Fantasy, Superhero, and Sci Fi Films - The Early Aughts (2000 - 2002)!

The year 2000 started with Pitch Black with Vin Diesel playing the criminal, Richard B. Riddick whose modified eyes can see in the dark.  His ship crashes on a desert planet and the crew gets torn apart by alien creatures out in the dark. It was followed by a sequel four years later.  A bright spot for sci fi was the release of Mission to Mars. This is an incredible film for director Brian DePalma and Gary Sinese as an astronaut who uncovers the mystery of Mars.  In May, Battlefield Earth came out, a sci fi tale by Scientologist founder L. Ron Hubbard.  It was not a good film.  The summer brought X-Men to the screen which of course made Hugh Jackman a star as Wolverine.  He is caught between the conflict between Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) and their super powered mutants. These films did not get any Academy Award noms though I would say Mission to Mars and X-Men deserved technical noms.        

The next year, 2001, did not bring HAL or the Monolith, but it did bring us A.I. Artificial Intelligence.  It was developed by Stanley Kubrick based on the Brian Aldiss short story, “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” (1969).  Steven Spielberg directed the film that concerned the Mecha called David (Haley Joel Osment) searching for his family and place in this futuristic world.  It was nommed for Best Visual Effects and Score by John Williams. Jurassic Park III was another return to the island of dinosaurs.  Alan Grant (Sam Neill) goes back to Jurassic Park to rescue a wealthy couple’s son.  It would be fourteen years before we got a new vision of the theme park world.  Tim Burton remade another film, Planet of the Apes, it was confusing, and a new reboot was coming in ten years. Another franchise emerged, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone opened to theaters, audiences world wide were taken with the Wizarding World.  Young Wizard, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) learns spells and makes friends at the magical school.  It was nommed for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.  The unfortunate part of the Harry Potter film releases is that they dropped during some heavy competition and never got great consideration at awards.   

The cast in point was in December the release of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings.  This was a true realization of fantasy films by Peter Jackson and his team.  Hobbit, Frodo (Elijah Wood) joins a group to destroy the Ring that is tied to the Dark Lord Sauron.  His adventures brought in nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Ian McKellan), the only acting nom for the films, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Sound, Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing.  It won for Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Make-up, and Best Visual Effects!  Lord of the Rings brought fantasy to prominence, including Game of Thrones on tv, established the universe franchise, Star Wars had trilogies, and really became a universe with the new films, and brought in some high profile award recognition past the technical awards that the Matrix and Star Wars films collected. In 2002, there was the remake of Time Machine, it was a confusing film.  It was nommed for Best Make-up for it’s Morlocks.  Blade II, directed by Guillermo del Toro, gave us a new strain of vampire, the Reapers.  It was a fun continuation with the Bloodpack taking on vampires and the Reapers.  There was also the sci fi film, Clockstoppers, which had a teen trio using the Hypertime technology which accelerated their molecules so time seemed to stand still.  

A sword and sorcery fantasy movie appeared with Dwayne Johnson bringing his character from the Mummy films into his own movie with Scorpion King.  This was a transition of Dwayne Johnson into movies and as an action star.  He played Mathayus, the last Akkadian assassin, taking on the ruler of Gomorrah.  The superhero movie that changed everything was Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man.  Superhero movies to that point had the action movie audience, the male quadrant, but Spider-Man brought in female fans, so it brought a blockbuster status.  It is in the top 20 superhero films at the box office and the top of the box office for that year.  Also, a hunger for more superhero films, it was nommed for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards.  Star Wars: Attack of the Clones continued the prequels.  The teen Anakin as a murderer who falls for a senator just didn’t work for me, “I don’t like sand”, and it undeservedly got a nom for Visual Effects. 

Steven Spielberg directed a sci fi film, Minority Report, based on the Philip K. Dick short story.  It had Tom Cruise playing John Anderton, an officer for PreCrime, using precogs to detect crime before it happens.  The film had a stunning vision of the future.  The sequel Men in Black II appeared in theaters in July.  It has Agent K’s replacements, a new character, Laura Vasquez played by Rosario Dawson, and the threat of the shapeshifting Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle).  The unusual sci fi movie was Reign of Fire which had a post-apocalyptic United Kingdom ravaged by dragons out of fantasy.  The survivors are led by Christian Bale’s Quinn and also by Matthew McConaughey’s Denton Van Zan.  Another sequel was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets which had Harry Potter meeting the house elf, Dobby, and facing the dangers of the Chamber of Secrets.  It was one of the top grossing films for the year and kept the franchise strong.

In November was the remake of Solaris directed by Steven Soderbergh.  The 1973 film was in turn based on the Stanislav Lem 1961 novel.  It had George Clooney’s psychologist character, Dr. Chris Kelvin, investigating the space station orbiting the planet Solaris.  There he finds phenomenon to uncover the mystery of what happened to the crew and his own past.  A brilliant sci fi film was Equilibrium written and directed by Kurt Wimmer.  It starred Christian Bale as Grammaton Cleric, John Preston, trained in gun kata. He hunts down Librian citizens who refuse to take the emotion-suppressing drug Prozium II to stop the emotions that led to the last world war.   The end of the year brought Star Trek: Nemesis to theaters. It was the last film voyage of the Next Generation crew. Captain Picard faces Shinzon (Tom Hardy), his clone and leader of the Remans. The last film was Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.  It had Frodo and Sam finding a guide in Gollum, a defining performance by Andy Serkis, while the others fight in a rain-splattered battle.  It was nommed for Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing.  It won for Best Sound Editing and Visual Effects, the technical awards.  The Aughts shifted the balance of genre films from sci fi to fantasy with the surprise of superhero films.   

