ZooScope

Tag: HAR: Science/Technology

  • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Universal Pictures. 1982

    Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), despite its tearful conclusion in which 10-year-old Elliott is parted from his extra-terrestrial friend aptly named ‘E.T.’, is revered for its thematic sentimentality (popularised by its iconic John Williams score) and stood him in contrast to his contemporary auteurs such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, who adopted…

  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Dir. Michael Dougherty. Warner Bros. Pictures. 2019.

    “Good thing he’s on our side” … “For now” How do we define the term ‘Monster’? Or perhaps, how should we define it? Is there ever a possibility that the monster we feared can end up being the hero we never knew we needed? This is the question posed within Michael Dougherty’s 2019 Action film…

  • Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!. Dir. By. Peter Lord. Columbia Pictures. 2012.

    Aardman never shy away from the ludicrous. So when a crew of incompetent pirates endeavour for protagonist The Pirate Captain to win the Pirate of the Year Award by relying on the commercial value of his prized dodo companion Polly (who should have been extinct for 150 years and is believed to be a parrot)…

  • Blade Runner 2049. Dir. Denis Villeneuve. Alcon Entertainment. 2017.

    Blade Runner 2049. Dir. Denis Villeneuve. Alcon Entertainment. 2017.

    Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (2017) transports us to a dystopian earth, where humans and replicants, bio-engineered humans used for slave labour, live side by side. There is a clear dichotomy within the dystopia since replicants’ entire existence is based on the premise that they are genetically coded to obey orders, rendering them docile slaves,…

  • Okja. Dir. Bong Joon-ho. Netflix. 2017

    Okja. Dir. Bong Joon-ho. Netflix. 2017

    There are two kinds of pigs that make an appearance in Okja; genetically modified super-pigs and greedy, corporate capitalist pigs. The slaughterhouse scene forces the viewer to dispel any false idealism surrounding the reality of the meat industry, an explicit criticism of how human exceptionalist thinking blended with modern ‘capitalist delirium’ [1] has ruined the…

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. 1968.

    As with the majority of Stanley Kubrick’s filmography (we’ll mutually agree to exclude Fear and Desire from this conversation), 2001: A Space Odyssey has been subjected to extensive film analysis and criticism. This article will explore the implications of the film’s perpetuation of sociologically-constructed human-animal boundaries in order to articulate the commonality of violence across…

  • Don’t Look Up, Adam McKay, 2021, Netflix

    “You’re going to die! You’re going to die!” Through a plot that follows the fight for a response to humanity’s impending doom when a comet is discovered to be heading for Earth, the message of Don’t Look Up is clear: unless those with power start listening to those calling for action against global disasters –…

  • The Lion King. Dir. Jon Favreau. Walt Disney Pictures and Fairview entertainment. 2019.

    Jon Favreau’s 2019 recreation of The Lion King is something David Attenborough would be proud of, or is it? Disney seems to have a habit of reproducing the same stories, and after 25 years that’s just what they did with their animated animal take on Hamlet. Favreau’s CGI Lion King tells the story of a…

  • Guardians of the Galaxy. Dir. James Gunn. Marvel Studios. 2014.

    Set in a parallel science- fiction universe, Guardians of the Galaxy[1] parodies Marvel’s usual ‘superhero’ film, by casting five criminal anti- heroes as the protagonists. The film follows five intergalactic – outlaw – anti- heroes as they are brought together by being arrested, over a bounty hunt on a mysterious orb. Previously individuals just working…

  • The Secret of NIMH. Dir. Don Bluth. MGM/UA Entertainment Company. 1982.

    “We can no longer live as rats. We know too much.” The Secret of NIMH is remembered by many as a dark, creepy, and disturbing film, with retrospectives published in recent years referring to it as leaving basically every kid who sees it with a lingering dread. Don Bluth’s directorial debut after leaving the Walt…