To Oblivion and Beyond

Is it me or did Sci-fi have a drought in recent years.  I can’t be certain but it definitely feels that way, cause its been a while since I’ve been excited for just a straight up Sci-fi movie.  Oblivion has, to say the least, piqued my interest.  I’m a sucker for mystery and somewhat plausible fiction.  I have a strange but clearly defined rule when it comes to movies I enjoy.  I’m not sure if I’m alone in this camp, but essentially the rule is this.  If I can’t be in the “world” of the movie, then I can’t enjoy it.  This sounds like it might be really limiting, but I have a mind of a 13 year old child so really it’s not that limiting. It doesn’t need to be uber realistic.  Just needs to have some semblance of something could happen to me or around me.

I’ll make it simple.  Blade, YES.  Are vampires real, to the knowledge of science, no (I like to leave a shred of chance that they might be.  By the way I never really got the whole hard choice of becoming a vampire.  I would do that in a second.  People always complain; “would you really want to live forever?”  No. But as a vampire you can just live as long as you want and then if you’re really bored end it. Hell you could just live a normal life span if you wanted, whatever I’m ranting).  However there’s enough science, even if fake science, in the premise of vampires and specifically Blade that allow me to immerse myself into it.  So where do I draw the line? Lord of the Rings.  Wait before you get all up in arms, let me first say that I understand those movies were visually stunning and milestone movies in terms of film.  I wouldn’t dare say it’s bad.  I just can’t get into it. There’s no room for the ambiguously ethnic, average height guy from NY in that fictitious world.  The same goes for Harry Potter. Again very good, just can’t put myself in it.  I’m an immersion kind of viewer.

This is where Oblivion comes in.  It strikes that right balance, seemingly from the trailers, of science and fiction.  Plus for some reason Tom Cruise is my cinematic  surrogate.  It might be because he’s not your average over sized action hero, and usually has his flaws, that I in some fashion relate to his characters. But beyond Tom Cruise Oblivion looks fantastic.  If you saw Tron Legacy than you’re aware of how stunning this film will actually look.  If you obsess over post-apocalyptic anything like me then you’re highly interested in this destroyed earth scenario.  Oh and too boot, much in the vein of Tron, that had a sound track by Daft Punk, Oblivion is getting the epic music treatment.  M83 is doing the soundtrack and the last thing I watched with an M83 soundtrack was Art of Flight.  Which was great and also a movie by Red Bull.  And you can’t go wrong thinking like Red Bull. So In the end I’m extremely excited for this movie.  Also 2013 has been pretty awesome for movies so far (Spring Breakers – see it now) but Oblivion marks the beginning of just an onslaught of potentially great movies.  So this why I’m not only excited for Oblivion, but for Oblivion and Beyond.

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