January 23, 2020
Engage! 2020 in Science Fiction
2020 is shaping up to be a great year for science fiction!
New Trek
Today the much anticipated Star Trek Picard is released on streaming services. I spent my younger years watching episodes of The Next Generation, the Star Trek series which will always be my Trek! Picard explores Jean Luc’s future decades after The Next Generation and the subsequent films that followed the TNG cast. There is also more Discovery and another new animated show, Lower Decks, releasing this year.
New Half Life
A surprise announcement came last November with the news that there is a new Half Life game set to be released soon - not Half Life 3 (or Half Life 2: Episode 3) - but a prequel to Half Life 2 titled Half Life Alyx. It was announced that the biggest team ever to work on Half Life game has been working on Alyx, and that it will be a VR-only game. I really hope this means in the next couple years there will be a new VR sequel to Portal!
New Dune
Dune, the ultimate science fiction book is getting a new film adaptation from Denis Villeneuve, who previously directed Sicario, Arrival, and the outstanding sequel to Blade Runner.
I read Dune in high school and it really stuck with me. It was a captivating story that I read through a few times to really get all the different elements of the story. The allegory to dependence on fossil fuels, the class warfare, the environmentalism, the fear of technology … all seem like story elements that are incredibly relevant today.
Dune has previously been put to film twice - first in 1884 as a film by David Lynch (who turned down an opportunity to direct the second Star Wars to instead direct Dune) - and in the early 2000s the SyFy channel (or SciFi channelel as it was then named) produced a mini-series of Dune and it’s sequel Dune Messiah. The David Lynch Dune has received some criticism for being
Labels: dune, half life, science fiction, Star Trek
August 24, 2016
From Sea to Shining Sea, and Screen to Shining Screen
July was an interesting month for me because I got to stick my toes in both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. The month started for me with a trip to San Francisco, and ended with a trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was also my first time to fly across the country, check out the map I made of the trip here. It's amazing to realize that you're crossing so much terrain in just a few hours.
While I was at the beach I got to see three films: Star Trek Beyond, Ghostbusters, and Jason Bourne. Here are my reviews of each:
Star Trek Beyond (A)
I'm biased because I'm a Trekkie, but this really was a great Trek film. I've gone to see many of the Star Trek movies at the theaters in my life; the Search For Spock was the first, and it gave me nightmares after I saw the scene where brain eating bugs in forcably incerted into the ears of the crew.
I generally like all of the Star Trek movies, even the not so great ones (Generations, Final Frontier, ), but I was nervous that without Abrams directing Beyond that it might not live up to the first 2 new rebooted films; however, it really was a great Trek film. Simon Pegg (who plays Scotty, and Shawn in Shawn of the Dead) wrote a fantastic script.
It's a contained story, in that it doesn't add or take away from the bigger Trek universe. It stands on it's own as a very entertaining entry to the series. I really hope we get at least a few more films with this cast.
Ghostbusters (B-)
I wanted very much to like this movie! The original film is one of my favorites. On paper this film should have been great. It had the director from Bridesmaids, and some of that amazing cast. It had an interesting idea of fliping the genders of the characters from the original. It had so much oportunity, but when it was all said and done, it was just a pretty ok remake.
I'm not sure I understand the decision to make this a remake, instead of a sequel. It seems like there was plenty of opportunity to keep the movie in that original film universe, rather than rebooting the whole series. And had that been the direction, there would not have been such a need to rank it against the fantastic original film.
Those gripes aside, it was a pretty funny movie, with some decent jokes are spread throughout the film. The best joke in the whole film in my opinion was related to the mayor's detest for being compared to the mayor from Jaws.
Overall, its a not terrible remake, but it could have offered a lot more.
Jason Bourne (C+)
Jason Bourne was sadly just not very good. I had to make a trip to see this with my Dad because we have seen all but the original Bourne film in theatres together (and we saw the last one at the beach as well coincidentally). This Bourne movie is really more of the same, there was nothing that really sets it apart. I think it missed two big opportunities to make it a better movie (which are still opportunities for future Bourne films!).
First, they didn't take advantage of any of the plotlines set up in the previous Bourne film (Legacy). I think people don't give Legacy enough credit, even though it was a very odd choice not to have Bourne as a character, they introduced some really interesting new scenarios/secret programs to investigate. The story was a lot more intersting than what we got in this last Bourne film.
Second, the intrigue of the original movies (and Legacy) was the plight of the main character figuring out their past. This is no longer the case for Jason Bourne, who knows he's actually David Webb. They did have some interesting backstory about his father. What would have made this film a lot more instesting is if now Bourne was a free agent, doing what he deemed prudent and in the best interest of the country he swore to protect. That would end up with a character a little more like Robert McCall, but it just seems like the natural progression for a guy like Bourne.
