Scifi and fantasy movies from 2008.

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Quantum of Solace (Mark's take)
01/12/2008. Picking up just after where the Casino Royale movie left off, James Bond is involved in trying to find the people behind the death of his beloved Vesper. This is a decent spy thriller on an adult level, says our Mark. The tone is downbeat, but it is still one of the best in the series. Marc Forster's action scenes could be more coherent, but he is better with the dramatic material.

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind 30th Anniversary Edition
01/12/2008. Region 2 DVD: pub: Sony Pictures CDR 26501UE. 3 DVDs 3 films (129m/127m/131m) plus extras. Price : £ 4.99 (UK) if you look around. stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, Melinda Dillon and Francois Truffaut.

The Invaders: The First Season
01/12/2008. region 2: pub: Paramount Pictures/CBS PHE 9376. 5 DVDs 17 episodes 835 minutes and no extras. Price: varies but I pulled my set for about £ 6.00 (UK). stars: Roy Thinnes and assorted guest-stars.

Ace Of Wands
01/12/2008. pub: Network 7952210. 4 DVDs 9 stories 500 minutes plus extras. Price: £10.00 (UK) if you know where to look. stars: Michael Mackenzie, Roy Holder, Petra Markham, Donald Layne-Smith and Fred Owl.

Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons DVD Boxset
01/12/2008. Region 2 DVD: pub: Carlton 37115 01613. 6 * 860 minute DVDs 32 * 25 minute episodes with extras. Price: £17.99 (UK) at HMV at the moment. Beats paying £75 for it).

Ghost Town: Mark's take
01/11/2008. A dentist who died for seven minutes on the operating table finds that he now can see dead people. Half of Manhattan has favours they want of him and making matters worse, it is the dead half. Ricky Gervais, popular star of BBC TV's The Office, plays the man who doesn't like living people and now has also to deal with the dead. He is asked by a dead husband to break up his wife's relationship with a new fiancée. The first half has some very good writing, says our Mark, but the film loses its centre and wanders in its second half.

We are Wizards: Mark's take
01/11/2008. The growing phenomenon of fandom of the Harry Potter books and films is examined in several of its manifestations in this documentary, says Mark. From four-year-old Wizard Rock punk rock stars to the Warner Brothers battle to close down the web sites of fans of their own films director Josh Koury looks at the multiple threads of the Potter fandom movement. He goes back and forth among the threads, but he could have used a few more threads and his camera was not always on the most interesting material.

Doctor Who: The Sontaran Experiment
01/11/2008. DVD Region2: pub: BBC BBCDVD 1811. 49 minutes 2 episodes with extras. Price: under £ 6.00 (UK) if you know where to look)) stars: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter

Doctor Who: Robot
01/11/2008. DVD Region2: pub: BBC BBCDVD 2332. 98 minutes 4 episodes with extras. Price: under £ 6.00 (UK) if you know where to look) stars: Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Nicholas Courtney and Ian Marter

Mushi-Shi Vol. 5 episodes 19-22
01/11/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72905. 1 DVD 125 minutes 4 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

Hell Girl Volume 1 episodes 1-5: Butterfly
01/11/2008. region 2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72601. 1 DVD 125 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

The Man From Earth: Mark's take
01/10/2008. Thoughtful and thought provoking, this is a science fiction film with plenty going for it but no special effects. It is really just people sitting and talking. Yet it is full of ideas that will with stick the viewer long after the film is over. The Man From Earth very probably will be one of the best science fiction films of this decade. A group of college professors and friends discuss the history of mankind and find out what they have right and what they have wrong from someone who knows.

The Hands Of Orlac (1924): Mark's take
01/10/2008. One of the nearly forgotten films of the German (actually in this case Austrian) Expressionist period is the Conrad Veidt version of The Hands Of Orlac. This is a seminal horror melodrama about a pianist whose hands are destroyed in a train crash and are replaced by hands taken from an executed murderer. The hands come to have a life of their own. This film was remade as the until- recently also rare Mad Love with Colin Clive as Orlac and with one of Peter Lorre's juiciest roles.

Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers
01/10/2008. region 2 DVD: pub: MGM 16184DVD. 1 hr 51 minute film with audio commentary. Price: under £ 4.00 (UK) if you know where to look). stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright.

The Time Tunnel Volume Two
01/10/2008. region 1 DVD: pub: 20th Century Fox B000BOH8Z0. 4 double-sided DVDs 768 minutes 15 episodes plus 2006 pilot, 'Time Travellers' film and extras. Price: $20.00 (US) if you know where to look). . stars: James Darren and Robert Colbert.

Negima Magic 301: Magical Enhancements Vol. 3 episodes 11-14
01/09/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72312. 1 DVD 100 minutes 4 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

The Time Tunnel Volume One
01/09/2008. region 1 DVD: pub: 20th Century Fox B000BOH8Z0. 4 double-sided DVDs 765 minutes 15 episodes plus original pilot and extras. Price: $20.00 (US) if you know where to look). . stars: James Darren and Robert Colbert .

