16 August 2013

 Birthdays
Evanna Lynch b. 1991 (Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter)
James Cameron b. 1954 (Aliens, Avatar, The Terminator)
Julie Newmar b. 1933 (Batman, Star Trek, My Living Doll)

Happy 80th birthday to Miss Newmar, the quintessential combination in Hollywood of tall and va-va-voom back when I was a lad. Happy birthdays to Ms. Lynch and Mr. Cameron as well.

Prediction: 16 August 2000: A comet, now split into two deadly parts by a nuclear explosion meant to destroy it, hits the earth and causes untold destruction

Predictor: Deep Impact released 8 May 1998

Reality: Unlike Armageddon, the plan to stop the big rock is not 100% successful. This is the one with Tea Leoni, Robert Duvall and Morgan Freeman, not to be confused with 2004's Post Impact, which went straight to DVD.

Looking one day... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet again, a movie gives an exact date for everything going to hell in a handbasket.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

4 July 2013

Birthdays
Eva Marie Saint b. 1924 (Superman Returns)
Ted Elliott b. 1961 (co-writer with Terry Rossio of the Pirates of the Caribbean series)

Looking on imdb.com, I could only find one credit in Ms. Saint's long and illustrious career that could count as genre, and it's in a movie that has already been re-booted.

But seriously, if I have a choice for the picture slot and it's between a fabulous babe and a writer, can that even be called a choice at all?

I think not.

Many happy returns to Ms. Saint and Mr. Elliot.

Prediction: On 4 July 2008, action star Boxer Santaros, former pornstar/reality show star Krysta Now and twins Ronald and Roland Taverner hold the key to the future in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.

Predictor: Southland Tales released 14 November 2007

Reality: I have met people who will defend this film, but the guy who wrote it also made Donnie Darko and I don't know anyone who thinks this was a step up.  The movie is counted as a 2006 release because it aired at Cannes that year, but it was pulled and re-tooled after a vicious critical reception.

There are some kinda sorta predictions about the future in the script, the one I remember best is the idea that California is a battleground state in the 2008 election. Regardless of your political persuasion, that would have to be called a failed prediction.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet another French postcard from the early 1900s predicting life in the year 2000!
  
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE! 

2 March 2013

Birthdays
Daniel Craig b. 1968
Gates McFadden b. 1949  

Craig gets on the genre list for Cowboys and Aliens and The Golden Compass.  

The picture position goes to an actress better known for her work in the genre, Gates McFadden.

Prediction: February 1982: A plane carrying the deadly MM88 supervirus crashes, releasing the plague into the natural environment. The earth’s population is quickly wiped out, saving only 863 scientists and supporting personnel spending the winter in Antarctica.

Predictor: Virus, a 1980 Japanese film

Reality: Of course, the Japanese blame the Americans and Europeans for this disaster. But this was the most expensive movie ever made in Japan up to that time and you can't even find it on imdb.com. (I looked it up on Wikipedia.) It also had Chuck Connors, Henry Silva, Robert Vaughn and Bo Svenson. None of these actors ever showed up in a bad film just to cash a paycheck.

Okay, maybe one or two of them did.

But the movie also had Sonny Chiba!  How far wrong can you go with Sonny Chiba?

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE! Yet another Star Trek birthday and yet another biological warfare apocalypse.

 Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!