Allow me to pick a nit for a moment … “Jason Bourne” is a terrible name for this movie! It's an ill-conceived departure from the naming strategy of all the previous Bourne films (including the most recent Bourne film which didn't even have Bourne as a Character). Really anything would have been better: The Bourne The Bourne Colonoscopy, The Bourne
I have to wonder why the studio thought they should give the film the name “Jason Bourne”. Were they trying to follow other action series of late such as Rocky and Rambo, or Fast and Furious? Do they subscribe to the advice of some beguilingly idiotic think tank which generates these terrible name ideas? Hollywood, stop giving your movies dumb names!
When I first heard the name “Jason Bourne” a tiny seed of doubt was sowed in my mind. I have a theory which is so far proven accurate, which is: if a movie has a bad name it's more likely that the movie will be a bad movie. This isn' always true, just think of the following phrases to get my point: “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” “Batman Vs. Superman”.
There was nothing innovative or exciting about this movie, and that's unfortunate considering how excellent the series has been so far. Lets hope that the studio dosen't give up on Bourne and persues some more interesting story lines in future films.
July 31, 2016
Beach Trip 2016
I just got home from a beach trip with my family. As always, it was a really great time with a little stress/chaos mixed in. Here is a gallery of photos from our 2016 trip.
Before we got to the beach, my oldest niece Hannah and her boyfriend Brian flew into Charlotte to spend the day with me before we went to the beach. It was a lot of fun showing them around the city, checking out uptown, a local brewery, and getting some BBQ.
We've been going to the beach for decades as a family. (Here are some photos from previous trips: 2007, and 2012.) It all started in the 80s when we rented a little house named 'Camelot'. Camelotwas just a one-story little house on stilts with a short walk via a sandy trail to the beach: it was great! My niece Hannah and I found that old house. I was very happy to discover it's still around for rent.
In recent years there have been a lot more of us, which requires a much bigger house for everyone to fit. All together there were 22 of us this year (Mom, dad, my brother and his wife, my sister and her husband, my brother's 3 kids, 2 of my sister's kids, my sister-in-law's 4 kids, my brother-in-law's 3 kids, my two oldest niece's serious boyfriends, and me).
The water was surprisingly cold the first few days: in the 50s. Because of the cold water there were butterfly fish were swarming in the water. The air temperature however was very high, with high humidity, creating quite the contrast between the air and the water. I can't remember the water being so cold at the Outer Banks in July, when the sand was so hot. Thankfully by the end of the week the water temperature had increased to the mid 70s, and the air humidity decreased making in a lot more pleasant.
Lighthouses
This year, as we usually do, we went to see a couple lighthouses: Bodie Island and Cape Hatteras. Lighthouses have always been an of interest of mine. I've been to the top of Bodie Island Lighthouse, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and Currituck Lighthouse). This year, due to the heat, Bodie was not open for climbing to the top. But we did climb the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, which is the tallest lighthouse in the USA with 248 steps. It was quite hot inside. The outside temp was 95 degrees, and the inside temp was 104 degrees. The humidity made the inside temp feel like 117 degrees according to the weather report. It was a challenging hike up to the top. But the view made it all worth it!
Movies
I usually try to take in a movie or two while I'm at the beach. This year I was able to see three films. Jenah's boyfriend Joe went with me to see the new Star Trek. My sister Dana and her husband John went with me to see the new Ghostbusters remake. And Jenah, Joe, and my dad went with me to see the new Jason Bourne movie.
I hope our family continues to make these trips together!
Labels: beach, family, lighthouses, outer banks, Star Trek, travel
July 6, 2009
Summer Movies - Part 1
I really liked the latest Star Trek film - Disclaimer: I am pretty much a yellow-belt Trekkie. I'm not quite up there with the nerds who can name the episode number that featured Tribbles, but I did watch a fair amount of The Next Generation and Voyager as an extremely geeky teenager (Unfortunately for me we didn't have the WB where I grew up so there was no option for me to obsess over Buffy the Vampire Slayer) so I did have a fair bit of anticipation for this movie. Director JJ Abrams (who has been responsible as director or producer for films and shows such as: LOST, and Cloverfield) did an excellent job restarting this film franchise. And he did so using a very sly plot technique (so here begin movie spoilers...). This is not a prequel as I was expecting, instead by using the element of time travel, the story rewrites Star Trek history by altering events that happened before the original television series, totally changing the circumstances that introduce Kirk and Spock, and creating a huge difference in the time line upon which all previous Star Trek shows are based. The casting was great. I especially liked Simon Pegg playing the part of Scotty. I was totally won over by this latest Trek, and I look forward to future installments in this altered Trek universe.
