Party Like It’s 2012

ghostbustersmagic

Do you remember the Year 2000 craze?  Once upon a time, 2000 was widely held as the magic year that would signify the end of the world.  When 1999 came around, rather than party like the year it was, some stockpiled food, gold and weapons instead.  Oh, and to make matters worse, there was the Y2K Bug - a computer glitch that did, indeed, have the potential to cause problems at midnight on New Years' Eve.  How many problems, no one could say for sure, but the fact that there was something … [Read more...]

Genre Invasion: Aliens, Zombies and Werewolves, Oh My

eric

I'm calling it now: vampires are on their way out.   Okay, let's be real.  Vampires will never really die (pun intended).  They've been enjoying a slow, steady burn of popularity for the last 30 years at least.  The combination of sheer horror and a monster who looks normal - or attractive - has ignited our imaginations for years.  The vampire mythology is loose enough that you can make nearly any kind of vampire you like (as evidenced by Whitewolf's Vampire: the Masquerade series). … [Read more...]

TV That Molded a Geek: Roswell

Roswell

This TV show isn't really one that molded me; rather, it perfectly fit a certain time in my life so well that it might as well have been molded to me.  Everyone can probably find a TV show or movie that just gets everything right - the clothes, the hair, the conversation topics.  For a certain generation, it's John Hughes movies like Sixteen Candles.  For me - a teenage geek girl whose room brimmed with aliens of all kinds, ranging from the neon green plush to the purple inflatable - it was … [Read more...]

Trust No One: Secret Sectors On-Screen

mib

In the world of on-screen science fiction (or sf lite), most writers can agree on one truth: if extra-terrestrials exist, the government knows about it.  Sometimes they're fighting evil aliens, sometimes they're protecting us normies from mind-exploding truths, and sometimes they're the bad guys; any way you cut it, they all make us just a little more paranoid and we love it.  This week the news has been full of a government that needs a little help pulling together and Getting Stuff Done; in … [Read more...]

X-Men: Next Class?

firstclass

This past weekend, on a whim, I decided to see X-Men: First Class.  I wasn't sure if I was going to catch it in movie theaters or not; the last two installments in the franchise, including the much-anticipated Wolverine movie, were decidedly meh and I wasn't incredibly interesting in sitting through more at movie theater prices.  However, I noticed it was getting good reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, and decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did!  It really was a breath of fresh air for the … [Read more...]

What Disney Rides Would Be Good Movies?

progresspumpkin

A few months back, Guillermo del Toro raised eyebrows when he announced at Comic-Con that he would be making a new Haunted Mansion movie, one that would be scarier.  This thrilled me, because while in retrospect the 2003 version of The Haunted Mansion did capture many facets of the ride (the silly, the funny, the scary), there was always something about it that felt jumbled, didn't have that singular atmosphere that, say, Pirates of the Caribbean did. So today I was hunting about for some … [Read more...]

Inception: Sci-Fi Success Without E.T.

inception

This weekend I saw Inception, the latest Christopher Nolan film (with music once more by Hans Zimmer - I'm calling them the new Burton-Elfman, except Zimmer's been around forever).  The movie, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page among others, is proving to be quite successful - and, perhaps not coincidentally, quite polarizing amongst the geeks I know. My review, in a few words?  I really, really liked it.  I don't know if it's the most watertight plot in the world, but it's … [Read more...]

Top 10 Geeky DVDs to Buy This Holiday

With CDs on the way out, DVDs have taken over as the easy holiday gift, but sometimes our geek friends are a little difficult to buy for.  Here are 10 geeky DVDs to consider (or maybe even to add to your own list). Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Dark Side - Whether your geek is a major fan of Star Wars or Family Guy, this parody of The Empire Strikes Back is sure to be a hit.  You might want to make sure they've also seen Blue Harvest, the parody of A New … [Read more...]

Movies That Molded a Geek: Taken

Taken, this month's movie, might not have been from my formative years, but I think my formative years explain why I like it so much. No, I'm not talking about that movie with Liam Neeson.  Technically, the Taken I'm talking about is a miniseries that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel (RIP) in 2002.  It was a relatively big-budget Spielberg project that followed in the wake of Band of Brothers but didn't get near the popularity or acclaim. And I totally love it. I was in college when it … [Read more...]