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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 function of life is survival."
Whether you love the works of best-selling author Stephenie Meyer or not, there's no denying the incredible influence her Twilight series of books, and the movies based on them, has had on the horror genre and vampires, in particular. Meyer's tale of the star-crossed lovers Edward and Bella transformed the concept of vampires as unholy, unclean monsters to be feared and reviled into beautiful, tragic creatures capable of undying love. And, if the new movie based on one of her books, The Host, is successful, Meyer might well accomplish the same thing with alien invaders that she accomplished with vampires, ushering in a new wave of romantic alien possession movies.
Until then, we are left with the legacy of the invading lifeforms that want to take over our bodies and minds in alien possession movies being the stuff of nightmares, rather than of fairy tales: malevolent, insidious, revolting creatures that you would much rather terminate than take out on a date. Help us rank the creepiest, the scariest, the all-around best movies about alien possession.
Rate the Top 10 Best Alien Possession Movies >>
Posted 03.04.13 by BrentJS -
Which promising movies fell shortest of expectations?
When we first heard the news that J.J. Abrams had been hired by Disney to continue the adventures of Luke Skywalker and company as the director of Star Wars: Episode VII, we were almost beside ourselves with enthusiasm. After all, as the director of Star Trek (2009), Abrams proved that he could revitalize a classic sci-fi franchise while remaining true to its core concepts and respectful of its legacy. Added to that the fact that Abrams will be shooting from a script written by Academy Award-winner Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) and Episode VII is bound to be the greatest Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi, right? We'll see. We're keeping our fingers crossed, but gearing down from "enthusiastic" to "hopefully optimistic."
Studios don't set out to make bad movies, yet they churn them out each and every year. Sure, most bad movies are doomed from the get-go, be they saddled with a bad script, a director who lacks vision, a cast made up of eye candy instead of actors, or some combination thereof, but even movies that seem to have everything going for them can still turn out to be dreadful. A movie about cowboys fighting aliens starring Indiana Jones and James Bond directed by the man who brought us Iron Man? Sounds awesome! Too bad Cowboys and Aliens turned out to be just another one of those movies that should have been great, but ultimately left us feeling unsatisfied and disappointed.
You've griped about them to your friends, now tell us which movies you found to be the biggest disappointments, the ones that simply failed to live up to expectations.
Rate the Top 10 Most Disappointing Movies >>
Posted 01.25.13 by BrentJS -
Science fiction is replete with Earthlike alien planets, from Queen Amidala's lush Naboo in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, to Spock's (Zachary Quinto) ill-fated Vulcan in Star Trek. In science reality, however, Earthlike alien planets are nothing more than that, fiction. In fact, the first extrasolar planet revolving around a sunlike star wasn't even discovered until 1995 and nothing even closely resembling our home has been found...yet. Based on the latest analysis of data from NASA's Kepler mission, scientists now believe our galaxy contains "tens of billions" of planets similar to our own and Earth's first "twin" will likely be discovered this year.
Another Earth? >> Posted 01.09.13 by BrentJS -
Which of this year's movies deserve the industry’s highest honor?
This has been an incredible year for movie lovers, especially fans of genre movies. There were fewer superheroes on the big screen, but they ruled the box office, nonetheless, with smartly written, ingeniously directed and just plain fun comic book adaptations coming in first, second, and fifth on the list of the highest-grossing movies of the year. Sci-fi fans were made to suffer through a couple of early duds, but had their patience rewarded with the return of some classic characters and one of the most influential directors to work in the genre after a thirty-year hiatus. Fantasy fans got to choose between whimsical and warrior Snow Whites, and the world's most popular vampire couple had a baby, not to mention that the greatest high fantasy franchise of all time returns to theaters this month after a decade slumbering in the Shire. (Horror fans got the short end of the stake stick this year, with too many sequels and not enough original content.)
Women continued to assert themselves in 2012, with more female-driven comedies getting laughs for the kinds of jokes once reserved for men, and the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director is almost a sure thing for another nomination. Independent studios also made a splash this year, turning out several engaging, moving, and downright brilliant dramas that are every bit as good as the big studio dramas with A-list directors.
