I, Robot News

The new Touchstone Picture, 'Surrogates,' stars ever-popular tough-guy Bruce Willis as FBI agent Tom Greer and Radha Mitchell as his partner, Agent Peters.

It wouldn't be Monday without a rumor or two. We kick off today's spinning of the rumor-mill with a story from the folks at Pajiba , who seem to be more than on top of Hollywood lately.

Seven years after filming the successful Hip Hop drama 8 Mile , Detroit emcee Eminem is ready to return to Hollywood, this time with a leading role in a 3-D horror anthology.

With apologies to Robert Frost . Hollywood hasna t painted a flattering picture for artificially intelligent robots.

Talk about a disaster. Knowing , the latest film by I, Robot director Alex Proyas, sure wants to be the disaster movie to end all disaster movies, and it succeeds - just not in the way it wants to.

One of the great sci-fi reading pleasures of my early teens was John Christopher's Tripods novels.

"Surrogates," or "I, Robot 2: Way Worse Than I, Robot," shares the distinctly plastic, non-threatening look of 2004's Will Smith yawn-factory, but it also takes a turn South from that low common denominator to focus exclusively on humans themselves as humanity's big enemy, instead of that much more frightening specter of evil, soulless machines.

Bill Foley Clinical "Surrogates" is like a trip to the wax museum. It's somewhat interesting to look at but it can't substitute for the real thing.

A world without limitations or boundaries; that's what the people are entitled to when they are plugged into robots that lives their lives for them.

Hollywood has given roles to an actor because he or she has proven that his star power can draw fans into the movie, that power is usually enough to draw people into paying for what they believe is going to be a power house movie, but tends to be more and more just trite, loud action.

This is another terrible robots-out-of-control SF thriller, not unlike the recent film of Isaac Asimov's I, Robot which also starred James Cromwell as a brilliant cyberneticist.

Strictly speaking, a surrogate is "something that is put in place of another." So, consider "Surrogates" as something to see in place of spending hours watching the dozen or so other science-fantasy films that this latest vehicle for Bruce Willis rips off.

Time can move slowly in the movie world - just ask the cast of "Pandorum." The sci-fi horror film opens Friday, seven months after members of the cast traveled to the WonderCon comic book/movie/pop culture convention to hype it.

Published: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 9:44 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 9:44 p.m. As Casey Stengel might have said, these days, science fiction seems to have its future all behind it.

Frankenstein Mary Shelley Written when the author was still in her late teens, the story of Victor Frankenstein and his monster is not only a classic work of Gothic horror, but one of the earliest examples of science fiction.

Good science fiction is hard to find. Inevitably, what is supposed to be a feverish mix of paranoia and imagination will get bogged down into actioners with fancier weaponry, gadgets and inhabitants.

Troubled ITV stands to reap tens of millions of pounds in new revenue under Government plans to allow US-style product placement on television.

Back in the fold. Nicolas Cage embraces his faith in the iffy sci-fi thriller Knowing.

Bridget Moynahan will star as a veterinarian in a new Columbia sci-fi thriller "Battle: Los Angeles," which begins shooting this fall, according to the Hollywood Reporter .

Enlarge PhotoJuly 14, 2009 --- It's a testament to the prevalence of social media now that BRIDGET MOYNAHAN is known more for her very public break-up with Tom Brady than her acting credentials.