#HarryPotterandtheSorcerersStone, #LordoftheRingsFellowshipoftheRing, #MinorityReport, #Equilibrium 

Re:tro Review - A Trip to the Moon!

This is an incredible, surreal trip to the moon, one of the first science fiction films by visionary filmmaker Georges Melies.  The director was played by Ben Kingsley in the film Hugo (2011), but his true brilliance is seen in this restored silent film.  It combines the Jules Verne’s novel From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and H.G. Wells’ The First Men in the Moon (1901).  The cinematography is of course hand colored which adds to the fairy tale quality of the film, there are tints and costumes are colored blue, green, red, and orange.  The effects are cutting edge for the time and charming for this time.  There is an incredible quality to the sets and building a narrative for the film released in 1902.  The music which is not restored, but sadly original is by Air, a French duo, that is too modern for my taste.  There was a later Ray Harryhausen film, First Men in the Moon (1964) based on the H.G. Wells' novel, it had superior effects, but not the fun and vision of the Melies' movie.  It lasts 15 minutes so can load up your Netflix and check it out.     

The film begins at the Astronomic Club, also strange that there is no title cards which I’m familiar with in silent films.  It looks like a university, after some time, I could see that the props are all paintings, and there are people there who look like wizards with the cone hats.  Some cute French girls present five of the members telescopes.  Enter Professor Barbenfouillis played by Melies.  He shows the assembly his plans for sending a space capsule to the moon.  The others applaud him, then arguments break out, but the good professor is joined by colleagues;  Nostradamus, Alcofrisbas, Omega, Micromegas, and Paragaragramus, on his mission.  The girls return to replace their wizard robes with coats.   The explorers raise their umbrellas and shuffle away. 

At a factory, workers toil at an anvil and also the large, bullet-shaped capsule.  The explorers wander in through the hatch and then walk away.  They reach the rooftop of the factory, a stunning vista which is all painted, but with smoking factory stacks.  One explorer takes out a painted telescope and they all cheer when a pink explosion goes off, I’m assuming the first test of the cannon that will propel them to the moon.  Cute girls in blue Marine outfits are by the hatch of the cannon resting on the rooftops.  Professor Barbenfouillis climbs up the ladder joined by the other explorers.  The space capsule is loaded up and the explorers say their farewells to the crowd.  What I don’t get is why the young, capable Marines are not sent to the moon instead of the bumbling explorers.    The hatch is closed and an army of Marines load up the capsule.  A group assembles for the launch and a man lights the cannon which fires the capsule to the moon.  

Here we get the clouds that ring around the moon which resolves into a face.  We get closer to the Man in the Moon and suddenly his eye is gouged by the space capsule!  Surreal, but horrifying.  Then, we get the lunar landscape which has rocky spires.  The capsule lands and the explorers exit and cheer the successful landing.  They must have incredible stamina to survive without oxygen.  The capsule vanishes and the spires are lowered to get a look at an Earth rise which the explorers cheer.  There’s a pink explosion that knocks them down and then flames.  The scientists tired from the trip, break out blankets, and go to sleep.  A spinning comet passes overhead.  Stars appear with faces.  Then, this resolves to Saturn, two women, and Phoebe, the moon goddess (played by actress Bleuette Bernon), who brings down snow on the explorers.  They decide to head down the moon tunnels.  

This brings them to the underground moon world with giant mushrooms next to a waterfall, the landscape looks like something out of a fairy tale book.  Barbenfouillis places his umbrella down which transforms into a mushroom and starts growing.  Then, they see the strange, insectoid Selenite that hops towards them in a way that is part Gollum and part Cirque du Soleil, they are played by acrobats from the Folies Bergere.  Barbenfouillis brings down his umbrella which vaporizes the Selenite in a puff of smoke.  First contact, first death.  He takes down another Selenite before a horde of Selenites rush them away.  At the Selenite royal court, there are groups of guards and some ladies in star outfits.  The prisoners are brought in and Barbenfouillis has enough and slams the king down vaporizing him.  The ladies are impressed, but the guards chase after them.  

They race across the moonscape with Barbenfouillis slaughtering a few more Selenites.  The space capsule is at the edge of a cliff with the other explorers on board.  Barbenfouillis vaporizes another Selenite, closes the hatch, and then climbs down a rope to tug the space capsule down.  A Selenite latches onto the capsule as it plunges down to Earth.  The capsule makes splash down, it enters a painted seascape with giant jellyfish and a sunken ship with silhouettes of tadpoles as the capsule floats to the surface.  The capsule is towed to dock by a steamship, all animated.  A parade is given for the explorers with a band, Marines towing in the capsule, and the mayor gives each explorer a crown and a giant medal. The captive Selenite is brought in and everyone cheers.   A statue is made for the moon explorers and the Marine girls dance in a circle.  A successful voyage with the slaughtering of an extraterrestrial species, horray!  This film is visionary and fun.  