Tsubasa 4: Between Death And Danger: Episodes 15 -18
01/09/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN73004. 1 DVD 105 minutes 4 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

Negima 601: Magic and the Dark Arts Vol. 6 episodes 23-26
01/09/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72315. 1 DVD 125 minutes 4 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

The Man Who Fell To Earth
01/09/2008. Region 2 DVD: Studio Canal/Warner Bros VFCO3858. 143 minute film with extras. Price: £ 5.00 (UK) if you know where to look). . stars: David Bowie, Candy Clark, Rip Torn and Buck Henry.

Mushishi (live action) film
01/09/2008. Region 2 DVD. pub: Revolver Entertainment B000YDAJMW. 131 minute film. Price: £19.99 (UK) although can be gotten cheaper if you know where to look at £ 6.98 (UK)). . director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo.

Mushi-Shi Vol. 4 episodes 11-14
01/09/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72904. 1 DVD 165 minutes 4 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

WALL-E - Mark's take
02/08/2008. Pixar Animation is known for making good kids' films that even adults can enjoy. But now they really have crossed over the line to make an adult science fiction film that even kids can enjoy, says our Mark. WALL-E is a light fun scifi comedy set against a very grim background.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Mark's take
02/08/2008. Guillermo del Toro makes great horror films like Cronos and Pan's Labyrinth, says Mark. His graphic novel films are just not his best work. Hellboy II's visual images are spectacular and the film is full of fights and action, but there is only a bit of plot and that involves an epic fantasy premise that would have taken multiple films to do well. The characters are flat and the film has no centre. This is a film to watch, but there is not much to think about. The conclusion holds no surprises.

Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D: Mark's take
02/08/2008. Fun as a thrill ride, says Mark, but surprisingly poor as film, this is a story of three modern reluctant explorers who find out that the center of the Earth is just as Jules Verne described it with a lot of fast theme-park-like rides. It has even less logic than Verne gave it. Rent the 1959 version.

The Dark Knight (Mark's take)
02/08/2008. In a year in which one film after another is based on comic books this, says Mark, is a super-hero film whose depth is like no other. It plays with the whole philosophy of the superhero and the whole nature of superhero battles. It manages to bring together an action film and a thought piece.

Airwolf Season Three DVD boxset
02/08/2008. Region 2 DVD: pub: Universal 824 948 3. 6 DVDs 16 hours 50 minutes 22 episodes with no extras. Price: £15.98 (UK) if you know where to look). stars: Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Jean Bruce Scott and Alex Cord.

Fantastic Four - The Extended Edition (Geoff's take)
02/08/2008. Region 2 DVD: 20th Century Fox 3621101000. 120 minute film with extras. Price: £ 3.00 (UK) when I found it in a supermarket). stars: Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Julian McMahon.

UFO Café (1990)
02/08/2008. Region 2 DVD: Network 7952906. 91 minute film with no extras. Price: £ 7.99 (UK), stars: Richard Mulligan and Beau Bridges.

The Twilight Zone - Rod Serling's Lost Classics (1994)
02/08/2008. Region 2 DVD: Network 7952905. 89 minute film with no extras. Price: £ 7.99 (UK).

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Season Three Volume Two
02/08/2008. region 1. pub: 20th Century Fox B000TLTCTK. 3 double-sided DVDs 660 minutes 13 * 50 minute colour episodes plus extras. Price: $29.98 (US), stars: Richard Basehart and David Hedison.

The Incredible Hulk (Mark's take)
01/07/2008. The Army created but cannot control Bruce Banner, the Hulk. Banner's anger has the power to turn him into a bouncing ten-foot monster as hard as rock. Edward Norton (who plays Banner) is one of the finest actors of his generation. This, believes Mark, may not be the best film for him, but he is an asset to the film. The Incredible Hulk is a darker and grimmer superhero film with a more tragic hero than we have seen of late from the Marvel films.

Tales Of The Unexpected Series 7
01/07/2008. region 2: pub: Network B0015B04KE 500 minutes 3 DVDs. Price: £24.99 (UK).

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Season Three Volume One
01/07/2008. region 1. pub: 20th Century Fox B000O77SOU. 3 double-sided DVDs 507 minutes 13 * 50 minute colour episodes plus extras. Price: $29.98 (US). Stars: Richard Basehart and David Hedison.

Jerome Bixby's Man From Earth
01/07/2008. Region 2 DVD: pub: Anchor Bay ABD473G. 87 minute film with extras including two audio commentaries. Price: £14.99 (UK). Stars: John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford, William Katt, Annika Peterson, Richard Riehle, David Lee Smith, Alexis Thorpe and Tony Todd.

