paulorcbarros
Joined Jun 2004
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Reviews32
paulorcbarros's rating
A Sci-Fi cult drama of the beginning of the 70's, "The Omega Man" (98 minutes), was directed by Boris Sagal based on the novel "I Am Legend", of Richard Matheson. Charlton Heston is Robert Neville, a military scientist who developed an experimental vaccine in time to save himself of the devastating and apocalyptic biological war between China and Soviet Union. Living a boring and lonely routine, Neville has been in a bunker for three years in a ruined Los Angeles, and spends his time searching for food and armaments to fight the members of the "Family", some hundreds of survivors of the holocaust that had become albinos mutants and psychotic homicides. The group follows the rules, with a religious fervor, of the leader Matthias (the actor Anthony Zerbe), that before the catastrophe was a popular TV presenter. They now want to destroy Neville at any cost because they consider him pernicious, as a symbol of the science and technology that destroyed the humanity and transformed them into a group of dead-livings creatures. The soundtrack is of Ron Grainer and the film is unforgettable...
"Watch the Skies" (2005 - 60 minutes) is an excellent documentary about movies of Science Fiction. It was produced and directed by the critic Richard Schickel, author of more than 20 books on this theme. Mark Hamill is the documentary narrator. Schickel joins directors as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, George Lucas and Ridley Scott to carry through a trip in time and space to show some of the most memorable science fiction movies of the fifties and also some more recent classics. The documentary shows six different approaches: The paranoia of the atomic war; The fantastic trips to the Moon; The enigmatic planet Mars; Good and evil aliens; The after-apocalyptic world; and The humanity future. It presents comments and scenes of the following classics: The Flying Saucers, Rocketship XM, Destination Moon, The Space Children, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, A Trip to the Moon, The Angry Red Planet, Forbidden Planet, The Thing From Another World, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, I Married a Monster from Outer Space, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Blob, The War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, ET: The Extra Terrestrial, The Omega Man, The Planet of the Apes, The Terminator, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Things To Come and Metropolis. Highly recommended to Science Fiction fans!
"Destination Moon" (1950 - 92 minutes), a classic of the 50's Sci-Fi movies, was produced by George Pal and was directed by Irving Pichel from the script of Alford Van Ronkel which was based on a novel of Robert Heinlen. The main actors are John Archer, Warner Anderson and Tom Powers. The plot is the following: the North American government develops a project under the command of general Thayer (Powers) to send a nuclear propulsion rocket to the Moon. To materialize this project is necessary the participation of the private initiative. For this, general Thayer contacts Jim Barnes (Archer), owner of the "Barnes Aircraft", and asks him to convince other industrials to participate of the enterprise. His main argument is that several other nations are also in this space race and the future of the United States will depend on to be the first ones to arrive at the Moon, therefore "Who first arrives in the Moon will control Earth". Based in "Rocket Ship Galileo", novel of Heinlein, this film is the first Sci-Fi that gives emphasis to the scientific side of Science Fiction stories. There are no aliens nor lost civilizations on the Moon. The film shows an "educational" video clip presented by the "Woody Woodypeeker" that is a special attraction. Robert Heinlein was born in 1907 in Butler, interior of the Missouri State, but lived most part of his childhood in Kansas City, among his seven brothers. In 1925 he went to university and later on to the Naval Academy, graduating in 1929. He served the Navy for five years as a lieutenant on board of a destroyer. He was relieved because he contracted tuberculosis, the first of a series of illnesses that would follow his life. After leaving the Navy he attended a Physics and Mathematics course in UCLA, University of California. During the Second World War he was detached by the Navy (even relieved) to work in an experimental flight laboratory. This laboratory was in Philadelphia and was the same where Isaac Asimov worked. Heinlein was one of the first writers of science fiction that lived exclusively of his work. He is considered one of the three great writers of Sci-Fi (together with Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke) and gained four Hugo Prizes during his career. The Hugo is the most important prize of science fiction literature.