Five Space Capsules out of Five!

#ATriptotheMoon, #GeorgesMelies, #ProfessorBarbenfouillis, Selenite

Video Games Review - Halo: Fireteam Raven!

Halo: Fireteam Raven is a new four player arcade game out at Dave & Busters.  It is created by Raw Thrills and Play Mechanic is based on the Microsoft Studios game from Bungie in Halo: Combat Evolved (2001).  The latest game released for Xbox One was Halo Wars 2 (2017).  I’m not a part of the Halo Nation since this is the game that got me into it.  I did see the Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (2012) film which I’m told does not capture the game.  I would second that playing the arcade game.  The four characters that you can play are Ethan Graves, Tactics/Command, I played him the last time playing, Marcus Hudson, Recon/Communications, Victor Ramos, Heavy Weapons/Support, and Ava Lang, Explosives/Demolition.  They are new characters for the franchise.  There doesn’t seem to be non-combat scenes where their specialities come into play which is a shame.  The arcade game takes place in the same time as Halo: Combat Evolved.  

The game is separated into two areas for two players, so if there is only two players, the other half of the screen is ongoing, but you don’t have to cover fire the entire 130” screen.  Still, I can see that the character can be given the option to use explosives and it can either be a player or computer; maybe that’s too complicated for the program.  It may be in the cut scenes, but myself and other players skipped ahead.  You use the guns mounted onto the seat and can fire at your screen, opponents swarm towards you, or fire across to the other screen to help out.  Reload with a button on the back of the gun.  Of course, you pick up special weapons like shotguns.  The tracking of targets and movement of the game is not too difficult.  You can scan your QR code from your phone to log in to the arcade game.  You are all part of the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) Marine Corps specifically Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.  

Halo: Fireteam Raven arcade game, Dave and Buster's, photo by the author. 

They are sent by the Halcyon-class UNSC light cruiser, Pillar of Autumn, to take part in the Battle of Installation 04 also known as Alpha Halo.  It is very Starship Troopers (1959), the Robert Heinlein novel, which had the Federation and the Mobile Infantry taking on extraterrestrial threats.   The first mission, “Escape” has the troopers on the Pillar of Autumn taking on Covenant aliens; the lil’ Unggoy “Grunts”, which look like wadding turtles with a pointed shell on their backs, some of them carry plasma grenades to make suicide runs, and Kig-Yar “Skirmishers” with point defense gauntlet, energy shields that look like Gungan shields.  You man point-defense guns, unlimited ammo!, to blast the alien Covenant ships,  Type-52 Phantoms, purple, almost like a deep sea creature, and Type-26 Banshees, red-colored ships more like a Russian Hind attack helicopter.  

Master Chief, the faceless main character of the Halo games, shows up briefly, but saving the day is all you.  You make a drop in SOEIVs, Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicles, pods that carry your marine down.  You land on a ring world with desert-like plains and canyons.  The cutscene for the second mission, “Rubble”, informs you that you will regroup in 28 hours.  Every mission has stronger opponents like the Mgalekgolo, the “Hunters”, massive armored forms with green crystals on one arm that turns into a blaster and the Type-26 Wraith that has a scorpion-like assault gun.  You fight in different environments, vehicles, and move along a story that ultimately enter the Covenant base.  This game is a reason to go to Dave and Buster’s and the game play is addictive, you want to get to the end or play as much as possible.  

Five Plasma Guns out of Five! 

#HaloFireTeamRaven, #DaveandBusters, #MasterChief, #HaloNation

Re:tro Re:view - Labyrinth!

Labyrinth (1986) is a modern fairy tale with a teen girl fallen in a world of the Goblin King to save her young brother! The fantasy film directed by Jim Henson. It stars Jennifer Connelly as the teenaged girl Sarah and David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King. This film has complexity, past the Alice in Wonderland wandering in an absurd world, I see it as the struggle of a teenage girl entering an adult world, confusing, compelling in the figure of David Bowie’s Jareth. She has to learn to grow up on her own, not rush into the adult world, and how to listen to her own voice.  Bowie’s “Underground” plays as the film opens to a CGI barn owl flying through the black reflected in the darkness. 

It flies to resolve to a real barn owl landing and watching Sarah walking up in a park next to a lake. We later see that the owl is one of the shapeshifting forms that Jareth takes as a trickster figure. Sarah is practicing her lines from her red fairy tale book, The Labyrinth, to free the Stolen Child from the Goblin King. This touches on the poem by William Butler Yeats and “Erlkonig” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe set to music by Franz Schubert. It starts to rain and Sarah runs back with her sheep dog, Merlin, to home. We later get another sheep dog as the mount to Sir Didymus, Ambrosius, said to be one of the names for Merlin. There she sees her stepmother (Shelley Thompson) who is about to go on a dinner date with Sarah’s father (Christopher Malcolm). 

It is seen in a newspaper in Sarah’s room that her mother died in car accident. Her stepmother wants her to watch over Toby (played by Toby Froud, now a young man). The glimpse in her room has Where the Wild Things Are, a doll in a white dress (which prefigures herself in the ballroom scene), and an Escher painting. She panics when her Lancelot bear is missing and she finds it on the floor of Toby’s crib. Angrily, she wishes for the Goblin King to take him, this to the mirror, very Lewis Carroll, and the goblins wait for her to say the correct words. She does so and the power goes out, goblins scamper around the room, finally the owl bursts through the door, and Jareth appears! 

