying to be visually creative. It’s a family film, and everybody can enjoy this.
8/10
Title: Idiocracy
Year: 2006
Director: Mike Judge
Cast: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews
Rated: R
My Review: I am a big believer in this future actually happening. That the majority of the planet is made up of ignorant, arrogant, stupid people. If the planet was made up of intelligent, forward thinking people with common sense, there would be no war, poverty, or environmental problems. This bleak future is a perfect mix of idiocy, and douche-baggery. Very funny movie. Mike Judge does such a good job showing how the ridiculousness of our culture can come back to bite us on the ass. Although the marketing campaign for this film went unnoticed, 20th Century Fox decided to actually license out the "Brawndo" drink for sale. The drink iteself has gained a cult following, and is available for purchase at www.brawndo.com. You can watch this movie over, and over again, and see something new in the background. Highly Underrated. 9 out of 10
Jonny's Review: After watching this movie again, enjoying the story and the comedy of this film, I have to admit that it also scares the crap out of me! I think Luke Wilson was the perfect choice for this role, he just does a really good job portraying the "average Joe"….which is his name, cleaver. I even have to say Maya Rudolph and Dax Shepard were good choices, they added to the story and did their parts well, I especially loved Shepards performance, his characters stupidity, his catch phrase (I like money) and even the way he dressed (even though it was the style of the time). It’s also fun to see that we can also poke fun at ourselves because of the reputations that we’ve developed over the years with companies or other social practices. It’s also fun to watch the new technology in this film, at least what's there, and what isn't. All the normal stuff has an updated look and feel to it, like the TV or some services, but there just so easy and if you "stupid proof" them, it doesn't seem like an upgrade at all. The only thing that I don’t like is how true it also is. Deep down you don’t want this to happen. Even though that this aspect does not take away from the film what so ever, it just hurts a little to think that this is all possible. The truth may hurt sometimes
8/10
Title: 1984
Year: 1984
Director: Michael Radford
Cast: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack
Rated: R
My Review: The First thing I thought of when I saw the beginning of this film was. "This is North Korea". which makes this movie seem very real. Because of unrelenting war, and destruction, the government has control over everything. Which makes society feel in a giant prison. With rationed meals, no personal belongings, and 24 hour surveillance everywhere. Many of the scenes were shot on the actual days noted in Winston Smith's diary. The scene where Smith writes in his diary "April 4, 1984" was shot on April 4, 1984. John Hurt's performance is beautiful. You really get to see his pain and struggle on his face. This film probably won't be appealing to most people. It is very slow paced, even the third act is slow, but stays emotionally stimulating. There is no climax, no heroism. It just ends. The world continues to be a miserable place with no escape. It is a good film, but it's not easy to watch. 6 out 10
Jonny's Review: I really enjoyed this film, it was enthralling and inspiriting, beautiful and ugly, wonderful and terrifying. This is probably the scariest future that anybody would fear. The thought of losing everything you hold dear and being forced and tricked that individualism is the adversary of life. I just loved the way this ugly story was told, and that every moment that John Hurt was on camera was just perfect. It is a slow film, and very disturbing, as the story goes along, but it really brought me in, to understand the suffering of the people, and hell on earth that man is fully capable of causing. My heart strings were pulled at the end of this film, it’s truly terrifying. If you have yet to see it, watch this with your full attention, great stories deserve all of your attention such as this.
10/10
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