Greg Bear has been one of those science-fiction greats whose work I’ve always put off reading and I felt vaguely guilty about it when he passed away in 2022. I only got around to it when I saw Blood Music being listed among the greatest novels in the genre ever written. My first impression here is that Bear certainly is an author who knows a lot about biology and even though this was written in 1985, it still feels up to date and modern. However I’m not sure I care much for the plot, such as it were. I was amused when I checked the Wikipedia entry for this book and saw someone comparing the ending to Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End because that was where my mind went to as well.
This French film is usually considered a documentary and indeed, some call it one of the greatest documentaries of all time. I think it’s more like an experimental art film and even its maker Chris Marker calls it a home movie that others somehow are willing to pay to watch. It consists of both footage that Marker shot himself along with stock footage from others. There’s a lot going on in the extensive narration but some key themes include the impermanence of memory and imbuing meaning through rituals. I’m not convinced that there is anything truly deep in it though. I rather think of it as a carefully constructed puzzle box, meant to pleasingly tickle your mind as the film guides you into making strange, unexpected connections.
My wife has been paying close attention to this latest film directed by Chong Keat Aun as it seemed impossible that it would ever be released in cinemas here in Malaysia. That’s because this is a film, supposedly the very first one, about the 13 May 1969 racial riots in Malaysia, a notoriously touchy subject in our country. Surprisingly it eventually did appear in our cinemas, possibly because the current Prime Minister is Anwar Ibrahim. However it has been significantly censored with lines muted and parts of the screen in some scenes blurred out. My wife was disappointed that it only touches on the historical events lightly, preferring to evoke an emotional reaction by focusing on a very small set of fictional characters. I thought it worked fine but it’s hard to see how non-Malaysians will be able to get much out of it.
Director Gareth Edwards earned plenty of clout for making Rogue One, so I thought that an independently made sci-fi film made by him would be worth paying attention to. Unfortunately while this film has some great aesthetics and I do like how most of it takes place in Asia, the story is a horrid mess. It’s not really a science-fiction film at all as the AI here are effectively indistinguishable from humans so prejudice against them is just racism. That might sound profound but it doesn’t make sense at all as the film refuses to offer any explanation of how the AI here works. It’s an underwhelming, unsatisfying film and I’d attribute that to Edwards being responsible for the story himself.
Like so many others, I was enthralled by the ridiculously over-the-top trailer for this game. I’ve never played any of the Forza games before and sure it uses arcade physics but I can put up with that in exchange for an awesome presentation and hundreds of real world cars, right? Unfortunately no. The physics are so unrealistic that I quickly gave up on using a driving wheel and switched back to using a controller since that is clearly what the game was designed for. I also found the story missions to be asinine and nauseating. The racing events were enjoyable enough once I adapted to the simplified physics and avoided the fastest classes of cars but this was a game that never stopped irritating me.
I never played the video game as it was a PlayStation exclusive for so long but of course I couldn’t help but be aware of it given its success. I was hesitant to watch this series as I’m still feeling burned out about zombie stories but our cinephile friend recommended it and I heard that it’s completely faithful to the videogame so here we are. In the end, I have to concede that this is probably one of the most competently executed zombie story on television and boasts a large enough budget to look utterly fantastic. Yet it still is just a zombie story and there’s only so much they can do with only two lead characters. It’s entertaining, sure, but it’s not a show that I particularly love.
This experimental Czechoslovakian film is a real head-scratcher as I can barely understand a fraction of what it’s trying to do. The key may be that it was made when the country was still under Communist control and this level of obfuscation was necessary to get its anti-establishment message past the censors. The two female characters get up to all kinds of crazy antics but the one line they keep repeating is that nothing really matters suggesting a deep-rooted apathy to life. The visuals are striking certainly and there is plenty of creativity as it switches between types of shots and pair the movements of the two sisters with sound effects. Still this is just way too weird and incomprehensible for me.
