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- Oscar Wrap-Up 2013
- A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) vs. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
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- The Tiersky Top Ten, 2012
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- Broken City (2013) vs. City Hall (1996)
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- courtney on Brave (2012) -vs- Mulan (1998)
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- James on The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) vs. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Tag Archives: future
Cloud Atlas (2012) vs. The Tree of Life (2011)
We at the Smack like a sprawling, epic movie about Big Themes as much as anyone else. So in this edition we’re throwing two big, brainy behemoths against each other in a ring-shaking Sumo contest.
In the challenger’s corner, weighing in at a few thousand pounds and nearly three hours in length, is a film so big it needed three credited directors: Cloud Atlas, essentially six movies in one, covering a range of genres, time periods and motifs. Our reigning champ is The Tree of Life, a thick, mood piece by Terrence Malick about a middle-aged man’s reflections on his upbringing and relationship with a tough, unhappy father. And, oh yeah, the origins of life and nature while we’re at it. Continue reading
Posted in Awards, Drama, Fantasy
Tagged 1930s, 1950s, 20th Century, Andy Wachowski, Brad Pitt, Clone, future, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Jessica Chastain, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Tom Hanks, Tom Tykwer
7 Comments
Looper (2012) -vs- Source Code (2011)
Let’s face facts: If “traveling back in time to change the past” movies stuck rigidly to actual logic, there would be no such movies. As far as I can tell, there’s just no getting around the paradox that if you travel back in time and change the past, you alter history in such a way that you no longer have a reason, in the new timeline you’ve created, to get in a time machine and go back and change the past. For starters.
Fortunately, the best examples of the genre wisely choose to ignore this little snag and do the next best thing: Pour their energy into making it so entertaining and zanily convoluted that it doesn’t even occur to you to mind until you’re on your way home. The last decade, in fact, has seen a wealth of intriguing time-travel flicks that do exactly that, largely thanks to the fact that time travel doesn’t always require expensive special effects and thus can be done independently; all you need is a convincing-looking time machine prop and a lot of ingenuity, and presto, you got yourself a “high concept indie,” be it the soft-spoken, cerebral Primer (2004), the ruthless Mexican mind-bender Timecrimes (2007), or the diabolically clever Triangle (2009) (which doesn’t actually involve a time machine at all, but otherwise fits the category). Continue reading
Posted in Sci-Fi, Thriller
Tagged bomb, Bruce Willis, chase, Emily Blunt, future, hitman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, mafia, Michelle Monaghan, murder, time, time travel, trin, Vera Farmiga
3 Comments
Prometheus (2012) -vs- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Strange artifacts are left here on Earth beckoning inhabitants to come visit superior beings and/or ancient visitors, requiring a massive undertaking to build and dispatch a mighty state-of-the-art spacecraft on a long, dangerous journey with an A.I. on board to take care of its human crew. Director Stanley Kubrick swung for the fences with this set-up over four decades ago and now it’s Ridley Scott’s turn.
Let’s get one thing out of the way right now — 2001: A Space Odyssey is a true film classic. It deserves its praise, and it deserves to be seen in any good film school program. If you haven’t seen it, you should. Continue reading
Posted in Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi, SummerSmack
Tagged alien, alien contact, Alien Race, Ape, Charlize Theron, computer, evolution, future, Guy Pearce, Human Versus Alien, Idris Elba, Keir Dullea, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Monolith, Moon, Noomi Rapace, Ridley Scott, Space Expedition, Space Station, space travel, Space Voyage, Stanley Kubrick, technology
19 Comments
The Hunger Games (2012) -vs- The Running Man (1987)
President Snow (Donald Sutherland) shares his philosophy in this weekend’s blockbuster film, The Hunger Games, “The only thing stronger than fear is hope.” He and his kind have built their dystopia on this theory: if the people they subjugate don’t have a way to cope, they could get violent. Better to give them some pre-packaged violence and distract them.
The odds are stacked heavily against both Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games and Ben Richards of The Running Man to win in their own futuristic sporting arenas. But they are motivated to try, each having not just their own lives but the lives of the people they love at stake. While millions of people watch, they suffer and struggle to make it to the end. The only thing keeping them going is hope.
It seems harsh to subject these characters to another bloody arena, but as the films prove, audiences love a good fight. We can’t lie. So do we. Continue reading
Posted in Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Tagged Arnold Schwarzenegger, based on novel, boxer, boxing, Elizabeth Banks, fight to death, future, futuristic, Jennifer Lawrence, Katniss, Liam Hemsworth, police state, president, prison, snow, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Woody Harrelson, wrestler, wrestling
12 Comments
The Book of Eli (2010) -vs- The Road (2009)
We men have a default for action. So when the apocalypse arrives, we don’t plan on hunkering down, or trying to plant new crops.
No, we will hit the road, even if we don’t know where we’re going and, believe me, we’re not asking directions. For us, the idea is to keep moving.
My own personal take on the apocalypse is that it won’t be awesome, and it won’t be like a movie. It will be grimy, and personal hygiene will suffer, but the reason it’s called the apocalypse is that life will get cruel, short, and random, leaving precious few lines of witty dialogue to speak, or elegantly-staged action sequences to unfold. Continue reading
Posted in Action, Apocalypse
Tagged 2012, apocalypse, armageddon, asteroid impact, comet, death, future, global warming, nuclear war
14 Comments