Wouldn't be surprised, the resemblance is there. I remember the robots in "Silent Running"--named Huey, Dewey, and Louie--were operated by double amputees who could fit into the suits. Strange, odd movie, with Dern doing one of his many madman portrayals, but a sad movie too. I remember being sad at how it ended...
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@gmail.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 2:22:21 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] "Moon" puts fiction back in science fiction Speaking of Silent Running, I remember reading someone that Lucas stole the idea for R2D2 from that movie. Does anyone here remember hearing about something like that? On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > wrote: I listen to a weekly podcast called "Filmspotting" where two well-informed guys talk about movies. It's a very enjoyable show. They tend to steer a bit away from the obvious mass-marketing stuff --they see the likes of "Star Trek" and "Transformers", but tend to discuss films more based on those they feel are more focused on good writing, acting, saying something, original films that aren't rehashes, films that take chances. I wouldn't call them "stuffy" by any means, and I learn a great deal from them. In a world where most critics and viewers only go to the Rotten Tomatoes method, it's nice to still hear people really analyze film on levels other than the CGI, action, and Meagan Fox's attributes. They reviewed "Moon" and both really liked it. They said the writer and director both stated it's impossible to make a good scifi flick that doesn't borrow from or pay homage to films that have come before. So they went in with that mindset, and pay homage to other great scifi films, learning from them, but, according to the Filmspotting guys, not just ripping them off. It reminds one of "Solaris", and "2001", and a couple of others, including "Silent Running", but doesn't come off as a copy of any of those, according to these guys. .Their take is that it's a good, thought-provoking movie that uses Rockwell and Spacey well, and both lamented that it'll get lost amidst the summer CGI and action fluff. You can check it out at their site, as "Moon" is currently featured: http://www.filmspotting.net/ Based on that, I plan to check it out... ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Arterberry" < brotherfromhow...@yahoo.com > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 5:06:21 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] "Moon" puts fiction back in science fiction Soalris is written all over this. I may see it but not in a rush to do so. --- On Sat, 7/11/09, Milton Davis < mv_media_...@yahoo.com > wrote: From: Milton Davis < mv_media_...@yahoo.com > Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] "Moon" puts fiction back in science fiction To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 9:41 PM I heard it was good. I'll have to check it out. --- On Sat, 7/11/09, Amy Harlib <ahar...@earthlink. net> wrote: From: Amy Harlib <ahar...@earthlink. net> Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] "Moon" puts fiction back in science fiction To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 12:25 AM ahar...@earthlink. net I saw Moon and loved it! It's that rare thing - an SF film that actually has an intelligent plot and good characterization as well as excellent visuals. It's still playing in a couple of art houses here in NYC. Cheers! Amy Not to stir you up again, Martin, but that's the slight thing that worries me about the new Star Trek. More focus on the gadgetry and FX than the original, and I wince when I hear people say (as the Onion spoofed) that it was "fun!". As if that's all there is to "Trek" to be meaningful, and all they want going forward. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Baxter" <truthseeker013@ lycos.com > To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 4:02:21 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [RE][scifinoir2] "Moon" puts fiction back in science fiction rave, this draws me to the movie more than its initial premise. Also reminds me of an argument I had with my Last Ex, her decrying science fiction for being "little more than flashy lasers and zoomy spaceships". If I were still on speaking terms with her, I'd forward her this. ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- Subject : [scifinoir2] "Moon" puts fiction back in science fiction Date : Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:53:12 -0000 >From : "ravenadal" <ravena...@yahoo. com> To : scifino...@yahoogro ups.com http://www.youtube . com/watch? v=lhIB0mqbPiE http://www.jsonline .com/entertainme nt/movies/ 50384927. html Lonely man in the 'Moon' By Duane Dudek of the Journal Sentinel Posted: July 9, 2009 "Moon" is one small step for mankind. It puts the fiction back into science fiction, not because it's unbelievable but because it's a life-size and plausible portrait of our daily gravity. Too many genre films are virtual, superheroic variations on arbitrary themes and are slaves to the digital technologies that allow them to portray anything. The less-is-more aesthetic of "Moon," by comparison, is a reminder that true creativity is a function of ideas and imagination. In much the same way we take for granted the fact that science drives our lives in countless and invisible ways, "Moon" takes a satisfyingly pragmatic approach to the extraordinary. And in the process, it puts a human face and heart at the center of its universe - a man in the moon, if you will. Sam Rockwell portrays the only human employee at a lunar factory where his companion is a HAL-like computer named Gerty, voiced by Kevin Spacey. For technical reasons, Rockwell cannot communicate directly with home; he sees his daughter grow up in tape-delayed messages from his wife and watches old sitcom reruns. Rockwell is just two weeks away from completing a three-year service contract and returning to Earth. If he is going a bit buggy, talking to his plants and seeing things, these seem a reasonable response to his isolation. Unless, of course, they represent something else. Perhaps things are not as they seem. Perhaps he is not really alone. Or perhaps he is more alone than he knows. Lunacy runs in the family of director Duncan Jones: His singer-songwriter father, David Bowie, imagined all manner of star men, space oddities and spiders from Mars. But if there is an apple-doesn' t-fall-far- from-the- tree quality to the material, the approach has its roots in the golden age of science fiction. The miniatures, matte paintings and digital effects do not dazzle; like Rockwell's space suit worn with use, they add a scruffy realism. The way Jones' camera looms over cramped spaces like a surveillance video adds a Big Brother feel to the piece. And the edgy, slightly crazed Rockwell, practically the only actor in the film, is a sympathetic, cautionary figure howling at the moon. "Moon" is not about the dangers of technology, but mankind's misuse of it. Even before President John Kennedy vowed to make landing on the moon a national priority, the exploitation of it for war or profit seemed inevitable. "Moon" portrays such possibilities, in service of some greater good, as the banal oppression of the very qualities that make us human. E-mail: ddu...@journalsenti nel.com http://www.youtube . com/watch? v=JQdwk8Yntds No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.375 / Virus Database: 270.13.9/2229 - Release Date: 07/10/09 07:05:00 -- Bringing diversity to perversity for 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
