Safety Not Guaranteed is about a lot of things.  But the very basics are that a man places an ad in a Seattle newspaper searching for a time travel partner.  The actual ad is in the poster above, and is where the movie gets it’s title.  A reporter (Johnson; New Girl) who has ulterior motives takes two interns with him to the vacation spot where he used to spend his summers as a teen and also where the P.O. Box in the ad is.  The interns are two outcasts, one our main protagonist, Darius (Aubrey Plaza; Parks & Recreation) who has been stuck since her mother’s death, along with the nerdy Arnau (Soni). After making contact with the seemingly crazy Kenneth (Duplass; The League, Zero Dark Thirty) Darius forms a strange bond with the man who just wants to go back to correct a past mistake.

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Retrovirus is a graphic novel about scientist Zoe Wallace who gets enlisted to come to a top secret antarctic research station where she discovers that a pharmaceutical company has unearthed a perfectly preserved Neanderthal and wants to study it’s physiology.  But everything we knew about them quickly gets thrown out the window and Zoe uncovers all the secrets the company is hiding from her and her fellow scientists.

Retrovirus is a great little offering.  It’s 64 full-color pages packed with an attractive female scientist, tons of violence, and a great plot.  It feel like this could be a Michael Crichton book.  That’s what the plot is most like and overall the book is reminiscent of.  If you’re a fan of the “science goes bad” type story, then don’t even bother finishing this review and just buy it right now.

My main problem with the book was I felt it was capable of more.  It was a great quick read, but I wanted a little fuller, in depth, experience.  I know this is a graphic novel, but I would have enjoyed a full novel of this story.  It certainly had the ability.

Other that that super small problem, I really enjoyed Retrovirus and I think you’d be smart to pick it up.  It’ll make a great stocking stuffer around this time of year.  It came out today!

Year Zero is the story of low-level copyright lawyer Nick Carter who is visited by 2 aliens one day.  They quickly explain to him that the entire earth is in trouble as they’ve essentially bankrupted the entire universe.  You see in 1977 the rest of the universe got it’s first taste of Earth’s music (this would become known as the “Kotter Moment” as the bit of music was the Welcome Back Kotter theme song).  They became hopelessly addicted and have been collecting all of our music since.  Until they recently learned of our strict anti-piracy and copyright laws and realized they now owe a lot of money.  All of it.  With his alien guides, Nick has to travel the universe and save the earth from certain destruction from those who are losing all their money.  He’s also got to win his dream girl.

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Ready Player One takes place in the near future.  Earth has been mostly destroyed by various things and basically corporations rule.  But there’s one safe-haven: The Oasis.  Oasis is a virtual reality game that ultimately became a place where people lived out their whole lives.  In game currency is worth more than real countries, and you can do everything from shop to go to school in it.  Anything you could previously do in the real world, plus more is available in the Oasis, which is free to use. When the creator of The Oasis dies, he leaves a video will behind that is automatically sent to all players. This 80′s obsessed, Steve Jobs-esque character says that he has hidden an easter egg in the game and the first person to find it gets control over the company, his own personal fortune, and everything that comes with it.  So now people known as “gunters” spend their time analyzing every detail of his life and searching the game and 80′s pop culture to find clues to where the keys and gates may be.  And after 5 years of no progress, Wade Watts, a teenager and our hero finds the first puzzle.

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Detention is a genre defying film about a group of teens at Grizzly Lake High who while engaging in classes, finding prom dates, and more, also have to fight off a killer.  Oh and there’s time travel. And a lot more.  This is an incredibly hard movie to sum up.

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Continuum is a time traveling, sci-fi, cop show that recently premiered on Canada’s Showcase network.  It’s about a cop in 2077 (Nichols; Criminal Minds, Alias), known as a “protector” in their terminology who while attending the execution of a group of terrorists gets sucked back in time when they try to escape and winds up stuck with them in present day Vancouver.  Since only she knows what they are capable of and what they are trying to do, she is the only one capable of stopping them.

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The Cabin in the Woods is a classic horror tale of what happens when a group of teenagers venture deep into the woods to an old cabin for a weekend of debauchary.  And then comes the killing.  Except it’s also none of that.  The fact is the true plot of Cabin in the Woods would spoil a lot of the fun of it so it’s hard to really talk about. It’s also way more complicated than any basic plot could capture. It is ridiculously hard to review this movie without spoiling things but there will be nothing in this review that will ruin your experience, but I warn you to be wary of even watching commercials for this film.

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Chronicle is about Andrew (DeHaan), a teenager who’s having a really bad time in life.  His mom has cancer and his dad is an alcoholic.  At school he’s bullied and everyone thinks he’s a loser.  The only person in his life is his much more popular cousin Matt (Russell).  Andrew starts filming his entire life, using the camera as a buffer between him and the real world.  One night at a party he’s dragged to, Andrew, Matt, and popular jock Steve (Jordan; Friday Night Lights) find something weird in a field that leaves them with telekinetic powers.  Suddenly things start changing in all their lives.

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The Thing is a prequel/remake of John Carpenter’s classic horror film of the same name about a group of scientists trapped in Antarctica with an alien that can shapeshift into the form of other animals, including humans.  In this prequel, an alien ship is discovered by a team of Norwegian scientists and American grad student Kate Lloyd (Winstead; Scott Pilgrim) is brought along for her expertise.  They find a seemingly dead alien creature frozen in the ice not far from the ship and excavate it but things quickly go bad when the creature wakes up and starts wreaking havoc.

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Alcatraz is a mysterious show that proposes the truth behind the closing of Alcatraz prison is that in 1963 all the prisoners and guards just vanished one night.  Now in modern day San Francisco these people are re-appearing just as mysteriously, not having aged a day.  Detective Rebecca Madsen (Jones; Sons of Anarchy) and Alcatraz expert Diego Soto (Garcia; LOST) stumble upon the happenings and a secret task force run by the equally mysterious Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill; Jurassic Park) and are enlisted to help capture some of the worst criminals of their day.  The story of the events on 1960′s Alcatraz are told alongside the modern day story as well.

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