• I’m listening to the CD for Brian Tyler’s score to Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem as I type this. Holy cow. This may honestly be the most bombastic and aggressive film score I’ve ever heard. I may be underestimating the intensity of this movie. I’m very anxious to see it, and listening to this score has made me even more anxious. Tyler has taken elements of Jerry Goldsmith’s Alien, James Horner’s Aliens and Elliot Goldenthal’s Alien 3 and stripped them down to their core components (favoring texture and orchestration over themes). The majority of the influence is from Horner’s Aliens (and judging from the trailer, I see more influence from the film Aliens than most any other). It’s cool to hear fairly heavy use of Goldenthal’s Alien 3, as it’s a massively under appreciated score (EASILY the greatest aspect of that film). Goldsmith’s Alien is referenced most indirectly, but the trained ear can hear the influence scattered throughout. If there’s any influence from John Frizzell’s Alien Ressurection, I wouldn’t recognize it anyway. Frizzell’s score to Resurrection is lame at best, so I remember very little of it. Then there’s the added fun of mixing in Alan Silvestri’s Predator scores here and there (in a more thundering and scattered arrangement). The orchestra members must have been sweating by the end of each recording session. Not to mention deaf. And this CD is chock full of material (some 77 minutes or so). I’m wondering if this might end up being the sleeper action movie hit of the year.
• Get a free Sarah Connor Chronicles poster (by signing up for the newsletter)
• I finally sprung for a premium membership over at Airliners.net. Such an awesome site. I started an initial photo album over there with favorite pics as I stumble upon them. Haven’t added a whole lot of pics to it yet, but there’s some fantastic ones in there so far.
• So, with USB 3 in the works, the FireWire spec is being bumped up, too.
• UAV’s that charge off power lines. Too cool. Like something out of Deal Of The Century.
• A study of why pregnant women don’t topple. I just find the usage of the word “topple” funny in that context.
• A cool video (pardon the pun) of a train plowing through a bunch of snow
• A real life Garfield
• Whoops

Make no mistake, this is a flawed and uneven movie. That said, much of it is excellent.

Writing: The plotting of the story is all over the place in terms of quality and logic. Frankly, if the last act of the film could have been anywhere near as good as the first act or two, this would have been a stellar success. The nihilistic, isolated and desperate nature of the first half of the film works fantastically. It’s when this story tries to resolve itself where things completely fall down. If they could have tossed the need for a (nearly) happy ending, or even a resolution of any kind, it would have worked so much better. Add to that some poorly defined character traits and some very flawed physical staging in the later part of the movie and you’ve got a script that needed another pass or two by some first rate script doctors.

Production: Having said all that, the film is still very engaging and entertaining. Much of it is thanks to some mostly fantastic visual effects and cinematography work. The VFX of the devastated and lonely New York City are jawdropping and stunning. Absolutely fantastic visual effects work. Which is a shame because the creature effects and animation leave a whole lot to be desired. Not only do they feel completely fake, but they’re VERY generic of the zombie genre. These zombie-like creatures that the human have become are almost completely ineffective on screen. Recent movies like 30 Days Of Night have done far, far better a job through far more simplistic means. Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie is fantastic throughout. He brings the sense of grandeur and style displayed with the Babe films and Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong. This might not be quite as stunning in cinematographic terms as his work on King Kong, but it’s still darned impressive.

Cast: This is pretty much a one man (and one dog) show. There are a few supporting performances, but for the vast majority of the film this is the Will Smith show. Thankfully, it’s one of his best performances. No matter the scene, he’s giving it his all. And from dramatic to comedic, it all works. Even when logic is gone and story falls short, Smith’s performance is still going strong. It’s the most consistently impressive thing about the film.

Music: Unlike the plotting, James Newton Howard hits his best moments during the final part of the film. He’s got a gorgeous, delicate requiem of sorts that works amazingly well. I can’t wait until the CD release just for that one theme/cue. He’s got a talent for the gorgeous melody with lush orchestration, and he sure pulls one off for this film. The rest of the score is pretty sparse, but effective. Definitely some fine work.