Peach Girl Vol. 1
01/07/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72601. 1 DVD 100 minute film plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Season Two Volume Two
01/06/2008. region 1. pub: 20th Century Fox B000FFJ87Q. 3 double-sided DVDs 657 minutes 13 * 50 minute colour episodes plus extras. Price: $29.98 (US)) stars: Richard Basehart and David Hedison.

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Season Two Volume One
01/06/2008. region 1. pub: 20th Century Fox B000GUJZ0U. 3 double-sided DVDs 665 minutes 13 * 50 minute colour episodes plus extras. Price: $29.98 (US)) stars: Richard Basehart and David Hedison .

Alien Nation (Geoff's take)
01/06/2008. region 2 DVD: pub: 20th Century Fox F1-SGB 01585DVD. 86 minute film with extras. Price: £ 3.00 (UK) if you know where to look) . stars: James Caan, Mandy Patakin and Terrance Stamp.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Mark's take)
01/06/2008. Indiana Jones is back, says Mark, and looking for the secrets of a lost civilization in Central or South America (and the script seems not sure what the difference is). This film is a compendium of geographic misinformation as well as solid collection of action sequences. Rather than being an adventure centered on religious folklore, this time Indy is involved with aliens and New Age ideas. As expected the thrills just keep coming, but like its hero the action is getting a little old and little stiff.

Iron Man (Mark's take)
01/06/2008. A weapons manufacturer decides that the making of weapons is immoral, so turns himself into a weapon to combat bad weapons users. If you can get past the irony (or hypocrisy) of the central concept, says Mark, Jon Favreau's adaptation of the Marvel Comic is reasonably entertaining and uses its digital effects energetically.

Chronicles of an Exorcism (Mark's take)
01/06/2008. Chronicles Of An Exorcism, discovers Mark, is a low-budget, direct-to-DVD, pseudo-documentary horror thriller. The title tells most of the story; the film shows an exorcism. Not surprisingly the style is much influenced by The Exorcist but is done in a crude Blair Witch Project filming style. The roughness of the filming style works for the film, but cut corners undermine the effort frequently.

Conversions to the cheaper kind
01/05/2008. Missed these when they first came out? Convesions from hardbacks to paperbacks and even complete DVD sets. If we've reviewed them they're featured below and you can find the links in the SFC search engine.

The X-Files: The Complete Fourth Season DVD Boxset
01/05/2008. region 2 DVD. pub: 20th Century Fox F1-SGB 22664MDVD. 7 DVDs 1017 minutes 24 episodes with extras. Price: about £10.98 (UK) if you know where to look)stars: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Season One Volume Two
01/05/2008. (region 1. pub: 20th Century Fox B000FFJ87Q. 3 double-sided DVDs 821 minutes 16 * 50 minute black and white episodes plus extras. Price: $24.99(US))stars: Richard Basehart and David Hedison.

Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection
01/05/2008. Region One DVD: pub: 20th Century Fox 2251276. Price: $49.98 (US), $69.98 (CAN). 3 double-sided DVDs 447 minutes 5 * 90 minute films with extras)stars: Gary Graham, Eric Pierpoint, Michelle Scarabelli, Terry Treas, Lauren Woodland and Sean Six.

Mushi-Shi Vol. 3 episodes 6-10
01/05/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72903. 1 DVD 150 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Season One Volume One
01/05/2008. region 1. pub: 20th Century Fox B000BZISS0. 3 double-sided DVDs 818 minutes 16 * 50 minute black and white episodes plus extras. Price: $29.98 (US))stars: Richard Basehart and David Hedison.

Suzuka Vol. 2 episodes 6-10
01/05/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN73002. 1 DVD 145 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

Tsubasa 3: Spectres Of Legend
01/05/2008. region 2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN73003. 1 DVD 105 minutes episodes 11-14, 4 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

V: The Final Battle Collectors Edition
01/05/2008. Region 2 DVD: Warner Bros Z1 14146. 2 DVDs 255 minutes 3 * 90 minute episodes. Price: £ 7.98 (UK) if you know where to look). stars: Jane Badler, Michael Durrell, Faye Grant, Michael Ironside, Peter Nelson, David Packer, Neva Patterson, Tommy Peterson, Marc Singer, Blair Tefkin, Michael Wright, Frank Ashmore and Robert Englund.

V: The Original Mini-Series
01/05/2008. Region 2 DVD: Warner Bros Z1 11489. 1 double-sided DVD 139 minutes 2 * 90 minutes episodes plus extras. Price: £ 7.98 (UK) if you know where to look). Stars: Jane Badler, Michael Durrell, Faye Grant, Peter Nelson, David Packer, Neva Patterson, Tommy Peterson, Marc Singer, Blair Tefkin, Michael Wright, Frank Ashmore and Robert Englund.