He shows her the Labyrinth and gives her 13 hours to solve it or Toby will become a goblin. Sarah heads off to the Labyrinth and immediately finds the Dwarf Hoggle (played by Shari Weiser) with voice by Brian Henson, having a tinkle into a pool. The running joke is pronouncing his name which Sarah at first calls him “Hogwart.” He is busy spraying fairies, this shocks Sarah who picks one up, and she is bitten.  Hoggle says of course they are Biting Fairies. This gives the idea that the Labyrinth brings up expectations and twists them. Hoggle opens the Labyrinth for Sarah and he leaves her. Sarah is lost trying to run down an endless passage and frustrated rests against a wall. There she hears the Worm (voiced by Timothy Bateson) who tells her to walk straight toward the other wall which she finds is an optical illusion. 

Then, he tells her not to walk the left passage, she turns the other way, since the left passage would lead directly to the castle!  his is what Sarah learns is not only ask questions, but to ask the right ones and navigate a bureaucratic world. The adult world can be confusing with its own rules that sometimes contradict themselves! She is trapped in a dark room, the Oubliette, and Jareth worries that Sarah has gotten far in his Labyrinth. The interaction of Bowie and the Goblins is brilliant. Hoggle frees Sarah after getting a plastic bracelet from her. They go up a stair, Hoggle calls himself a “coward”, emerging from a vase in the Labyrinth. Hoggle goes off on his own when there is a roar, Sarah conquers her fear to check on the beast held captive by goblins torturing it with Nipper Sticks, strange, fanged creatures on a stick.  

Sarah and Jareth's costumes at the Jim Henson Exhibition, Skirball Center, photo by the author. 

She finds rocks summoned by the beast’s call to throw at the goblin helmets. The goblins get confused using the sticks to bite each other’s behinds and call a retreat. Sarah frees the captured creature, he is a massive, hairy Beast, almost orangutan with horns and a tail. He calls himself Ludo (performed by Ron Mueck and Rob Mills) and becomes Sarah’s loyal friend. This helping cycle is like the Cowardly Lion. Sarah and her companions have to negotiate the two-bodied Knockers (like a playing card), the rock-like Helping Hands that are cleverly formed into talking shapes that can guide her through a pit, the Firies (horrible Fraggle Rock-like creatures that can detach their body parts), and end up in the Bog of Eternal Stench. 

They encounter Sir Didymus (performed by Dave Goelz and David Barclay), a Fox Terrier knight who is relentless guarding the bridge, and apparently can’t smell the bog. Sarah has to work out that his vow and simply asks his permission to cross. Sir Didymus joins the quest. Sarah is betrayed by Hoggle’s peach given by Jareth and ends up in a masquerade of adults. Sarah escapes to land in a junkyard of forgotten things. The Junk Lady tries to tempt her with missing toys, but her companions break through the wall of her room. There is Humongous, a massive guardian made out of the gate, that they have to get past. Sarah and her friends enter the Goblin City and get into a madcap battle which ends with Ludo’s calling of the rocks. Sarah confronts Jareth who reveals to her the Escher steps of his castle where Toby crawls in every direction. 

The Goblin King tries to tempt her saying that he will do everything for her, she only has to be his slave. Sarah finally remembers the last line she keeps forgetting that Jareth has no power over her, this is dynamic of males only having power if it is given to them. Sarah has freed Toby, returns back to her house sending off Jareth as an owl, and finds her friends in a mirror there when she needs them. This is a powerful film that has brilliant songs by David Bowie, funny creations from the Jim Henson Creature Shop, and fantastic effects. When Sarah says of the Labyrinth, “It’s not fair!”, this is because the rules of adulthood are not laid out to young people. Sarah learns not keep the bobbles from her childhood from the Junk Lady, but to embrace her friends and family (which includes Toby), while entering the confusing, adult world.  

Five Peaches out of Five! 

#TheLabyrinth, #Jim Henson, #DavidBowie, #JenniferConnelly 

Re:tro Re:view - Gods of Egypt!

The trailer for Gods of Egypt was intriguing, I missed it’s opening, and then heard about all of the hate towards the movie.  Actually watching the movie, I don’t understand the hatred, it is a fun movie.  There was criticism about the ethnicity of the cast, but this is a fantasy, I don’t want to spoil things, but there are no actual gods in the movie either.  The film has Egypt in the title and Egyptian gods, but it is not based on an actual Egyptian myth or historical tale, it is a fantasy.  The actors in Lord of the Rings are not actual Hobbits, Elves, or Dwarves. It reminds me of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) which is not set in a real Persia and Jake Gyllenhaal is not a Persian actor, that film and this movie too are a Hollywood version, if you can get past that part, have fun!  

Maybe the reviewers don’t understand fun or want them in movies, but director Alex Proyas is delivering here in spectacle and adventure.  The film opens with narration by an older Bek, Brenton Thwaites who played Jonas in The Giver (2014), he explains the gods, the two brothers, Osiris and Set, shown as statues in a museum.  The gods are twice the size of mortals and have gold in their veins.  Proyas blows away the museum dust to give us a Vegas polish.  This resolves to a pan across the Nile to a city that is beyond imagination.  Proyas is known for his vision in such films as The Crow (1994) and Dark City (1998).  Bek is a thief snatching away a dress to give to his beloved, Zaya, played by Courtney Eaton who was Cheedo the Fragile in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).  Both leads are charismatic, I want to follow their stories, and see more from them.  Zaya wants Bek to believe in Horus, the Lord of Air, since he is being coronated as ruler of Egypt in a ceremony.  