Which movies were the best? Which ones deserve the honor of being nominated for the movie industry's top prize? That's up to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to decide, but we want to know what you think. Ignore genre and tell us which movies deserve to be nominated for Oscars, whether for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature or Best Documentary.
Top 10 Most Oscar-Worthy Movies of 2012 >>
Posted 12.11.12 by BrentJS -
"Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all." — William Faulkner
Thanksgiving Day is a special holiday. It's that one day of the year where we all get to skip work to gather with our friends and family members and simply reflect on the things in our lives that we have to be thankful for...and then watch NFL football and consume massive quantities of "harvest" food. At ReelzChannel, we're all about movies, so Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete if we didn't take the time to be thankful for all of the great new movies of the year. If you're a movie person, then we consider you part of our extended family. So, before you have that third helping of stuffing and pass out on the couch from all of the tryptophan in the turkey, take a moment to share with us the movies that have excited, thrilled, scared, and moved you in 2012.
Rate the Top 10 Movies to Be Thankful for This Year >>
Posted 11.22.12 by BrentJS -
What would it be like to communicate with another intelligent species, one not of this earth? Mankind has been contemplating that question since before the concept of "aliens" entered our cultural lexicon. Despite the assertions of religous leaders, empirical scientists and government officials that aliens are not real and that we have not been visited by UFOs, more than 36% of Americans — 80 million people! — believe that aliens, or E.B.E.'s (Extraterrestrial Biological Entities), have visited the earth, with nearly 80% of those surveyed saying that the government is keeping information about UFOs and aliens from the public.
Skeptics can always punch holes in blurry video tapes and eyewitness accounts of aliens, but what if we received a message from a foreign intelligence or intercepted one of their radio transmissions? Receiving such a message or signal is a major plot point of several of the best sci-fi movies, but the strange truth is that we may have already received a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence.
E.T. Phone...Us? >> Posted 11.19.12 by BrentJS -
Polarizing sci-fi flick Prometheus may not have been one of the best movies of the summer to some, but it was certainly one of the most talked about movies, with audiences pouring over the many unexplained (or should we say vague) details. Ostensibly a prequel to director Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi classic Alien (or, considering the sequel that's in the works, Prometheus is actually the prequel to the prequel to Alien), the DVD and Blu-Ray for Prometheus is hitting shelves today, prompting us to consider which of Ridley Scott's leading ladies was the bigger bad-ass: Prometheus' Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) or Alien's Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)?
The Rules: Though Prometheus is coming close to franchise-status with the eventual Prometheus 2 on the way, it wouldn't be fair to compare Rapace's Shaw with the entirety of Weaver's appearances as Ripley, so we'll just compare Weaver's Ripley from the original Alien and not the cargo-loading, Newt-obsessed, bald and basketball-savvy Ripley that arrived in later sequels. Gotta make it a fair fight.
check out the characters' strengths and weaknesses before weighing in on our poll >> Posted 10.09.12 by Ryan -
"Big things have small beginnings."
Travel to the stars to discover the origin of life on Earth and the answers to the most important questions facing humanity, but beware— you might not like the answers.
Sci-fi fan? Horror fan? We've got what you need! >> Posted 10.09.12 by BrentJS -
A crippled hero rises to save his city one last time. A team of scientists seeking God in the depths of space instead discover pure evil. A fairy tale princess becomes a warrior and saves herself. A foul-mouthed teddy bear plays the white trash name game. This summer's selection of movie releases were filled with triumphant, terrifying, inspiring and hilarious moments.
The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises obliterated the popular myth that the superhero action genre had run its course. Ted proved that Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is even funnier when he doesn't have to censor himself. Moonrise Kindom cemented Wes Anderson as the indie king of whimsical, witty comedies with a heart. Each of these movies were fantastic in their own ways, but how do they stack up against each other? Help us rate the Top 10 Best Movies of the 2012 summer movie season.
Rate the Top 10 Best Movies >>
Posted 09.26.12 by BrentJS