I saw TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON in 3-D IMAX today and I want to thank those board members (I think one of them was MinLShaw) who advised me in one of the Movie Talk threads on this film that IMAX was the way to go if I wanted to see it in 3-D on film. It was quite spectacular and I doubt it would have been so on a lesser screen. (My big mistake with AVATAR was seeing it on a lesser screen and not in IMAX.)

This film could well have been used for the Historical Challenge. There's a lot of historical material in it, including scenes with Kennedy, Nixon and Obama and, of course, the Apollo 11 Moon Landing on July 20, 1969, complete with Walter Cronkite's live coverage. Plus a real-life on-camera cameo by Buzz Aldrin, Mr. "One step for man" himself, who is seen greeting Optimus Prime. I remember the critics lauding the recent X-MEN movie for its use of 1960s political material, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, but not one TF3 review I read in the press mentioned the historical material here.

Three actors from Coen Bros. movies are in this: Frances McDormand, John Turturro and John Malkovich. They're all given funny bits of absurd behavior--like something out of a Coen Bros. movie. Hey, if Michael Bay's able to get top-ranked performers like this in his giant robot 3-D movie, he knows damn well he's gotta give them something fun to do to keep them interested. And he does.

I picked up the first season box set of the original Transformers cartoon series, so I'm planning to hit that next.

Harry Potter 1 and 2 on ABC Family HD cropped to 1.78:1

Watching Star Wars I, which is kind of lame in itself and especially lame with the BD coming out, but I don't know when I'll buy that (hoping for a holiday deal), and one of the kids agreed to watch it since I refuse to play those levels of Lego SW until they've seen the movies.

Credit goes to someone else for that. I pointed you in the direction of Fandango listings for theater listings in your area, though.

Had it not opened on the last days of the Historical Appreciation challenge, I would have allowed it this year as a wildcard choice (like I did with X-Men: First Class), but it's much more appropriate here.

Anyway, I was rummaging through Wikipedia trying to make sense of some of the sub-genre labels unfamiliar to me. I believe Super 8 is both a "Dark Fantasy" and an "Urban Fantasy." I also realized that Transformers: Dark of the Moon is an "Urban Fantasy" (the entire thing takes place in D.C. and Chicago) and updated my checklist accordingly.

Question: Would THX 1138 count as "Post-Apocalyptic?" It's never actually stated why the humans live underground, but in the commentary and interviews, George Lucas and Walter Murch both allude to the fact that some kind of disaster made the surface uninhabitable. That kind of man-made disaster would certainly be in keeping with the tone and themes of the film's indictment of humanity.

Your kids have the right idea, actually. The hell with the movies; just play the Lego game! The prequels were actually fun in Lego form! My wife got the biggest kick out of running around as Jango Fett, blasting two pistols and tossing explosives.

Catching up from today...

For the record, I like Robocop but it's been years since I've seen it so I don't know how it holds up.

FWIW, I think "Criterion version" sounds like an actual Criterion release. For the Criterion challenge, it makes sense to loosen things up a little, but as a checklist item specifically calling out Criterion version it would seem to require a Criterion release. On the other hand, if you're just watching the movie and not the features, in most cases it'll just be a transfer difference, and how important is that really? Flames welcome.

I consider superhero films to fall under the fantasy category. So far I've been enjoying the past few challenges and not quite feeling the animation one yet, so I might use it to dig into some of my DCU DTVs.

I know! My older kid has played through the whole game already without seeing the prequels, but for some reason the movie geek in me kicked in and is forcing the little kid to watch the source material before playing those parts of the game.

I just found this detailed look at the changes made to THX 1138 for its 2004 DVD release. Most changes seem unnecessary to me (like changing the rat to a CGI scorpion and making the robot resemble C-3PO). The actual story changes, though, seem reasonable to me. For instance, it makes sense that SEN would more blatantly scope out LUH in the monitoring room.

Also, for those who might be interested, Roger Ebert just added A.I. to his Great Movies list. I wasn't really in love with the film when I saw it at the theater ten years ago, but I've been meaning to revisit it for the last few years. So far I've focused on first time viewings for this challenge, but now's as good a time as any to finally take a second look at A.I. I may well have not developed the proper mindset for appraising it at the time.

I don't hate Episode I as much as some people because I think it has some cool stuff, but Jar Jar and the kid are really horrible. The script doesn't do them any favors, of course.

Just finished Zack Snyder's wet dream. Kickass women! War, robots, samurai! Loud music! It did have some good action sequences.

I went to see a screening of Another Earth the other night and thought it was fantastic. Nice to see that there's still interesting sci-fi being made that has brains and a heart, instead of a bunch of Gobots. Highly recommend checking it out.
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I just finished "The Lost World" (1925 - silent). I always get a kick when the Brontosaurus snarls at the T-Rex before they fight to the death. One of these days I'm going to have to invest in the "SE" release that has the superior 1925 film along with the cheesy 1960 Irwin Allen version.

Looks fantastic! Reminds me to watch Moon this month.

I just watched Moon yesterday. Nice to see a Sci fi movie that isnt all about giant robots or creatures blowing things up or destroying buildings. Saw it on Starz.

