Last week I posted a small snippet of an image (just a few posts down) and said it had something to do with a cool new project I’m working on. There were a lot of great guesses, but no one quite hit the nail on the head (and, no, as far as I am aware no one is redoing the visual effects from “First Contact”). In about a week I’ll blow the lid off, but in the meantime I thought I’d be a cruel, cruel man and post another hint. See what you can make of it!
I guess it should come as no surprise that a sci-fi nerd has a secret fetish for pop songs with robot vocals. From ELO to Daft Punk, I’m a sucker for music that features a Cylon-esque crooner! Heavy vocoder and other vocal processing fell out of favor for quite a while, but Cher (with “Life After Love”) and the aforementioned cyberpunk techno duo Daft Punk paved the way for a new generation of post-modern lead singers on a microchip tip. The only trouble is finding them! That’s where all of you can help…
Hey gang! You may have noticed a distinct lack of postings lately… no, I haven’t been kidnapped by Borellian Noman or “silenced” by JJ Abrams, but I have been hard at work on a very cool new project that is slated to premiere in a few short weeks at San Diego Comic Con. At the moment, mum’s the word, but I promise to fill all of you in on the details shortly before the rest of the world finds out. Suffice it to say that I’m giddy with excitement and can promise you that what we’re about to unleash boldly goes where no one has gone before. The image above is a tiny hint of what we’ve got in store, so stay tuned!
Eventually I’ll find the time to write a full review of the recently released “Moon,” but I wanted to at least get a post up telling all of you to go see it immediately. This $5 million dollar wonder is easily the best sci-fi movie of the summer, and I guarantee it will earn a place in history right next to 2001, Alien and Blade Runner. It’s not often we get a genre film that’s entertaining, thought-provoking and will have you and your friends in heated, philisophical debate the moment the lights come up. “Moon” has a terrific story, lots of sci-ficandy and a tour-de-force performance by Sam Rockwell that should make the Oscar folks take notice of one of our own. Go see it. Now. [please, no spoilers in the comments section – I’ll write a review soon and we can have a free for all then]. Trust me, this is the one everyone’s going to be talking about for years to come.
–
Last Saturday night the Aero Theater in Santa Monica was packed with hardcore original-series Battlestar fans, ready to take in all three feature length movies (two of which had never been screened in the US). Not only was the lobby was packed with jaw-dropping models (sadly, not the bikini-clad type), a rare treat was in store and several special guests were in the house…
Continue reading ‘galactica marathon, supermodels thrill crowd’
There’s been so much attention focused on Star Trek this summer, people have barely taken notice of the other popular sci-fi television franchise that has been rebooted into a big-budget feature film: Land of the Lost. Despite the disparity in popularity, these shows sit pretty much right next to each other on the “memory lane” shelf for a lot of folks. Anyone in their late thirties to early forties probably grew up watching both simultaneously, since Land of the Lost aired at around the same time that Star Trek was reaching its apex of initial popularity.* It makes sense that sci-fi fans would enjoy both, since, while on the surface, the shows appear to be entirely different, they have a lot more in common than you might think…
Continue reading ‘movie review: land of the lost (vs star trek)’
This coming Saturday (June 20, 2009) the American Cinemateque’s Aero Theater in Santa Monica will be screening the single greatest night of filmed entertainment in motion picture history: for this first time ever in this country, not one, not two, but all three old school Battlestar Galactica feature films will be shown. What’s that? You knew the original pilot was shown in theaters in Sensurround but what the hell is all this gibberish about three feature films? Read on, old friend…
Continue reading ‘greatest night at the movies – ever (updated)’
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t watched the second half of the Battlestar Galactica’s 4th (and final) season, you may want to stop reading now.
After discovering the depressing wasteland that turned out to be Earth, the crew of the Galactica did some digging as part of their search for answers about the burnt-out planet’s past. One key find was an excavated, centuries-old Cylon head (as seen below in a scene from the episode). This “ancient Cylon” was only on screen for a few seconds so viewers never really a very good a look at it… until now!
There’s been a lot of talk about Battlestar Galactica and its shiny metal co-stars of late, and it’s all coming to a head on Friday (June 12) when the 92nd street Y in Manhattan hosts a panel entitled Battlestar Galactica: Cyborgs on the Horizon. The discussion will feature several cast members from BSG as well as real live roboticists all trying to answer the question “is the robot uprising that will spell doom for us all inevitable?” Galactica Sitrep has two interviews with experts in the field who naively believe that a robot rebellion is about as likely as a reboot of Galactica 1980. While it’s all fine and dandy to play Mr. Optimist and dismiss the repeated warnings of our favorite movies and TV shows, one question begs to be asked – what do we do if they’re wrong? Luckily for all of us, I’ve got the answer.
