Day 32: Deadly sunshine and a bright side to Brandon Knight

(Illustration courtesy of Roger Huang)

So I watched a nifty little movie the other day called Sunshine. It was directed by Danny Boyle -- who did Slumdog Millionaire -- and it came out in 2007. It's about a group of scientists who in the distant future set out to revitalize the sun, which is on the verge of dying. They load a spacecraft full of magical-sci-fi missiles and intend to get close enough to sun so that they can fire the magical-sci-fi missiles into it, which -- thanks to magical sci-fi -- will restore the sun to its old state of sunnyness. Also, the name of the ship they're on is the "Icarus II."

But as they get close to the sun, what do they find near the sun's orbit? Yes, the abandoned remains of Icarus I, which set out to do this same mission many moons ago. So the crew of Icarus II decide to try to see what's up with Icarus I. They divert their plan, and things go really bad from there, until it more or less becomes of a game of 10 Little Indians in space, as each crew member gets picked off one by one by... stuff.

I personally love 10-Little-Indians-in-space type movies. To me, there's something truly scary about watching people deal with a deadly crisis when they're millions and millions of miles from home, with no chance of escape. I love 2001, and Alien, and Aliens, and to some degree Event Horizon. Sunshine fits neatly into that cinematice category, which is really one of the film's biggest weaknesses. So many beats in Sunshine are carbon copies of ones that happened in 2001 and Event Horizon and Alien that it kinda took me out of the movie. At the beginning of the film, when a bunch of the crew members are sitting around eating breakfast, it's virtually impossible not to think of Alien if you've already seen it.

That isn't to say that Sunshine is derivative, because it's not. The story is its own beast. However, it's clearly following in the footsteps of the films that came before it, which was a little disappointing.

Sunshine has an incredibly bizarre storyline. The best thing I can say about it is that when things start hitting the fan, it's hectic and crazy and never dull. The problem is that the events that transpire happen so quickly, with so little explanation sometimes, that I was often left going, "Wait, why did he do that? How did he do that? How did that happen? What???" And then, there's the big twist-surprise-reveal, which was so surreal and incomprehensible that I didn't even know what to make of it. I'm not going to give away what this twist is, not in its entirety, but I will just say that when a sun-charred naked dude decides to kill everyone, it'd be nice to know why he's doing it, and also how he's able to do the things he's doing.

Sunshine is not a perfect movie. It's a very, very odd movie about a completely unbelievable, chaotic scenario involving dudes who want to save the world by shooting missiles into the sun -- although that part may have some actual scientific basing to it, though I highly doubt it. I don't think Sunshine is a film very many people will love, what with it being totally outclassed by all of the major classics of its ilk. Still, it's certainly interesting and entertaining. If you liked Event Horizon and Alien or even The Thing (which is practically a space movie), Sunshine is a film that should keep your interest, even if you're not totally taken by the characters and their plight.

Final judgment: a sideways thumbs up for Sunshine. It's okay in a crazy-insane way.

Okay. Fantasy basketball time! (My transitions are amazing, are they not?)

• Brandon Knight finally came through for me, scoring 17 points on 7-11 shooting with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, a three and just 2 turnovers. Finally! I've been propping up Knight since the beginning of the year, but he's been having a pretty horrible season so far -- although, from the way Rotoworld has been writing about him, you'd think he had been defecating on the court in between timeouts. Knight is hard to trust, what with his injury issues. But remember: the Bucks got him in return for Brandon Jennings, who had been their franchise player. They didn't make that trade so they could barely use him; they did it because they want Knight to be a star for them, and he's fully capable of being one. When he's healthy, I really do think Knight is someone you're going to want on your fantasy team, and thanks to his injuries and bad play of late, he's available in 61% of all Yahoo! leagues. I say add him.
• An injured Ersan Ilyasova didn't do much against the Bobcats, pulling down 4 rebounds and going 0-6 from the floor for 0 points in 12 minutes. Hopefully you didn't draft him expecting him to be a superstar, because if you did... yikes, dude.
• Paul Millsap had 15 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and a three in 39 minutes yesterday. Not bad numbers at all, but Millsap's stats are way, way down since he developed an injury. In his last 10 games, Millsap hasn't scored more than 19 and has grabbed more than 7 rebounds just once. He's an excellent player and is capable of doing better, so there's no harm in putting in a low offer for him. However, with Al Horford (17 points, 12 rebounds) around, Millsap is more or less the same player that he was in Utah.
• Jeff Green was awesome against the Cavs, scoring 31 points on 10-19 shooting with 5 rebounds and 2 three's. Green has been playing very well since his momentary lull a few weeks ago and should provide owners with a good dose of scoring the rest of the way -- especially when Rajon Rondo comes back.
• With Jeremy Lin out with a sprained right ankle, Patrick Beverley was the de fact top point guard on the Rockets on Friday, though he only played 24 minutes because the Rockets annihilated the Nets, and he only shot 2-7. Lin is going to be out for two weeks, but I honestly don't see Beverley putting up insane numbers in his absence; he's just not that guy. Aaron Brooks, on the other hand, has been playing fantastic lately and had 14 points, 7 assists and 3 three's against the Nets. Even though Brooks is merely the third-string guard on Houston, he's honestly a better fantasy play than Beverley right now. Don't forget: it wasn't that long ago that Aaron Brooks was a fantasy basketball monster, when he was playing for this very Houston Rockets team. He may be a bit older, but he's healthy and he's getting regular playing time again. If only for these two weeks when Lin is out, Aaron Brooks is worth owning if you're looking for a point guard who can hit a three.
• Harrison Barnes was terrific against the Thunder, scoring 26 points on 10-16 shooting with 4 assists and 2 rebounds in 42 minutes. There's no deliberation needed with Barnes; he's awesome. The problem, though, is that he just won't have the chance to assert himself like this when Andre Iguodala returns from his hamstring injury. Barnes is going to be worth owning no matter what his role is, but this particular high that he's on is only possible with an injury to Steph Curry, Iguodala or Klay Thompson.
• Russell Westbrook continued to look spectacular following his seemingly-devastating leg injury from last year's playoffs, scoring 34 points and adding 7 assists and 5 steals. Derrick Rose needs to find a way to steal his blood somehow.
• Lance Stephenson just missed out on a triple-double on Friday: 7 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists. Stephenson is in the midst of a terrific fantasy season, which is being helped by Danny Granger's complete inability to even get near the basketball court.
• Markieff Morris continued his string of terrific games, scoring 23 points with a steal and a block. Eric Bledsoe, meanwhile, returned the Suns' lineup off the bench and had 19 points on 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. Both are players you should invest heavily in from here on out.
• Derrick Williams looked pretty good in his debut with the Kings, posting 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in 32 minutes against the Clippers. He even posted a crazily athletic dunk that unfortunately doesn't really matter fantasy-wise, but hey, it was still cool to look at. Williams has the athleticism and is in a situation where I do think he could be good, sort of how Michael Beasley was terrific for one random year with the Minnesota Timberwolves. I'm not exactly convinced that Williams can be much of a scorer, but with the Kings deciding to commit to him, it's not impossible he could be a poor man's Josh Smith. So yes, I say for right now Williams is worth the add, though if you need scoring you may want to skip him. (By the way, this was Josh Smith's line last night: 8 points on 4-16 shooting, including 0-4 from the foul line, with 19 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks and 5 turnovers. Only J-Smoove is capable of putting up an incredible erratic line like that.)