Comprehensive Geek's Guide to Movies - Final

Star Trek – The First Contact (1996) IMDB Rating 7.6/10
Fans of the Star Trek series will love this movie. This movie (and all other sequels) have snce been overshadowed when JJ Abrams rebooted the whole Star Trek timeline, but this movie is quite enjoyable. The human race builds its very first warp engine and takes it for spin. Ofcourse there is the mandatory time travel and all. If you have seen the new Star Trek and are waiting for its sequel, you might want to see this to kill time until then.

Star Trek (2009) IMDB Rating 8.4/10
The new one. The JJ Abrams one. Very well made, very slick, very enjoyable, very updated – Uhura is not space secretary but Communications Officer, keeping up with times. Almost everyone has seen it, so I am not going to give a complete synopsis here, but will only say this, I did not like what they did to Spock. That’s all.




Total Recall (1990) IMDB Rating 7.4/10
This is a family favorite. Meaning BigGeek and me. My father likes Terminator, I don't think he has seen this one. My father was asking yesterday when this (implied boring) series will come to an end, and yes, to answer his Q., this is the last post (yippee, back to regular programming soon). This movie is an all time favorite. What’s not to like? Alien planets, twisted plot, action – the Governator stars in it. Perfect Friday night movie. Go make some popcorn now! This is the end – or this is the beginning. This is your cue to groan collectively.

Also Rans
21
Beetle Juice
Blade Runner
Brazil
I, Robot
I am legend
Memento
Prestige
Sphere
Terminator
War Games
Vanilla Sky – This was in my original list, but this movie is more touchy-feely. Interesting movie and one of my favorite ones, but not a geek masterpiece.

Vetoed Out
H2G2 (the book rocks, the movie makes you want to throw rocks)
Star Wars
Matrix 3

Melhhuan recommened Event Horizon. I have heard of it, have not seen it yet. Thanks Melhhuan!

Comprehensive Geek's Guide to Movies (M-P)

Matrix 1 &2 (1999) IMDB Rating 8.7/10
The movie that shook the geek world. Stunning special effects, plot that would make Escher blush, software rules the world (literally)– ultimate geek paradise. One of my favorite movies that I don’t watch too often in the fear that I might feel I have outgrown it. I liked Matrix 2 more, actually. Loved the whole restaurant scene with doors and the keymaker. All very convoluted. Just like a mobius strip. So many fascinating undercurrents. I want to pretend Matrix 3 never happened. A horrendous movie to boot – the only scene I actually liked was the train scene with Kamala and her father. If you haven’t seen the movie(s), I demand you go and watch it (them) NOW!!.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) IMDB Rating 8.5/10
Geek classic. Cult following. Absurd. The movie, not the following. We have a huge framed poster of the movie hanging on a wall in our family room. Need I say more? Ofcourse I do. Because if I don’t the layout of the post will be all screwed up. So, as I was saying, if you haven’t watched it, it can be safely assumed that you are not a true geek. No, wait, let’s rephrase that, if you haven’t watched it, I will be kind and tell you to go watch it. If you have watched AND you did not like it, you will be booted from the geekdom into, well another dom where they don’t watch Monty Python. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it!

Office Space (1999) IMDB Rating 7.9/10
Programmer – check. Software company - check, Cube dweller-check, Caffeine -check. Annoying boss – everyone make their own assessment here. A hilarious comedy about software engineers and rebellion. A movie software geeks (are there any other kind left these days?) can identify with. Subplot involves hacking activity. This movie is all about the 90s software culture. Start ups, California, bad clothes and goatees.

Pi (1998) IMDB Rating 7.6/10
Ok I thought long and hard if this movie made the cut. BigGeek didn’t think so, I thought it did. Then thought it didn’t, then thought it did again. I spent so much time thinking about this movie that I was a weary, exhausted, worn-out, fatigued deatbeat. So I decide to include it and see how many of you had seen it and what you thought of it. Directed by Darren Arnofsky and shot in a high contrast B/W film stock, this is a low budget film with big budget aspirations. The movie is a story of a mathematician (genius, obviously) who works with number-theory to find patterns in the stock market. If you are a math enthusiast, you will roll your eyes because this movie is the math equivalent of the first chapter of a high school math book. But it is an interesting movie nevertheless for it has some interesting themes going on, despite the clichéd representation of a mathematician (early PhD, paranoid, socially awkward, I mean puh-lease). I learnt about a game called “Go” because of this movie. Definitely a worth see.

