She Likes to Watch

“Three billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war ‘Judgment Day.’”

– Sarah Connor

That’s right, “Terminator 2″ fans.

Today is the 11th anniversary of Judgment Day, when Skynet — the all-powerful computer in charge of Earth’s strategic defense system — became self-aware. (To be precise, it happened at 2:14 a.m. on August 29, 1997. A Friday.)

As you might remember from history class, Skynet sent two Terminator robots back through time with a single purpose: to destroy the leader of the human resistance, John Connor.

The first Terminator was programmed to target his mother, Sarah Connor, in 1984 (as chronicled in the documentary “The Terminator”). The second was sent to strike young John himself.

Naturally, you can never save the world just twice.

In 2003, Skynet sent another nasty Terminator (this time a smokin’ hot babe ‘bot) to hunt John Connor down. Guess what? It didn’t quite work.

“Terminator Salvation”, the fourth installment in the hugely successful series, takes us back to home base as Connor (Christian Bale) and a band of survivors struggle to stay alive in post-apocalyptic 2018.

The movie is set to open theaters next May.

Meanwhile, the hit FOX television show “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” — which returns for a second season on Sept. 8 — fills in the blanks between the events of “T2″ and “T3.”

This entertainment juggernaut is nigh unstoppable! Almost like … wait a minute! … a Terminator.

Humankind may be in more trouble than I thought.

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Thanks to The Man from Moqui for the tip.

CGI: You’ve come a long way, baby

Twenty years ago, special effects were a relatively simple affair.

Build a few models and miniatures. Create elaborate matte paintings. Add stop-motion animation, makeup and prosthetics, and piece it all together with trick photography and creative camera angles.

Then came the Golden Age of CGI.

Early attempts like the stained glass knight in “Young Sherlock Holmes,” the morphing animal-woman in “Willow” and the denizens of the deep in “The Abyss” stretched the limits of computer-aided imagery. But it was “Terminator 2″ — James Cameron’s action-packed sequel — that really turned the FX industry on its head.

RottenTomatoes.com lists 20 of the most revolutionary CGI movies in the past two decades, starting with the mega-cool liquid metal T-1000 in “T2.”

Here’s the list. The films are ranked, not in order of importance, but chronologically.

1. “T2″ (1991)
2. “Jurassic Park” (1993)
3. “Toy Story” (1995)
4. “Titanic” (1997)
5. “The Matrix” (1999)
6. “Gladiator” (2000)
7. “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” (2001)
8. “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001)
9. “Finding Nemo” (2003)
10. “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003)
11. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003)
12. “The Day After Tomorrow” (2004)
13. “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004)
14. “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” (2005)
15. “Batman Begins” (2005)
16. “War of the Worlds” (2005)
17. “King Kong” (2005)
18. “Sunshine”(2007)
19. “Beowulf” (2007)
20. “Wall-E” (2008)

As you can tell, computer-generated images have been a huge part of summer blockbusters and holiday season sensations since the mid-1990s.

In some, computer animation actually takes center stage — such as Golem in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the title giant ape in “King Kong.”

Without gross Grendel, there’d be no point to “Beowulf’s” 3D roller coaster ride. The same goes for General Grievous in “Revenge of the Sith,” or the alien craft in “War of the Worlds.”

But the CGI bats and bogeys in “Batman Begins”? They’re hardly more than background.

It’s also notable that many of these movies — although pretty — are not particularly good. The flop that was”The Day After Tomorrow” reveals the fallacy of relying on visual effects to carry a film, rather than pesky little things like plot or character development.

A few notable omissions do stand out from this list, such as “The Abyss,” James Cameron’s earliest foray into CGI.

What about “Cloverfield,” the monster movie that got bloggers in a tither earlier this year?

There’s also no mention of two of my favorite special effects extravaganzas of the summer, “The Incredible Hulk” and “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.”

Could it be that CGI is finally blasé?

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Photo courtesy of MovieWeb.com.

Ya shoulda been at Comic-Con, bub.

Comic-Con 2008 is over.

From all reports, it was a mixed year for the pop culture convention. There were the usual celebrity appearances, glimpses of upcoming blockbusters and major geekouts over popular franchises.

Still, nobody came out with a huge, ultra-secret, blow-the-top-off-your skull surprise.

This year, the big buzz surrounded comic-book projects like “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” Frank Miller’s “The Spirit,” the highly anticipated “Watchmen” movie and “The Dark Knight,” still kicking butt at the box office.

We also saw sequels aplenty, including “Terminator: Salvation” and TV’s “Terminator: The Sarah Chronicle Files,” “The Lost Boys: The Tribe” and and “Tron 2″ (that’s right, “Tron 2″!!). Not to mention several remakes, such as “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Death Race” and “Land of the Lost.”

For more details, I turn to the professionals. Click on the links below.

Science fiction fans got the scoop via io9.com, which reported on hits like “Lost,” “Chuck,” “Dr. Who” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”

Meanwhile, Kotaku.com kept the score for video game fans, posting updates on such titles as “Ghostbusters: The Video Game,” “Afro Samurai” and the latest in the “Resident Evil,” “Street Fighter,” “Mortal Kombat” and “Spider-Man” franchises.

Film-centric sites MovieWeb.com, RottenTomatoes.com and IGN.com also hit the convention floor.

It’s a lot to take in, so read slowly and rest often.

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Thanks to reader Robot Downey Jr. for the tip.