Horus, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who is known for portraying the deadly, but arrogant Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, is in drunk stupor.  He is wakened and falls into a bath to be washed by attendants.  They leave to be replaced by the hands of the goddess of love, Hathor, played by Elodie Yung.  She was Jinx in G.I. Joe Retaliation (2013) and currently plays Elektra in the Netflix Daredevil series.  Kudos to costume designer Liz Keogh, the dresses and clothes are extravagant and original.  The ceremony begins with Horus’ father, Osiris (Bryan Brown) there to tell the assembled that rich and poor will be seen equal in the underworld.  The gods come to pay their respect, the god of wisdom, Thoth (Chadwick Boseman), but the ceremony is interrupted by Set, Gerard Butler, who has entered sword and sandals territory with 300 (2007) and also London is Falling (2016). 

He is welcomed by Osiris, his brother, and gives a horn to his nephew, Horus, as a gift.  The horn is blown calling in Set’s soldiers.  Set kills Osiris and then battles with Horus, they both transform to their metallic, armored forms.  Set has a jackal head with his armor and Horus has a hawk head and wings.  Set defeats Horus knocking him back to normal form and plucks out his eyes!  Egyptian mythology has Isis reassembling Osiris enough to have a child, Horus, but we are not bound to any mythology here.  The chaos separates Bek from Zaya and Set’s rule permits only those with gold to pass into the underworld.  Set builds a massive tower to honor his father, Ra.  Bek pulls stones by day and sneaks away to see Zaya, now a slave to the chief architect, Urshu, played with villainy by Rufus Sewell.  She wants Bek to sneak in and steal the eyes of Horus.  There are traps and he has Urshu’s plan to defeat them.  One trap is activated by shadow, Bek is clever in defeating that one, and he sets off the next one, but is able to slip past it.  

The last one has Bek making a flying catch of the eye of Horus which he uses to drive off the scorpions on the floor below.  Bek goes to take away Zaya, but Urshu has discovered the theft and brought in his guards.  Bek uses the eye to blind them and takes Urshu’s chariot to escape with Zaya.  On the way, Zaya is killed by Urshu’s arrow!  They head over to Horus’ abandoned temple in the desert.  He is a blind drunk now and Bek makes a deal to get his eyes, the source of his power, in exchange for Zaya’s life.  Horus agrees and summons Anubis (Goran D. Kleut), the dog-headed god of death.  Anubis takes Zaya to the underworld and Horus explains that if he can defeat Set and become king, then he can save Zaya from the underworld.  Bek and Horus have to face Set’s minotaur-like minion, Mnevis (Alexander England), fire-breathing giant snakes, and Set taking power from all of the gods.  I thought Egyptian mythology was obsessed with death which I thought would be more in Proyas’ territory, but instead shines the light of the sun on this fanciful tale!  

Four Eyes of Horus out of Five!   

#GodsofEgypt, #AlexProyas, #BrentonThwaites, #NikolajCosterWaldau 

Fantasy, Superhero, and Sci Fi Movies - The Ends of the 90’s (1996-1999)!

1996 started with Dragonheart in May that features a knight who teams up with a dragon voiced by Sean Connery.  It was nommed for Best Visual Effects, but the CG dragon lost.  The film spawned three sequels.  In June, there was the movie based on the Lee Falk comic strip, The Phantom.  “The Ghost Who Walks” is a hero fighting crime and protecting the mystical Skulls of Touganda.  The next month was Independence Day from Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin.  Will Smith played a fighter pilot which accelerated him to a marquee actor.   It had a weak script with stereotypical characters, but audiences were impressed by the visuals which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.  It was nommed for Best Sound and was the top film of the box office. There was a superior sequel 20 years later.

The Crow: City of Angels opened next, the sequel with a grown up Sarah, the girl from the earlier film, and a new Crow. 

The end of the year had Star Trek: First Contact, Picard overcoming his captor’s influence, the Borg, Zephram Cochrane, this is the most audience friendly Trek film, you don’t have to have pre-knowledge of anything Star Trek.  It was nommed for best make-up.  1997 started with Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element in May.  It was a startling mix of sci fi, action, with designs by Moebius and Jean-Claude Mezieres.  Mezieres mentioned that Besson should direct a Valerian and Laureline movie, but the director felt that the special effects would not be able to properly capture the graphic novel’s world.  It was ten years later that Besson would direct a Valerian and Laureline movie.  The movie was nominated for best sound effects editing.  Later, there was Lost World: Jurassic Park, based on the Michael Crichton follow-up book, it was set on Isla Sorna where the dinosaurs were created.  A very silly sequel, it was nommed for best visual effects at the Academy Awards.  

