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Big Changes Are Underway For Sci-Fi Squad

By Sci-Fi Squad Staff (Subscribe to Sci-Fi Squad Staff's posts), Posted Sep 15th 2010 10:15AM
Filed under: Movie News, Event Calendar, Sci-Fi

As you've no doubt noticed by now, Sci-Fi Squad is owned by Aol's Moviefone. Well, Moviefone is in the midst of some massive under-the-hood remodeling and the changes will be affecting both Horror Squad and Sci-Fi Squad. Wednesday will be a bit of a transitional day for us and then when you return on Thursday you'll notice that things look a whole lot different.

Our content isn't going anywhere (everything we've written in the past will simply be found at Moviefone now) and neither are our writers, we're basically just changing addresses. So please stick with us during the migration. It may initially be a bit awkward as we all get a feel for the new home, but it won't be long before we find our sci-fi groove at Moviefone.

Thanks,

The Sci-Fi Squad Staff

SDCC Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

By Sci-Fi Squad Staff (Subscribe to Sci-Fi Squad Staff's posts), Posted Jul 23rd 2010 3:25PM
Filed under: Movie Reviews, Reviews, Sci-Fi

[Written by Todd Gilchrist]

As this summer season has repeatedly proven, some movies produce odd, unexpected, and often deeply polarizing reviews. But while it's certainly the onus of any critic to protect his or her integrity and defend that reaction, there are some of these movies whose reviews I'd argue are really just kind of wrong, while others, no matter how extreme or opposite, are probably all equally right. And Scott Pilgrim vs. The World decidedly falls into the latter category.

Although the film is a glorious celebration of video games, a sweet little twentysomething romance, and at its most intimate, a subtle and smart coming of age story, Edgar Wright's adaptation of the beloved graphic novel series of the same name is going to generate as many pans as it does praise, primarily because some viewers may feel it cuts out a deeper emotional connection in the service of rendering some of the most razor-sharp pop-cultural specificity in recent memory. But even though I can't help but pre-emptively understand if some of my colleagues argue that it's too generationally narrow or even attention-deficient to leave a lasting impression, I really, really liked Scott Pilgrim, and think that it's one of the most technically astounding and yet personally resonant movies of the year.

Read the rest of this review at Cinematical.

First Official Teaser for Festival Favorite 'Monsters'

By Sci-Fi Squad Staff (Subscribe to Sci-Fi Squad Staff's posts), Posted Jul 23rd 2010 2:15PM
Filed under: Trailers/Clips, Sci-Fi

[Written by Joe Utichi.]

I may only have spent a couple of months with Cinematical, but if you've read more than a few of my posts in that time you've probably heard me banging on about the brilliance of Gareth Edwards's Monsters, which I saw at this year's Edinburgh Film Festival in June.

IGN today has your first proper look at the film, courtesy of a brand new teaser trailer, in which I'm quoted banging on about its brilliance yet again. But it can't be understated: Monsters is genuinely one of the most exciting debut feature films I've seen in my career, and it marks the arrival of a talent whose ability to handle epic scale whilst still maintaining an emotional core is sorely lacking from most of his Hollywood competitors.

Read the rest of this post and see the Monsters trailer at Cinematical.

Captain America Nabs a Sidekick

By Sci-Fi Squad Staff (Subscribe to Sci-Fi Squad Staff's posts), Posted Apr 2nd 2010 1:03PM
Filed under: Movie News, News/Reactions, Sci-Fi
By: Elisabeth Rappe

Now that the nail-biting tension of waiting to see who would play Captain America is over, watching the rest of the cast fill out will just be trivial fun. We're watching the pieces of the Marvel Universe come together, and the wisest can try to start predicting where all these installments will go. The latest bit of casting news is quite a cool addition to the universe, as THR's Heat Vision reports that The First Avenger: Captain America has a sidekick in Bucky Barnes. He will be played by up-and-comer Sebastian Stan. (You may recognize him from his work in Hot Tub Time Machine.)

