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"It's the robots' world, we just live in it...for now."
Any sci-fi fan knows that the first thing an artificial intelligence does when it becomes self-aware is plot the elimination of the imperfect human beings who created it. Yet, despite this obvious knowledge, the very government that is supposed to safeguard the lives, liberties and happy pursuits of Americans could be speeding us toward a real-world "Robopocalypse" by funding research for a project that aims to make computers more human-like by designing them to teach themselves.
MORE >> Posted 03.29.13 by BrentJS -
"I see everything."
The field of robotics took another giant leap forward recently, with the creation of Rex, a "bionic man" with fully functional artificial human organs and lifelike features, bringing science reality ever closer to the science fiction depicted in movies. As incredible as it sounds, humanoid robots, or androids (just "droids" if you're George Lucas), like Rex have been appearing on screen since well before Czech writer Karel Capek gave the English language a name for them in his 1920 sci-fi play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), with the human simulacrum Hadaly a featured character in the 1896 French movie L'Eve Futur (The Future Eve). Hundreds of movies have included androids — and their part man, part machine, cyborg cousins — since Hadaly, but which ones were the best? Help us rank the movies with the coolest, the baddest, the sexiest, the deadliest, the most terrifying androids and cyborgs.
Rate the Top 10 Best Android & Cyborg Movies >>
Posted 03.06.13 by BrentJS -
In the prosperous, optimistic days that followed World War II, Americans dreamed of a utopian future made possible by advances in technology. In this gleaming future, all menial labor would be performed by robot servants, sparking a new Renaissance as Americans found themselves unfettered from the need to work. But, during the counterculture movement of the 1960s and '70s, when many Americans began to distrust the government and other established institutions, robots and technology were increasingly viewed with suspicion and paranoia. Increasingly, visions of the future of human-robot relations tended toward the antagonistic, if not the apocalyptic, with the smarter, faster, stronger machines intent on supplanting human beings or wiping us out, altogether.
Whether you believe that we humans will always be able to keep our technology on a leash or you're of the variety that predict we will inevitably be challenged for supremacy of the earth by our humanoid creations, both of those future scenarios recently became closer to reality with the unveiling last month of the "world's most high-tech humanoid," a robot with lifelike features and expressions and working artificial human organs.
the future has arrived >> Posted 03.05.13 by BrentJS -
"The force is strong with this one."
The new year has brought one piece of incredible movie news after another for sci-fi fans, but none has sparked as much debate as Disney’s plans for its recently acquired Lucasfilm assets and the Star Wars movie franchise. January was dominated by questions and rumors about who would be chosen to direct the sequel to Return of the Jedi, currently titled simply Star Wars: Episode VII, with the month closing out with fiery debates over whether the man who reignited the Star Trek franchise for Paramount, J.J. Abrams, was the right choice to reignite Star Wars for Disney. Only eight days into February and the internet is practically melting down over the news that Disney is also developing solo movies featuring a young Han Solo and the mysterious bounty hunter Boba Fett.
With Star Wars on our minds, we decided that this would be a fitting time to find out how you would rank the original trilogy of movies — Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi — against other sci-fi movies of the same era. Put down those sabacc cards, pour yourself a glass of blue milk and choose the best sci-fi movies of the 1970s and '80s.
Rate the Top 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies (1970s - 1980s) >>
Posted 02.08.13 by BrentJS -
So, you're looking at the movie listings for this coming weekend and The Last Stand catches your eye. You've heard that it's legendary bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-Governator-turned-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's first headlining role in an action movie since Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines back in 2003, but you were either too young to fully appreciate Ah-nuld in his prime or you simply weren't into "those types of movies" back in the day and now you're afraid if you go see the movie with your friends you'll look like a big dork when they start quoting lines from his old movies and you're clueless. Never fear, you can learn everything you need to know to be conversant in Schwarzenegger in less than 8 hours of moviewatching with the prepper course we've put together for you.
muscle up on your Schwarzenegger knowledge with these flicks >> Posted 01.15.13 by BrentJS -
"I'll be back [for leftovers]."