Next post: Star trek – the first contact, Star Trek, Total Recall, Vanilla Sky

Comprehensive Geek's Guide to Movies (C-G)

Contact (1997) IMDB Rating 7.3/10
Ok, his one is right about where IMDB rates it. Based on a novel by Carl Sagan, the movie is a story of an astronomer who discovers signals from an alien intelligence to build a machine. Nobody has any idea what the machine does. Is it meant to communicate or destroy? I liked the movie because it gives a non-traditional view of aliens. I think that non-traditional view has since become not that non-traditional. The movie is very intense. The only flaw is that is takes itself very seriously. But it is a good, interesting movie to watch and it will put you in a nice wow-haze for a day afterwards.

Dr. Strangelove (1964) IMDB Rating 8.7/10
I wasn’t sure if the Kubrick masterpiece was a geek movie. But in the end thought it was. It presents in a very absurdly comic manner the possibility of total annihilation due to nuclear warfare. This movie, I thought was a comic exaggeration of the “what-if”, but a year or so ago, I watched a Trinity and Beyond, a documentary about early experiments with nuclear weapons. I was gobsmacked to see the US military testing nukes and watching it from 10 miles. People back then really had no idea. (Also see this criticality accident that caused death of scientist called Lois Slatin due to irradiation back in 1946.)

Dude, where is my car (2000) IMDB Rating 5.0/10
No, no, no. not 5.0. Come on! This is one hilarious comedy. Absurd, crazy right up the Bill and Ted or Buckaroo alley. An amazing spoof of main stream sci-fi. The movie starts when two dopeheads wake up after a wild night of partying and can’t remember where they parked their car. While on their quest to find their car, they encounter many strange people. A transsexual stripper, street gangs, alien-seeking zombies, drop-dead gorgeous aliens. You name it, this movie has it. This is an immortal movie. Great lines. Sweet!

The Fifth Element (1997) IMDB Rating 7.4/10
I can never get tired of watching this movie. Or watching Bruce Willis. This is more main stream sci-fi than say Contact, it is a very well-made, slick film based in the distant future of 2200 where NYC is dirtier than ever and interplanetary travel is as common as jumping on a plane. Although the plot is quite predictable, the movie has an awesome feel-good factor because well, the Earth has risen to defend us from evil. And the fact that the US President is a shown as a black man – which is a reality today. Awesome movie.

Gattaca (1997) IMDB Rating 7.8/10
Again underrated. The movie is set in a future where genetically designed babies are common and genes determine your standing in life. Vincent is a naturally born baby, not genetically enhanced and according to the geneticists, will not make it to 30. He works as a janitor for Gattaca Corp. , an Aerospace company and dreams of being an astronaut. An intense movie, it has lots of very interesting scientific and ethical and philosophical undercurrents. One of my favorite movies. But its not your casual Friday night reel. This movie will make you unsettled and you will go back to it again and again, days after you have seen it.

Next post: Matrix (1&2 only), Monty Python, Office Space, Pi

Comprehensive Geek's Guide to Movies (A-B)

Aeon Flux (2005) IMDB Rating 5.5/10.
Frankly, this movie deserves a better rating and the world needs more geeks. I totally enjoyed the movie. It starts out as a futuristic action movie, but ends on a very interesting note about birth and such. I don’t want to give away more because there is a nice suspense here and any more detail would be nothing short of spoilers. All I say is that if you are looking for a good Friday night movie, and have exhausted everything else on your list, watch this. You won’t be disappointed.