Joel Schumacher returned to direct Batman & Robin which had George Clooney in the Bat suit with bat nipples.  It is not a bad superhero film, very silly, but not unwatchable.  This basically finished off the Bat films until eighty years later.  Sequels aside, there was a sci fi film based on a comic book by Lowell Cunningham, Men in Black.  It was cleverly directed and given energy by Barry Sonnenfeld and starred Will Smith as Agent K.  He is recruited into the secret organization to protect the Earth from hidden alien threats.  The alien effects won the film for best make-up.  It was nommed for best original score and art direction, but lost them. 1997 started with Contact is a brilliant film directed by Robert Zemeckis based on the Carl Sagan novel.  It followed Jodie Foster as Eleanor Arroway who receives a signal at the Very Large Array in New Mexico which leads to the blueprints of The Machine that will be able to make contact with extraterrestrial life.  At the Academy Awards, it was only nommed for Best Sound.  

There was release of Spawn based on the Todd McFarlane comic book; it is more horror than fantasy.  What was a superhero movie was Steel starring Shaquille O’Neal.  It was directed by Kenneth Johnson who created V.  Panned by fans, but it is not a bad film for me.  Next, was a fantasy film, in the Robert E. Howard Hyberborea world, Kull the Conqueror starring Kevin Sorbo.  Kinda goofy, it was playing off of Sorbo’s Hercules success. In October was Gattaca, directed by Andrew Niccol, it stars Ethan Hawke as Vincent Freeman who lives in a genetically pure future.  The film picked up an Academy Award Best Art Direction nomination.  Lastly, there was Starship Troopers, directed by Paul Verhoeven, and loosely adapted the Robert E. Heinlein novel.  It lacks the book’s social commentary and instead follows the interstellar war of Johnny Rico’s Mobile Infantry vs. the alien Bugs.  It was nommed for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards, but all of the films were overshadowed by Titanic.  

1998 began with Sphere based on the Michael Crichton novel.  A mysterious sphere is found that may have time traveled through a black hole.  Later, there was Alex Proyas’ Dark City about a man who is pursued by Strangers in a city that is always in night.  It said to be an influence on The Matrix.  Next, there was the movie Lost in Space adapting the television series that ran from 1965 to 1968.  There is a new series that debuted this year and continues on Netflix.  The X-Files movie was filmed between the fourth and fifth seasons of the television series.  There was a sequel ten years later in 2008, The X-Files: I Want to Believe and also the series continued in 2016 and 2018.  The summer hit was Armageddon with Academy Award nominations in best song, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, sound effects editing, best sound, and best visual effects.  In August, the movie Blade opened in theaters, based on the character created in the Tomb of Dracula comic book by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan.  It was one of the first films with a Marvel character that was a success.  There were two sequels and a 2006 television series.  

Next, was the fantasy film, What Dreams May Come, directed by Vincent Ward.  It adapts the Richard Matheson novel and follows Chris Nielsen (played by Robin Williams) as he explores the afterworlds to save his family.  An intensely beautiful film it was nommed for Best Art Direction and was the winner of Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards.  Star Trek: Insurrection finished off the year, but it was more like the preachy episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  1999 started with a groundbreaking sci fi film, The Matrix, created by the Wachowskis.  Neo (Keanu Reeves) is of course the character who finds his world, The Matrix, is part of a computer program, and the Real World is an apocalyptic future ravaged by the war with the Machines.  It won the Academy Awards for Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound, Film Editing, and Visual Effects especially for it’s rendering of Bullet Time.  The Matrix pointed the way to the future of effects and films.  The Wachowskis at a Comic Con panel said that the film was about philosophy.  

Next, was the first of the prequels, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.  It had the adventures of Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) and the plight of Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) with her world, Naboo, occupied by the Trade Federation.  It was nommed for Sound Effects Editing, Sound Effects, and Visual Effects, but lost to The Matrix.  Next, we had the Bicentennial Man, which had Robin Williams as the robot Andrew who is placed into a family.  It was based on an Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg novel and nommed for best make-up.  At the end of the year was Galaxy Quest which parodied and respected Star Trek and it’s actors.  It had the actors of a sci fi show led by Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen)  at a convention, but mistaken for an actual starship crew, taken into a recreation of their ship, the Protector, and having to save the  Superhero films had Superman and Batman taking new forms and Marvel starting it’s success, but it will be a few years until the true Marvel superhero movie.  Fantasy is stretching the genre.  We got the new direction of sci fi films with The Matrix and a powerful movie in Contact.  Onto the next decade!   

#StarTrekFirstContact,#WhatDreamsMayCome, #TheMatrix, #StarWarsThePhantomMenace

Searching Review!

Timur Bekmambetov has produced Unfriended (2014) which was a horror movie told all through computer screens, it was followed by Unfriended: Dark Web earlier this year, and now Searching which is a thriller.  He calls these films, Screenlife, which has a story unfolding on computers and social media.  There is the question of whether a computer screen can tell a compelling story, and I would say the format works the best here.  The movie is directed by Aneesh Chaganty, his first film, who also co-wrote the movie with Sev Ohanian.  The construction of the story, all played out on social media is brilliant!  It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 21st.  We get the Kim family assembling pics and videos from their computers, they live in San Jose, California.  We are introduced to our lead, David Kim, played by John Cho.  He is able to bring a performance with a concerned father who is driven by the search for his daughter.  Cho is of course known for playing Sulu in the Star Trek films.  