If you like the earlier Terminator films you'll probably appreciate Terminator Salvation. This movie, the forth in the Terminator series, takes place in the future when T-600s are prevalent and the machines are about to start production on the T-800 model, which you will remember was the version of Terminator that was the main antagonist in the original film.
There really are two main characters in Terminator Salvation, which for me is its biggest detraction. The real main character of the story is Marcus who believes he is human but is in fact partially a terminator created by the machines. His character is enough to make an interesting story. John Conner, played by Christian Bale is the leader of the human rebellion, and he is the most important character overall between all the films. But this story is focused on Marcus who must cope with being both machine and human while sheparding the young Kyle Reese until he meets with John Conner who will become his son. Bale is good as John Conner and I think another sequel that focuses on his role and Reese would be interesting.
I was pretty young when Terminator 2 came out, but I remember it being a big deal. It was at a time when my parents and I were moving into a new house that had a large satellite dish in the backyard. We wern't paying for anything but we received a lot of ramdom broadcasts, such as: broadcasts of baseball games without commercials, we just heard what the announcers were saying to each other during commercial breaks, and we got American games with Japanese announcers, and we also got the E Entertainment Television network. And I remember that E ran a Terminator 2 promotional special highlighting the amazing computer effects over and over. I'll remember that summer for having to , and I had to mow two yards since it took several months for my parents to sell our old house.
Two movies I'm interested in on the horizon are Surrogates (IMDb) (trailer) and The Road (IMDb) (trailer). Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis, is about a detective solving a mystery in a futuristic world where people live their lives through robotic surrogates. The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen, is a post-apocalyptic film about a man and his son on a journey across an American wasteland that looks incredibly bleak - based on a story by Cormac McCarthy, who also wrote No Country For Old Men.
Labels: movies, Star Trek, Surrogates, Terminator Salvation, The Road
December 22, 2008
Holiday (and Upcoming) Movies
One of my favorite things about the Holidays is the many movie possibilities usually available. It was great the few years when there was either a Lord of the Rings or a Harry Potter film to choose from.
Right now there are a few options: You can save your money on The Day The Earth Stood Still (see below for reasons why). If you can find a theater showing RocknRolla (IMDb) and you've enjoyed past Guy Ritchie British gangster movies I would recommend seeing it. Quantum of Solace (IMDb) is a direct sequel to Casino Royal and second film to cast Danial Craig as 007. Although not as excellent as Casino Royal, it was still worth watching, especially if you liked Casino Royal.
I was really looking forward to the reincarnation of Star Trek that originally was set to release Christmas day 2008. Alas, it has been pushed back to May 9th. This will be either a total restart of the original, or at least a prequel to the original television series. Aside from awesome looking special effects, one aspect this project that excited me is the casting of Simon Pegg as the character Scotty who you would recognize as Shaun from the excellent Shaun of the Dead. Also, while all of the characters are cast with younger actors for obvious reasons, Leonard Nimoy is reprising his role as an aged Spock (perhaps by way of a flashback or other plot devise).
The film I'm most interested in this Christmas is The Spirit (IMDb). The trailer for The Spirit sort of caught me off guard since all my attention has been focused on The Watchmen. The Spirit is directed by, although not originally written by, talented graphic novelist Frank Miller -- who wrote the graphic novels which have become the films Sin City and 300. From a comic series from the 1940s, the film's style looks very similar to the animated style of Sin City. I don't know much about the story, but I imagine it will have all the traditional hard-boiled crime story themes, and film noir elements...a conflicted love story, a hero with an unyielding and confusing sense of justice, etc. (Scarlett Johansson as a bad-girl is also quite intriguing.)Miller's 300 was directed by Zach Snyder who is behind the lens in the much-anticipated The Watchmen (IMDb), which is set for a March 6th 2009 opening. One of the more amazing aspects of The Watchmen is that now that its finally being created for the screen (there have been several prior attempts) the film makers are not only striving to recreate an authentic 1980s atmosphere, which itself is would be challenging, but an alternative one at that, where superheros are real and as such all other facets of that time are skewed, with odd historical similarities (I remember noticing when I read The Watchmen somewhere a sign for “RR for President,” but instead of being for the actor Ronald Reagan, it was for actor Robert Redford). Interestingly, one of the two writer/artists behind Watchmen, Moore has argued that graphic novels are not meant for the cinematic medium because it takes in-depth examination of each cell in the story to fully interpret all of its details and meanings. To Snyder's credit, from the trailers it appears that he has done as well as could be expected in replicating the elements within Watchmen. After Watchmen, according to the IMDb, Snyder has a few interesting projects on the way...including: a sequel/remake to the animated cult hit Heavy Metal in 2010, and a film version of the comic series Cobalt-60. Although, since story elements of the comic Cobalt-60 were incorporated into the Heavy Metal magazine, perhaps these separate projects are really one in the same.