Apollo 13 (1995) 7.5/10
Ok, by now, I have stopped taking IMDB ratings seriously. Because, in my books, this movies rates a 9 or more. Based on a true story of the third manned mission to the moon by NASA in 1970, it was termed as a “successful failure”. There was an onboard explosion in one of the service modules of the craft, but the crew with their ingenuity and sheer bravery, managed to reach back safely to earth. This movie was a reminder about the perils of space exploration – we are ages away from Star Trek like ships, but I would like to think we are getting there. It is in part because of astronauts like Lovell, Swigert and Haize, science continues its climb. A must, must see.

Back to the future (1985) IMDB Rating 8.5/10
One of the best sci-fi comedies. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it has time travel, time travel contraptions and funny paradoxes. The movie has cult following. The original movie ahs two sequels, out of which the second one is a bit weak with Marty’s family problems knocking down the otherwise feel-good factorof the movies.



Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure (1989) IMDB Rating 6.7/10
This movie, if you haven’t seen it is an undiscovered comedy, sci-fi treasure. Oh, I am so jealous of you now. Two ridiculously dopey high school students (one of them is, yes, Keanu Reeves) travel in time to complete a history report. Directed by Stephen Herek, this sci-fi laugh out loud, absurdity will have you clutching you stomach as you writhe in mirth. That funny. The sequel (Bill and Ted’s bogus journey) is awesome too, albeit not as light hearted as the first movie. Party on, dudes.

Buckaroo Banzai and his adventures across the 8th dimension. (1984) IMDB Rating 6.0/10
What the hell is wrong with IMDB? 6.0? Where are the geeks who will appreciate this completely madcap, absurd gem? Buckaroo is a physicist/neuro-surgeon/black belt kungfoo master/world class rock musician and more. He finds a way to go through solid matter (based on the assumption that matter is 80% space). He does, but finds that the 80% space is actually another dimension. This is one crazy awesome movie. Lotsa inside jokes which you will get if you are a true fan of sci-fi. Great lines. Absurd. I mean a character in the movie is called New Jersey and several others are called BigBoote. Not for a wanna be geek. Such wackiness is reserved for the true-blue-nerd.

Next week C-G: Contact, Dr.Strangelove, Dude where is my car, The fifth element, Gattaca.

Troy and Bourne Again

What a wonderful weekend this was. Apart from the fact that Aie left, it was wonderful. Since we won’t be having another movie date till Christmas eve at least, BigGeek and I decided the see the Bourne Ultimatum on Friday while Aie babysat Chip. I am glad I suffer from memory loss of sorts because I had completely forgotten how the third book ended. I am a sucker for action movies and armed with a ginormus (and criminally overpriced) bag of popcorn, we spent the best two hours we had done in a while. I am not going to give away the movie, but it is one of the best triquels I have seen. And of course, Matt Damon rocks.

By Saturday noon, I was done with all laundry- folded and put away, ran some errands –buying more underwear for Chip, since his daycare throws away chaddis with poopy accidents. Came back home to a nice dinner and another movie – Troy. I am a sucker for period films- Gladiator is my personal favorite. I love the costumes and the sets (and often hate the lines, especially when they speak with an accent which is supposed to be a pseudo-foreign language) Big Geek opened up the laptop and gave me all the ancillary bits and pieces to the epic which I thought was a wonderful way to see a movie like Troy - a 360 degree experience.

John Lennon once said. “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” I strive to have the perfect life. Cooking wholesome meals, meaningful time spent with BigGeek and Chip, going on vacations, catching up on my reading list, gardening, going out with friends. But every once in a while, a shadow of doubt crosses the mind. Is it enough? Can more be done? Is it all in vain? And every once in a while, a small, insignificant incident not only answers all these questions, but for some reason makes a lasting impression. Like last night after dinner. BigGeek, Chip and I dug into a big bowl of watermelon while catching on the Sunday newspaper. My face was hidden by the comics page when BigGeek brought a fork with a big juicy piece of water melon and said, “A sweet delivery for you!” As I chomped away at the fruit, both BigGeek’s and my face hidden, Chip pokes his face from under the newspaper, and with a sly smile and a twinkle in his eyes, goes, “Ay, ay, ay!!”