Unless you're a Black Friday, stand-in-line-before-dawn sorta person, than you probably rolled out of bed considerably later than you normally do for a Friday and immediately began plotting your first leftover turkey sandwich. Well, we've got just the thing to help keep you energized as you once again do battle with the sleep-inducing tryptophan in those turkey sandwiches — an entire day of adrenaline-fueled movie mayhem featuring six of the greatest action heroes in the history of cinema. Watch the Gratitude with Attitude Action Movie Marathon on ReelzChannel and then check-in on GetGlue to receive a limited edition sticker featuring...the Turkinator!
action movie marathonMovies nightly on Reelz, check listings
more about the marathon and the Turkinator >> Posted 11.23.12 by BrentJS -
Arnie wasn't lying when he said, "I'll be back."
The Austrian Oak, Arnie, the Governator, Ah-nuld, ...whatever you call him, Arnold Schwarzenegger is in a class all to himself. Born in Thal, Austria, in 1947, Schwarzenegger rose up from his humble background as the rebellious son of a local police chief in post-War Europe to dominate the world of professional body-building — three Mr. Universe and seven Mr. Olympia titles between 1968 and 1980 — and then he set his sights on Hollywood. Despite one mouthful of a last name and a thick accent, Schwarzenegger tackled Hollywood with the same zeal he put into bodybuilding, becoming Sylvester Stallone's chief competitor for the title of '80s action mega-star, starring in a string of monster hits that, all told, have earned over $3.8 billion at the worldwide box office.
After climbing as high as he could in U.S. politics (limited by the fact that he was born overseas), Schwarzenegger is once again in the entertainment business, popping up in a cameo role in Stallone's ode to he-man action movies, The Expendables, before playing a more significant role in The Expendables 2. Schwarzenegger will team up with Stallone again in the action-thriller The Tomb, take on Mexican drug lords as an aging small-town cop in The Last Stand and is rumored to be involved in some way with a planned fifth movie in The Terminator franchise. Whether Schwarzenegger's second act in Hollywood has a hope of matching his first remains to be seen, but let's look back on the movies that made him great and pick the best ones.
Rate the Top 10 Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies >>
Posted 10.07.12 by BrentJS -
In Looper, writer-director Rian Johnson's (Brick) new time-tripping action thriller opening this Friday, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL) plays a hitman ("looper") tasked with terminating his own future self (Bruce Willis), who is sent back in time so that there will be no trace of the crime in the future. Talk about a head trip! This plot has "time paradox" written all over it. If JGL kills Willis, wouldn't he remember that happening and try to prevent it from happening when he grows up to be Willis? And, if Willis kills JGL, wouldn't he simply cease to exist?
Looper isn't the first movie to delve into the complex moral and metaphysical conundrums inherent in time travel. In The Terminator, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent back in time by John Connor, the future leader of the resistance against the machines, and ends up becoming Connor's dad. And in Back to the Future, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) goes back in time to save his friend and is almost erased from history when his mother (Lea Thompson) starts crushing on him. Help us rate the Top 10 Mind-Bending Time Travel movies.
Click to Rate the Top Time Travel Movies >>
Posted 09.28.12 by BrentJS -
Lumberjack Films has dropped the year's best geek-love mash-up, IMHO.
Click to terminate >> Posted 09.01.12 by reelz -
In now-legendary director James Cameron's (Avatar) 1984 sci-fi classic, The Terminator, Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor, the mother of the future leader of the resistance against the machines that would eventually seek to wipe out humanity, was a classic damsel in distress, relying heavily on Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to save her from the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Seven years later, when Hamilton reprised the role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the demur waitress was replaced with a hardened combat veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and killer biceps. Did Hamilton's badass portrayal of Connor in T2 help her career or hurt it? On today's Hollywood Uncensored, Sam Rubin discusses "tough" versus "dainty" female roles with Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff and Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt.
get the scoop in their own words Fridays 12:30a PT