Bucky Barnes is no goofy Robin character, though. Young James "Bucky" Buchanan Barnes was an orphan, the son of a soldier killed during a training exercise. He kept hanging around U.S. Army Camp Lehigh until he was adopted as a sort of mascot, and was even given a uniform, although he was too young to enlist just yet. He befriends Private Steve Rogers, discovers he's the Captain America that he eagerly reads about, and demands to accompany him on missions. The military says "What great propaganda!" and happily ships off this young teenager alongside Cap. This ends up having tragic consequences. The loss of Bucky is why no one else in the Marvel Universe digs adopting teenage sidekicks. Of course, as no one ever stays dead, Bucky eventually came back as the Winter Soldier, a Soviet operative. But again, no one stays on the wrong side in the Marvel Universe for very long.

Read the rest over at Cinematical

Is Will Smith Returning for Two Independence Day Sequels?

By Sci-Fi Squad Staff (Subscribe to Sci-Fi Squad Staff's posts), Posted Mar 30th 2010 1:15PM
Filed under: Movie News, News/Reactions, Sci-Fi
By Elisabeth Rappe

I remember the summer of 1996 and Independence Day so vividly, mainly because the movie scared the crap out of me thanks to walking out to a rainstorm that looked exactly like that which preceded the monster UFOs. Good times. Good nightmares. I also remember there was a ton of sequel talk at the time, and ID4 certainly seemed set up for it. But it never happened, and 9/11 kind of took the fun out of seeing landmarks leveled anyway.

But now the franchise might be alive again, according to IESB.net. It's only been 14 years, but oh well. The hangup has always been both Will Smith's enormous salary and Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's then-reluctance to return to the franchise. But now 20th Century Fox is rolling in Avatar money, and thinks it would be fun to spend some of it on a revival of bad aliens. IESB says Smith is supposedly locked in for two Independence Day installments, and that they may even shoot back to back in the Pirates of the Caribbean and Matrix fashion. They caution it's not official at this point, though.

Read the rest over at Cinematical

Terror Tapes (Special Sci-Fi Squad Edition): Split Second

By Sci-Fi Squad Staff (Subscribe to Sci-Fi Squad Staff's posts), Posted Jan 19th 2010 2:40PM
Filed under: Movie Reviews, Reviews, Sci-Fi
Greetings fellow cinephiles, Brian Salisbury of Horror Squad here; Sci-Fi Squad's twisted sibling. Over on our side of the blogosphere, I operate a weekly feature focusing on horror movies on VHS that never graduated to DVD or are no longer readily available as such. It's called Terror Tapes and it has sent me wading waist-deep through some of the worst garbage the local Austin video stores have to offer. There have been a smattering of gems among the waste, but for the most part these films emphatically argue against their own upgrade.

I received a film for Christmas that I have desperately wanted to see ever since saw the cover art on the rental shelf when I was younger. It was called Split Second and featured an alarmingly nonchalant Rutger Hauer strolling casually away from a badass alien monster. Once the DVD went out of print a few years ago, tracking it down became a bit arduous. Thank goodness for dead formats!

So, I thought I would do a special Sci-Fi Squad edition of Terror Tapes as Split Second certainly seems to fall under that banner far more than horror. Enjoy!
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The Best Science Fiction Films of the Decade

By Sci-Fi Squad Staff (Subscribe to Sci-Fi Squad Staff's posts), Posted Dec 11th 2009 4:02PM
Filed under: Features, Discussion Posts, Sci-Fi


It's been ten years since we crossed into the seemingly futuristic "Year 2000." While we didn't get moon colonies or hovercars, we did get a collection of amazing science fiction films, both blockbusters and indies. The staff of Sci-Fi Squad has compiled their top ten (okay, eleven) favorite films of the decade, a list that will allow you to nod your head in agreement or spit venom at us in the comments. So now, in alphabetical order...

Children of Men (2006, Dir. Alfonso Cuarón)

The opening scenes of Children of Men plunge the viewer neck-deep into an icy future with an expiration date firmly set. The human race faces extinction because women all over the world have become infertile: no children have been born for a generation. The British government endeavors to stave off chaos by deporting all foreigners, but many of its citizens have already succumbed to hopelessness and despair. Theo Faron (Clive Owen) strides through this terrible new world with a cynical air of resignation until a glimmer of light -- the possibility of a future - turns his head. Adapting a novel by P.D. James, director Alfonso Cuarón and his collaborators (notably cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and production designers Geoffrey Kirkland and Jim Clay) meticulously create a nightmarish future in which the walls are closing in, and then proceed to smash through the limitations of imagination. Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clare-Hope Ashitey, and Julianne Moore bring varying shades of humanity to their ultimately haunted characters. (Peter Martin)
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