F5.5G Leap-forward Development of Broadband in Africa The Africa Broadband Forum 2024 (BBAF 2024) was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa recently, under…
Legos, dragons and superheroes: movies to geek out to in 2014
Truth time: my favourite time of year is when I get to spend justifiable amounts of time watching trailers on YouTube. This is a tough job and someone has to do it. Every year Hollywood reminds us that the plight of the geek is its plight as well.
Last year we saw some amazing geeky movies grace the bring screen in the form of Star Trek: Into Darkness, Man of Steel and Iron Man 3. There were some disappointments such as After Earth, really M.Night? And let’s not forget that Host thing. We are hoping there are more hits than misses for Hollywood this year so we have rounded up some of the most talked about geek worthy films of 2014.
So from Hollywood’s tap of wonder, dragons, legos and some superheros are making their way to you.
Johnny Depp is in this movie, surely this is enough? No? Fine. This Science Fiction thriller follows this story of Dr. Will Caster (Depp), who is the foremost researcher in the field of artificial intelligence, of course. He is working to create a sentient machine that combines the collective intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotions (Have we learnt nothing from Battlestar?). Not everyone likes his ideas hence he is now prime target of anti-technology extremists who will do whatever it takes to stop him. Expect in their attempt to stop him, they accidentally help him to succeed. Oops.
Be honest, you have been waiting for this movie for a long time. Set against the backdrop of the LEGO universe, an ordinary minifigure named Emmet (Chris Pratt) is mistaken as the last living Master Builder who can save the LEGO universe. Okay. This sets off an adventure with an old mystic named Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), a tough young lady named Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and Batman (Will Arnett). With a bit of imagination Emmet must defeat the evil tyrant Lord Business (Will Ferrell) who is bent on destroying the nature of LEGO universe.
Darren Aronofsky is getting biblical and he is has brought with him a cast of kickass characters lead by Russell Crowe, yes he is still acting. According to Aronofsky, Noah is not a merry, faithful guy who just did what he was told and was happy to be alive after the flood. No he explains that he saw Noah as “a dark, complicated character” who experiences “real survivor’s guilt”. Well this should be an interesting take of Noah’s tale. The film also stars Jennifer Connelly as Naameh, Noah’s wife, Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather and Emma Watson as Ila, Noah’s adopted daughter.
About time they remade RobCop. Like all good robot movies, this is set in the future, the not so distant (2028) now and a multinational conglomerate, OmniCorp, is at the center of robot technology and wants to make lots of money. So they create and part-man, part-robot police officer who is going to keep the streets safe and make them lots of cash. Doesn’t quite go as planned as you can imagine. Gary Oldman is in it, so I am happy however this turns out.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Superhero time! Captain America is back and he is ready to defend your civil liberties and all that jazz. Steve Rogers seemingly peacefully in Washington, D.C. is interrupted and soon he is caught up in plot that threatens the globe. Pretty much everyone from S.H.I.E.L.D. is back because it mostly has to do with them. The Captain may have met his match in the Winter Soldier played by Sebastian Stan.
We join Hiccup and Toothless five years after the first movie, where they successfully united dragons and Vikings on the island of Berk. While adventuring through the sky, they discover a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider and the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace. Let the battle for peace commence.
Oh look, another X-Men movie. It must be nice for Hugh Jackman knowing he will always have a job playing Wolverine. The premise: the X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods. The characters from the original X-Men film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from X-Men: First Class in a battle that must change the past — to save their future. See, days of future past.
Space fun time. Based on the 2008 comic, in a part of space far far away, an American pilot named Peter Quill finds himself the object of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by the villainous Ronan. Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a group of futuristic ex-cons including Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer and Groot. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb things get interesting.
Very little has been said about this movie but as Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut there is interest. With a cast that includes Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith, Eva Mendes and Ben Mendelsohn, the story is a fantasy neo-noir, about a single mother and her young son, and the discovery of a path to an underwater city.
It’s time for Godzilla to roam the city once more. Described as “an epic rebirth to Toho’s iconic Godzilla,” by Legendary Pictures. “This spectacular adventure pits the world’s most famous monster against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.”
The Wachowskis are back! Lana and Andy Wachowski bring us Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is an unlucky Russian immigrant who cleans toilets for a living. She encounters Caine (Channing Tatum), an interplanetary warrior whom the Queen of the Universe sent to kill Jupiter. Caine tells Jupiter that the stars were pointing to an extraordinary event on the night she was born, and that her DNA could mark her as the universe’s next leader.
Who doesn’t like the Muppet? Exactly. In a fascinating interview with Entertainment Weekly Kermit the Frog explains the movie’s plot.
“The idea of this film is that our gang is on this global tour, and we’re selling out these grand theaters all over Europe—in Berlin, Madrid, London—but we sort of get into a little bit of trouble when we run across my Doppelgänger. He’s the world’s number one criminal, Constantine, and he happens to look an awful lot like me. I won’t tell you any more than that, but let’s just say mayhem ensues.”
Matthew McConaughey is getting his science fiction on in Chris Nolan’s Interstellar, and he is fully clothed, I think. The people of the world discover a wormhole, and naturally they send a team of explorers and scientists to embark on a voyage through it to transcend previous limitations on human space travel. There is possible time travel and alternate dimensions involved but very little has been said about this film.
Personally I wish they would stop making these movies because no one ever gets it right, but you watch ’em so they make ’em. Back again Peter Parker is gearing up for what Sony Pictures terms his greatest battle yet. What’s high school without a little melodrama?
Disney is getting all kinds of villainous with its Maleficent movie. Joining the ranks of darker retellings of fairy-tales we see the story of Sleeping Beauty from the villains point of view. This story tells us what turn her evil and what can possibly save her.
Men in tiny skirts and big swords. If you loved the first 300 movies chances are you will love this one. This story takes place before, during, and after the events of 300 and centers around Themistocles and Artemisia I of Caria, as well as Xerxes I of Persia.