Another film opening Christmas day possibly worth seeing is The Valkyrie (IMDb) -- based on a true story about an insurrection of German soldiers against their leaders during WWII. It seems a little silly to me that, judging only from the trailer, there is no attempt at having the characters use a German accent.
I'm much more excited for another WWII era film coming out soon called Defiance (IMDb) (staring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber), directed by Edward Zwick who is gifted at bringing true stories of war to the screen, such as: Glory, and The Last Samurai. Defiance is based on a true story of three Russian Jewish brothers who led a rebellion against German soldiers while taking refuge in the forest. Defiance is set to open January 16th 2008.Another movie I'm really excited about (set to open the same day as Defiance) is the new film by Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino (IMDb). Imagine all the grit of a hard-ass retired Dirty Harry in front of the lens, with the refined genius of Clint Eastwood as a director behind the lens.
I just went to see The Day The Earth Stood Still (IMDb), which looked very fascinating in the trailer, but overall left me feeling disapointed and slightly bored. The story was bland and unconvincing, but what irritated me the most about about TDTESS was the extremely obvious product placement thoroughout the film – from particular brands of phones, watches, fast food, cars and so on. There was nothing subtle about it. Movie editors take note: cool it on the over-the-top painfully obvious product placement. Just because the economy is terrible and nobody is buying anything doesn't excuse your excessive assault on our subconsciousness. No one wants to sit through a two-hour action-justified infomercial. These products must exist in a realistic film, sure, but when the camera hesitates a moment to give you a close-up glimpse of the sleek new phone and watch being used by the protagonist, it's more than a little heavy-handed. Not only that, this is in a film that already has a heavy-handed message about how the excesses of consumerism and so forth having brought an alien species to destroy humanity in order to save the planet. A little contradictory, eh? So, I recommend saving your money and waiting for this film to come out on dvd. Last winter's I Am Legend was a much more thrilling and emotional film by comparison.
Look below for trailers at Apple for some of the more exciting films I'm looking forward to:
Defiance
Gran Torino
Watchmen
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
For my list of upcoming films check my movie calendar page
Labels: Defiance, Gran Torino, Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, The Spirit, Watchmen
August 25, 2008
Slither, Fuzz, Dr. Horrible, and new Trek
A friend suggested that the best way to celebrate my birthday would be ordering pizza and renting a horror flick. We ended up with Slither (IMDb) and Hot Fuzz (IMDb).I recently posted a video where Nathan Fillion discusses Slither. And as a huge fan of Firefly/Serenity I thought I'd check it out. Another reason I wanted to see it was knowing it was written and directed by James Gunn who previously wrote the screenplay for the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, which is in my opinion one of the best in the survival horror genre. (Thats the film that put director Zach Snyder on the map by the way, and probably why he's directing the big-screen version of Watchmen due out next year -- maybe*). Slither stars Nathan Fillion as the sheriff investigating a strange alien-born disease that turns residents of a small South Carolina town into something of an amalgam of all nasty creatures found in horror films, mostly resembling zombies at first. Co staring is Elisabeth Banks who you may remember as the hot bookshop girl from the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin. Once the 'sickness' is discovered, the Sheriff organizes a posse (reluctantly including the character played by Banks) and together they try to track down the creature responsible for mysterious animal slayings and rescue a kidnapped girl.
Something else interesting I recently herd about (while listening to the most recent net@night podcast)...Leo and Amber were at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas interviewing actress Felicia Day about a project by Firefly/Serenity and Buffy the TV-series creator Joss Whedon, co-starring Nathan Fillion in a Web-based musical series called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I'm going to have to check this out.
The original series (or TOS as its often abbreviated by fans) was followed by six feature films continuing the missions with the original cast. The Next Generation (or TNG as its often abbreviated by fans) was followed by four feature films featuring the TNG cast, my favorite of which was First Contact (IMDb)--so including the upcoming remake, thats a total of 11 films.
So if you consider each series and feature film as an individual entry into the cannon of the star trek universe, and including the upcoming feature film remake/prequel of the original series, as well as the unofficial fan-based continuation of the original series; then thats a total of eighteen individual projects in the Star Trek fictional universe, (and thats not even considering the stories contained in books and video games). Star Trek has had a prolific cinematic history indeed.
Labels: Dr. Horrible, movies, Slither, Star Trek