He is married to Pamela played by Sara Sohn who was Hana in Furious 7 (2016) and the Netflix show Sense8 (2015-2017).  Then, we have the birth of their daughter, Margot, and Margot growing up.  She is given a piano which she grows to love playing next to her mother.  Then, we get Margot as a sixteen year old teenager played by Michelle La, who has been on episodes of Mom and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.  This is all to establish the family.  This is another film with an Asian family.  We get Pamela who is diagnosed with cancer, but her treatments have her recovering and she fights it running with David.  Slight spoiler ahead!  Then, we get a message about a relapse, she is running and falls behind.  Pamela is seen in the hospital, a calendar shows her return home, this is moved back, and then deleted entirely.  There’s incredible sadness here that sets up the story.  

The current time, Thursday May 11, 2017 (the date is in the videos in the trailer), picks up with a FaceTime between David and Margot.  He chastises her for forgetting to take out the kitchen trash.  David’s brother, Peter (Joseph Lee) contacts him to ask Pamela’s recipe for Kim Chee Gumbo.  David notices the jar of marijuana in Peter’s video and Peter puts it away in his kitchen cabinet. His moral dislike of marijuana is of course funny in light of his part in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004).  Later, Margot FaceTimes on her phone at her study group.  We get from the computer screen, David asleep on his bed as his daughter tries to call him twice.  Then, she tries to contact him through his computer.  David FaceTimes his employer, we don’t get much of his work past this scene, and is distracted trying to contact Margot.  He believes that she has left for her piano lessons, he checks his computer to find the teacher’s number, and also that the lessons are $100 dollars which he has left for Margot.  David calls up the piano teacher, Mrs. Shahinian (Sylvia Minassian) and she says that Margot quit lessons six months ago.  He discovers that Margot has been depositing the $100 dollars into a Venmo account that is deleted.  

David texts his daughter and angry message, then deletes it, and adds a message of how proud Pamela was for Margot before deleting it.  David contacts Peter worried, but Peter reassures him.  He goes through Pamela’s Facebook page to find the number of Margot’s friend, Isaac.  He calls the number and reaches his mother (Melissa Disney) who says they went out on a camping trip.  The next day, David FaceTimes Isaac (Connor McRaith) and he says Margot never showed for the camping trip.  Now, he calls 911 to report Margot as a missing person.  He receives a call from Detective Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) saying she has been assigned to his case and asks him about Margot’s contacts.  Messing stars, of course, in the comedy Will & Grace which has recently been revived, but also as a detective in The Mysteries of Laura (2014-2016).  Her role here is as a mother who relates to David’s worry for her own son, Robert (Steven Michael Eich).  Vick's son was confronted by a neighbor for taking money from a fake charity, but his mother covered for him. It is surprisingly brilliant and dramatic.  

David sees Margot’s laptop in the kitchen trash picture, then goes through it establishing new passwords, and accesses her contacts.  He FaceTimes Abigail Nielsen (Briana McLean) who says Margot left the study group and didn’t know much about her.   He finds the number of Jonah Emmi (Joseph John Schirle) who says he saw Margot each lunch by herself.  She has no friends which surprises David.  David contacts all of Margot’s fellow students at Evercreek High School.  He finds Margot’s YouCast account and discovers her only friend is someone under the name “fish_n_chips.”  Detective Vick has found a fake i.d. that Margot made and tells him that she may have run away.  It slowly builds until we get news reports and there is a #FindMargot campaign.  This film is a parent’s worst nightmare, uncovering a child’s life on computer which turns out not to be the person a parent knows, seeing an online life more open than a parent’s relationship with the child, and of course the fear of child in danger or even dead.  So not recommended for parents; it may be too intense.  It’s on the level of Get Out as an independent film, in this case released by Screen Gems, that is taking risks.  The film works as a mystery, unraveling a young person’s lonely life, and the dark circumstances of Margot’s disappearance.  

Five Laptops out of Five!

#SearchingMovie, #AneeshChaganty, #JohnCho, #MichelleLa

Strolling Through the (Theme) Park One Day: Farewell Eighth Voyage of Sindbad!

One of my favorite movies growing up was The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), it was one of the movies shown on rainy school days, and it was broadcast on the weekends. It had a cyclops, a dragon, a princess, and fight with a skeleton. Ray Harryhausen continued the films with The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and finished with Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). Earlier, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. starred as Sinbad along with Maureen O’Hara in Sinbad the Sailor (1947) recounting his eighth voyage. Sindbad of course has his origin in The Thousand and One Nights  where he encounters the giant bird, the Roc, and other dangers on seven voyages.  This all leads us to the live action show, The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad, which is closing at Universal’s Islands of Adventure on September 15th.  

Sindbad in The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad show, photo by the author.

This show was at the park on opening day, May 28, 1999, with a 1,700 seat theater. There were six islands, The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad is part of The Lost Continent, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was the seventh, and the eighth is Skull Island. There is a marketplace called Sinbad’s Bazaar which also has The Mystic Fountain that converses with guests and sprays them with water.  Also in the land is the Lost City, an Atlantis-themed section which contains the Poseidon’s Fury special effects show, and the other section Merlinwood was changed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The stage is a multi-leveled cave with greenish formations and pieces of a ship.  