American Zombie: Mark's take
01/04/2008. This film is badly paced, but has a rewarding last half-hour if the viewer can wait it out. Grace Lee looks at the lives of zombies living in the Los Angeles area, examining them like any minority community. The film satirizes well-intentioned socially conscious documentaries, examining how zombies have been (or failed to be) integrated into the general population.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Mark's take)
01/03/2008. A family being torn by divorce moves into an old family house--a dark mansion miles from anywhere. It seems the surrounding area is infested with invisible creatures of Celtic faerie including an ogre who has designs on ruling the world. One by one the whole family is drawn into the battle against the invisible forces that would destroy the world. The film is an adaptation of five popular children's books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.

The Eye (Frank's take)
01/03/2008. The cornea-deprived caper The Eye, notes Frank, definitely sports a blurry vision in the meager horror B-movie sweepstakes. Co-directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud ("Them") oversee this flaccid fright fest that is a rudimentary remake of the twin Pang Brothers' Hong Kong blistering horror show of the same name. Although the Pangs displayed a convincing eerie atmosphere in their original nail-biter about sadistic senses, the Moreau-Palud combo merely scratches the bare surface and never revisits the mouth-watering chill factor that manifests so potently in the Asian original.

Mushi-Shi Vol. 2 episodes 6-10
01/03/2008. Region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72902. 1 DVD 150 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

Moon Phase - Phase 2 Vol. 1 episodes 1-5
01/03/2008. Region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72801. 1 DVD 130 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK) Also available in starter set which includes vol 2 and collectors box. £21.99 (UK).

Tsubasa 2: Seeds Of Revolution
01/03/2008. Region 2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN73002. 1 DVD 130 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World
02/02/2008. DVD region 2: pub: Network B00112GCEY. 2 DVDs 325 minutes 13 * 25 minutes episodes. Price: £14.99 (UK).

The Abominable Dr. Phibes/Dr. Phibes Rises Again (Geoff's take)
02/02/2008. region 1 DVD: pub: MGM 1009636. double-sided DVD: 95mins/89mins. Price: under $ 8.00 (US) if you know where to look). The Abominable Dr. Phibes: cast: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotton and Virginia North. Dr. Phibes Rises Again: cast: Vincent Price, Robert Quarry and Valli Kemp.

Mushi-Shi Vol. 1 episodes 1-5
02/02/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72901. 1 DVD 165 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK). Mushi-Shi Starter Pack 1 - this contains Vol. 1 and a box for all the volumes. (region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72901. 1 DVD 165 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £21.99 (UK).

Negima Magic 401: Magical Enhancements Vol. 4 episodes 15-18
02/02/2008. region2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN72313. 1 DVD 120 minutes 4 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK))

The X-Files: The Complete Third Season DVD Boxset
02/02/2008. region 2 DVD. pub: 20th Century Fox F1-0GB 21152MDVD. 7 DVDs 1100 minutes 24 episodes with extras. Price: about £13.00 (UK) if you know where to look). stars: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

The Hidden/The Hidden 2
02/02/2008. DVD Region 1. pub: Alliance Atlantic 20968. 2 films 98/91minutes plus extras. Price: $ 5.81 (US) if you know where to look). The Hidden stars: Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Nouri. The Hidden 2 stars: Raphael Sbarge and Kate Hodge.

Cloverfield (Mark's take)
22/01/2008. There have been dozens of Japanese films depicting giant monsters attacking large cities, says Mark. Cloverfield tries to show what such an event would be like more realistically. The results are violent and frankly unpleasant to watch, but deliver on what they promise: a realistic depiction of what it would be like if a giant monster really did attack Manhattan. The photography is jarring, but not as jarring as the realism.

I Am Legend (Mark's take)
01/01/2008. Richard Matheson's classic horror novel I Am Legend comes to the screen with CGI and lots of guns, most of which - says Mark - work against rather than for the story. Will Smith plays Robert Neville robbed of most of his anguish and his advancing madness. Some of the visual images are nice, but this is a story that needs to be made on a low budget to really work.

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Mark's take)
01/01/2008. Sweeny Razorhands. One of Broadway's best and most controversial musicals comes to the screen as a vehicle for the Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team. This version glories in the gory, says Mark. Depp's singing limitations rob the character of Sweeney of his all-important contagious savage fury. Burton shows the audience a lot that could not be shown on stage, not all of which was a good idea to show.

The Orphanage (Mark's take)
01/01/2008. Juan Antonio Bayona's Spanish-language film The Orphanage is a very intense ghost story, says Mark, expertly filmed, but the writing lets down the rest of the film. There are bits from several successful horror films, especially Poltergeist, rehashed here. Guillermo del Toro's name is shown prominently as presenter and producer, but The Orphanage is really not in his class. The film is competently made, but it just does not have enough that will not be already familiar to the viewer.