The only issue I see with keeping it strictly Criterion DVD/blu-ray is issues with them going OOP.

Unless someone knows something we don't, I'd say you could count it for that.

I recently picked up the "Classic Media" "Godzilla" box set as it has 4 Godzilla sequels I've not seen. I did a mini-marathon today of Gojira no gyakushû (aka Godzilla Raids Again), Kaijû daisensô (aka Invasion of Astro-Monster), Gojira-Minira-Gabara (aka All Monsters Attack), Mekagojira no gyakushu (Terror of Mechagodzilla). "Godzilla Raids Again" was very good, "All Monsters Attack" was very bad (kiddie Godzilla as if it were done by George Lucas), with the other 2 suprisingly good. Even though I grew up with what seemed like very regular re-runs of the Godzilla movies it appears I only saw the "core" films of "Godzilla", "Mothra", "Mothra vs. Godzilla", "Rodan", and "Ghidorah". I know I didn't see any film past 1969 as the "Midnight Movie" type shows on which I saw the others were no longer running after that year. Outside of the horrible "All Monsters Attack" (which I hope to *never* have to watch again) it was very fun! And, yes, I watched the Japanese language versions as I *know* I've never seen those before. I'll watch the English language versions with my grandson as he might not be able to read the subtitles quickly enough (age 7) and would probably enjoy the dubbed versions more at this point. I'll introduce him to the original language ones in a few years when he might better appreciate them and his reading skills have improved.

The shock for me is watching the newer films and how things have changed. Godzilla seems a lot more angry with Japan but is still territorial enough to attack anything that comes by. Meanwhile, the rest of the world lives in peace since we killed off King Kong fairly easy.

Just finished streaming The Fly (1958), another first-time viewing. This is also the first time I've seen a movie with David Hedison that wasn't a Bond movie. (Until Jeffrey Wright, Hedison had the distinction of being the only actor to play Felix Leiter twice.) I liked it quite a bit, though what was going to happen was pretty obvious. Also, I don't much care for the structure where the middle of the film tells the entirety of what's important to know in flashback. Still, I liked Patricia Owens in this despite having to immediately freak out and scream each time she's confronted with something abnormal. I believe the remake is also available for streaming, and I have never seen it, either.

I assume this counts for "Mutant" on the checklist. Also, it occurred to me that Super 8 also counts for "Giant Critter," unless the critter cannot be an alien.

Another rough night, another movie off my To See list. I just followed The Fly with Highlander. I liked the premise alright (though I'm more into science-fiction than fantasy), and Clancy Brown was fun to watch, but otherwise I was rather "meh" about this one. Any movie set even partially in Scotland and has Sean Connery playing an Egyptian from Spain is just odd. I liked the scenes set in the past, but the stuff in then-contemporary New York City just seemed rather generic and lazy to me. Maybe I'm just being harsh on it. I'm sure it was exciting almost 30 years ago.

Also, I got very tired of her incessant screaming in the finale. Maybe it's because I watched the 53 year old Fly beforehand and got tired of the screaming in that, but it just seemed like no one knew or cared how to write a sensible woman. This is especially egregious when you figure she is a forensics specialist for the NYPD in the 1980s. I can see being wigged out by the supernatural elements of what was going on, but she could have been little more than a crime scene groupie for all the difference it would have made.

SPOILER ALERT for anyone getting this in an e-mail and hasn't seen the movie.

Washed the dishes. Still couldn't sleep. Chewed a bunch of Tums for the heartburn. Then streamed Dreams with Sharp Teeth, a documentary about Harlan Ellison. I now feel so inferior about my feeble writing skills I'm tempted to delete my entire blog and I feel guilty for having contributed an editorial about Michael Bay to the IFC.com blog for free after hearing Ellison rail about how pinhead amateurs giving away their work undermine real professionals.

I could have sworn "Documentary" was on the checklist, but discovered I was wrong. Is this something I should use a wild card for, or is it an appropriate selection for this challenge?

I don't get why Pandorum wasn't a bigger deal. Sure it's not the most original movie, but it's tense and Ben Foster always delivers the goods.

Sorry, MinLShaw

If so, you should watch it. It is very good and compares to the original as the remake of "The Thing" compares to it's original version. Good, the same in spirit/plot device, but different. An example of that rare film - a worthy re-make.

Meh. It was only mildly annoying last night and at least I got in three movies!

It's on my To See list, as is The Thing--which also is currently available for streaming. Alas, the original Thing from Another World is not.

Giant Critter is more for things that are normally smaller but for whatever reason they're bigger.

Documentaries aren't on the checklist but they are allowed as long as they aren't fluff pieces made as a promotion for some movie. The ones I'm thinking specifically of are the 15 minute ones you'll find on HBO before a movie comes out and then they sometimes find there way onto the DVD.

Ah. More of an "Enlarged Critter" kind of thing. Gotcha.

Dreams with Sharp Teeth was most certainly a legitimate documentary feature and not a fluff piece. I suspect fans of Ellison's won't find anything new, but will enjoy listening to him rail against all kinds of topics. Neil Gaiman is among the most frequently featured interviewees, for fans of his who might be interested.

Does Naked Lunch count? I might watch it regardless...