Sunshine

Sunshine is an awesome serious science fiction movie, a rare breed that only emerges from the crowds of superhero, horror, space opera and other related genres. Really a science fiction / psychological thriller, this movie shows the way a small crew on a long haul in a dangerous mission vital for the survival of the human race handles themselves when everything goes wrong. The psychological aspect seemed realistic to me, as did much of the space stuff, but macguffin seemed a little sketchy.

Sunshine is a treat for the eyes and ears. After just 15 or 20 minutes I was already amazed at the use of color, blues and grays and greens inside of the ship and violent yellow and white for the sun create a strong contrast and give insight to the strange dichotomy of stress and boredom that must come along with a long trip to save the world when you have only one chance to do it. The music is great and helps create much of the drama during spacewalks and other such moments. I actually had to turn down the volume during a couple parts so I would be able to handle it better.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: I didn't pay to see it, but I would love to see it on a big screen with a great sound system behind it. I would gladly pay full price to see it.

Moon

Moving from the Sun to the Moon, here is another great serious Sci Fi movie. This is what you call "soft" science fiction, I guess, one of the movies that is more about ideas than it is about future technology or spaceships. SPOILER ALERT: there is a twist and pretty common one at that, revealed and then dealt with in a casual and unconventional manner. The movie is full of sci fi tropes, but subverts them left and right, especially with the robot character. Refreshing.

Sam Rockwell is great. He has a lot of charisma, charm and chemistry with the cast. His laid back demeanor is a comfortable alternative to the take-charge assertive protagonists often seen in Star Trek and other more operatic space adventures.

The special effects are kind of strange strange because they often look like scale models or toys bouncing around on a model of the moon, but they still look good. Maybe I'm remembering things incorrectly, but these shots look like they were recorded from a satillite orbiting the moon or a with a high-quality moon security camera, a great move to make (if it was made at all) considering the anti-corporate tilt the movie has.

Cost/Benefit Analysis: I actually paid to see this one in the theater. Totally worth it, and I dragged two friends along to give more money to serious science fiction.

Food, Inc

Food Inc. is a crash-course in all of the things that suck about the food industry today and should be required viewing for everyone that eats food. Inspired by the writing of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlossinger, Food Inc. covers the industrialization of animals and crops, the sins of Monsanto (patenting genes), congressional/governmental infiltration by food company people, the profliferation of corn, loss of diversity in food product manufacture, treatment of slaughter house workers, etc. If you've read those authors before, then this is a refresher course, but if you're a freshman-level foodie, there is some eye-opening stuff here.

Although the movie is fairly entertaining as far as documentaries go, it is still very obviously portraying one group as good (organic farmers, the two writers) and another evil (food industry). The two groups as presented are similar to the kind of Good vs. Evil seen in The Lord of the Rings. Based on similar documentaries I have seen on the subject, the film makers could have shown footage much more damning, but I think that they protect their message this way.

When you were little, you were undoubtedly told, "Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it has been." This is why everyone should see this movie. You may not feel the need to change your eating habits to avoid industrial food (but you certainly might), a responsible person should know.

Cost/benefit analysis: I saw this in the theater, but my dad paid for my ticket (yay family fun) so I paid nothing. It's not the most ground-breaking message, so wait for Redbox or Netflix to see this one.

Yellowbeard

Yellowbeard is a late 70's or early 80's comedy with an incredible cast, a bunch of pirate ships and fake facial hair, and a completely nonsensical plot. Starring Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, plus Cheech and Chong, the movie worth seeing just for the cast alone, but that's pretty much the only reason to recommend it.

Sometimes strong acting can overcome a stupid script. Horrible acting also has a way of doing this. Sadly, the cast is too good for the movie to slide into so bad it's good territory, but they don't seem to care enough to put in the effort it would take to make the script work, leaving Yellowbeard a collection of half-baked jokes from the least-funny member of Monty Python.

I would see this movie only if you are intrigued by the cast. I can't recommend it as either a good or bad movie.

Cost/Benefit analysis: I paid nothing to see this movie, but I got to see some people I hadn't in a while and I got a good free meal. I'd gladly do that again if I was watching a different, but just as bad movie but I hope I never have to see this movie again.