A few days ago a trailer was released for The Old Republic, an upcoming Star Wars MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game). It’s a pretty impressive piece of animation and while it doesn’t actually represent gameplay, it has served its purpose – to get people excited about the game. For the most part, the mini-movie is an action piece pitting Jedi vs Sith and if you’re looking for a three minute fix of Star Wars action, you’ll be hard pressed to do better. Most of the comments being left by fans on the websites are along the lines of “wow, this is so much better than anything in the prequels, too bad the movies weren’t like this!” But what do the folks at DarthMojo think? Let’s find out…
Continue reading ‘new star wars trailer released, fans go apeshit’
What happens when you make a movie within a studio system that’s not run by accountants or marketing people, but run by film makers? You get “Up,” the latest CGI-animated feature from 3D juggernaut Pixar. “Up” isn’t simply the best Pixar film to date – it’s a great movie, period. I don’t care if you think “cartoons” aren’t for you or if you tend to steer clear of “kids movies,” this is something everyone who likes movies will love.
Thirty two years ago today (May 25, 1977) The Force was born and Star Trek finally got some competition. Thanks to George Lucas, an entire generation suddenly received their calling, as just about everyone I know who’s involved in some sort of creative occupation owes their inspiration to the original trilogy. For some inexplicable reason, “The Homing Beacon” (the official site’s newsletter) is trying to get people to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Episode One, but the cool kids know the lucky numbers are 4, 5 and 6.
It sucked sucked sucked sucked SUCKED.
I saw it Friday night at Grauman’s Chinese theater in H0llywood, the unofficial home of genre movies. Basically, if you’re a fan and live anywhere near Hollywood, it’s an unwritten law that if a new sci-fi movie opens at the Chinese, that’s where you must go to see it. The theater is big and loud and you’re guaranteed to have an audience of die-hards that love to love movies like this.
But the built-in affection of the opening night crowd wasn’t enough to stop them from laughing not once, but TWICE at overly ridiculous moments in the film…
Continue reading ‘movie review: terminator salvation (spoiler-free)’
Last night in Hollywood, Creative Screenwriting editor Jeff Goldsmith hosted a special screening of the new Star Trek movie, followed by a Q&A with writers Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci. While I have yet to publish my official review, readers are aware that, while I found the film to be entertaining, I felt it was somewhat lacking in depth. I attended tonight’s screening in the hopes that the writing duo would be grilled about fans’ criticism, and thankfully, Mr. Goldsmith did not disappoint. The duo spoke about their history, how they approach writing and their personal experiences with last year’s strike, but the heat was turned up when Jeff pulled out a hefty printout of fan questions gathered from around the net, designed to help all of us get a better insight into the most common complaints people have had about the new movie….
Continue reading ‘Trek scribes speak, complaints addressed – UPDATED’
Well, ladies and gentlegeeks, the time is finally at hand. Today the new STAR TREK movie opens. However, as I’m sure everyone is aware, this is more than just a highly anticipated summer blockbuster – if Paramount has its way, we are playing witness to the dawn of the Third Age of Trek. Father/creator Rodenberry had his say, Berman helmed the Second Coming and now all eyes are on Abrams to see just how well his ass fits in the command chair. I’m sure most DarthMojo readers will see the film within the next 48 hours, so you mission (should you choose to accept it), will be to report back here and tell us if this movie is a one-shot wonder or if indeed JJ has breathed new life into the ‘old girl… I’ll lead off the comments and tell you what I’m expecting….
Anyone out there remember the KLF? Back in the early 90s, they more or less defined the pop-techno genre, bringing electronic beats to the masses by scoring several chart hits, most notably 3am Eternal. What you probably don’t know is that the KLF were really a duo of UK-based performance artists who experimented heavily with music and the nature of pop culture icons. They played around with sampling before most people even knew what it was and had all copies of their first album, 1987, destroyed (by court order) for sampling too many well-known pop songs. Their success was entirely accidental, and, having no desire to actually become pop stars, they announced (while on top of the charts) that they were leaving the music business and deleted their back-catalog. Several years later, under the name K-Foundation, they burned the last million pounds they had earned as the KLF. But they didn’t completely stop making music…
Yesterday morning, New York and New Jersey residents had the felgercarb scared out of them when F16 fighter jets and a 747 painted up like Air Force One buzzed lower Manhattan and New Jersey’s Goldman Sachs Tower (the state’s tallest building). The planes flew at low altitude, rattling windows, stopping traffic and panicking thousands who spontaneously began evacuating their homes, offices and bowels. Was it another terrorist attack? No, thank god. A plane in distress? Nope. A training exercise intended to safeguard American soil? Wrong again! The reason for the flyover that struck fear into the heart of a city still on edge was a photo op. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the armed forces sailed these planes dangerously close to occupied buildings – without issuing an advance warning – so they could snap a couple of cool publicity pictures. Not only was this stunt thoughtless and cruel, it was totally unnecessary – haven’t the US government heard of CGI yet? Continue reading ‘note to military: we have CGI now’
Darth Mojo 
