Scifi Methods

Justice has a price. The price is freedom. Judge Dredd is no human rights lawyer. In fact, Dredd lives in a world without lawyers, because all the lawyers are dead and now the law is created, interpreted, and enforced by the same people. No elected politicians, no trained and meticulous judges, no carefully reigned-in police officers – just black spandex [...]

Films based on lesser-known graphic novels (ie the ones that aren't Batman, Spiderman and The Avengers) can be a sticky thing to handle. Taking a story from a medium based overwhelmingly on visual style and depicted action, and transplanting it into a medium where it is easy to over-depend on visual style and action brought us creations like Sin City, 300 and The Crow. Not necessarily a bad thing, and the fact that this film is directed by the author of the graphic novel on which it as based gives it a good start, but if you summarise the other information you have about Oblivion before seeing it, it starts to become a lot more worrying...

Our first film review this year is for a film which I very nearly passed by. I was aware that the 2004 novel “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell had been a success amongst scifi readers (and the literary world in general) but was cynical about a film adaptation, believing it would be messy, convoluted and confusing. If I left the review there, it would be pretty accurate, but in retrospect it has made much more of an impact than I initially thought.

Int. day. A YOUNG INTERN enters a HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE’S OFFICE carrying a TRAY of COCAINE and MINIATURE PROSTITUTES. The WALLS and FURNISHINGS are made of expensive MAHOGANY. The EXECUTIVE PRODUCER is lying underneath his EXPENSIVE LEATHER CHAIR. An unopened bottle of ANTI-PSYCHOTIC MEDICATION lies on the DESK.

Our world is in constant tension between the utopia envisioned by optimistic forward thinkers, and the dystopian reality of human survival and the lengths at which an individual will go to achieve what they can within their limited mortal life.

So you've rigged an election or performed a few executions (why not both?) and established yourself as the new guardian of your nation. But how do you prevent yourself from being ousted? Much can be learned from popular culture – all of which you must then ban and destroy to prevent anyone else from finding out.