A narrator describes the Sultan’s Heart, a magical ruby, and out comes the clumsy, yet acrobatic Kabob with curved, jester hat. Sindbad joins him. It clear from the outset that there is some goofy humor, also again it is the Sindbad character, but this is a fantasy not a retelling of an Arabian tale. Kabob is hurtled backwards into the air after taunting the witch Miseria. He is found on the top level and sees Sindbad from a ship’s mast. They are in the Grotto of Lost Souls. Sinbad silences his sidekick with a joke, “Shh, Kabob", very funny. Next, they hear the voice of Princess Amoura. She is surrounded by fire around the throne. They need to find the Sultan’s Heart to free her.  

Sinbad goes after the Sultan’s Heart; swinging on a rope, and dodging stalactites, climbing the cave and escaping blasts of steam. He gets the Sultan’s Heart and an explosion pops off, the Sultan’s Heart is gone, and the princess disappears in the fire. The evil Miseria appears in a purple and black outfit with cape and staff that has the Sultan’s Heart at the tip. Sinbad and Kabob race up to the stadium seats and in the middle of the theater is a tree where Princess Amoura is bound. She is in her pink princess outfit. There is no bad seats since the performers run around every part of the stage and seats. Sinbad cuts her free and she falls into his arms. Miseria sends her acrobatic ghoul to fight them. Princess Amoura also shows her fighting skill.  

Princess Amoura in The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad, photo by the author.

The princess defeats another ghoul using a sword. Another uses a giant mallet to attack Sindbad while Princess Amoura takes on another ghoul. Nice stage fighting. Kabob finds himself again at the top level with a ghoul behind him once the audience shouts a warning. Princess Amoura defeats a ghoul right by the tree in front of the audience.  The audience shouts out another warning for a ghoul summoned by Miseria. The show’s audience participation is fun. Sinbad takes on a sword-wielding minion and literally throws a kitchen sink at him! 

Princess Amoura escapes Miseria and her henchmen. Two waterfalls sprout from the top level. Sinbad fires a cannon at Miseria, Kabob takes her staff, and throws it to Sinbad. He uses the staff to set the waterfall on fire, nice effect, and Miseria catches fire! She plunges into the water and there are explosions. Princess Amoura kisses Sinbad. Kabob swings across the stage and falls into the pit that is the running gag of the show. It is all fun, more so than the Indiana Jones Stunt Show at the Disney’s Hollywood Studios which was all on stage and not around the audience. If you have a chance, don't miss the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad at Universal's Islands of Adventure! 

#EighthVoayageofSindbad, #UniversalslandsOfAdcenture, #TheLostContinent, #Kabob, #PrincessAmoura, #Miseria

Jedi Lightsaber Master Class!

Lightsaber duels was childhood play complete with make-your-own sound effects; “Vvizzz-umm.”  Of course there are cosplay groups that re-enact lightsaber duels. It is a fair recreation, but the problem I see with them is that they do not have fencing training. It’s all play. I'm a big fan of sword duels in films. Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), the duels in Princess Bride (1987), all beginning with Star Wars (1977). Fencing was part of the basic lightsaber moves in the original trilogy with Stunt Performer, Bob Anderson. 

He went on to being the Sword Master for Highlander, the Lord of the Rings films, the James Bond film Die Another Day (2002), First Knight (1995), and the Mask of Zorro (1998). The prequel trilogy features the sword work of stunt coordinator Nick Gillard aka Jedi Master Cin Drallig. Gillard worked on stunts for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and stunt coordinator for the Prequel Films. 

I decided to take his Jedi Lightsaber Master Class that was offered at Wizard World New Orleans on January 2012. I did watch all of the prequel films to study the lightsaber moves, but it was only in the class that I understood what was involved. I got to my hotel and picked up my “lightsaber” which I had in a poster tube. I had talked to Nick earlier and mentioned the class. I arrived a bit late so I don’t know if there was an introduction, but groups were already practicing. 

Jedi Masters, CC and Nick Gillard, photo by the author.

There were two groups of guys and one group of kids. I also didn’t know what scene we were recreating until I watched Revenge of the Sith twice and noted that it is Anakin and Obi-Wan’s duel on the landing platform before they move to the conference room. The arena was sectioned off at the back of the convention hall. Nick Gillard was busy going around to each group and helping them out. CC, Nick’s assistant, decided to help me out with the duel. I use the term “blade”, not really a lightsaber, but I was using a kendo stick as was CC.  

They said to use a ski pole or bamboo and cautions against bringing in replica or toy lightsabers since there is some heavy strikes. Also, the participants must wear comfortable clothing. It begun with three simple strikes, swinging the blade to the side just turning the wrist, and advancing. CC noticed that I was getting into a fencing advance and said that I should just walk forward. Fencing requires you to have your foot forward and other foot to the side and advance one foot and then the other so you go back into your stance.  

We practiced the Jedi walk and lightsaber strikes until I got the move down. I noticed that the moves were counter intuitive from what I knew from fencing, so I had to shut down my instincts and go with the moves. Then, it was an overhead strike which she blocked to the side. The next move was a forward strike, pushing the sword forward, this was blocked and then I was swung the blade in an arc to strike at CC’s throat which she blocked. After we went through a sequence, CC had us go through the duel from the beginning.  

Author and CC dueling, photo by Nick Gillard.

I’m taking out a full sequence so it is not a blow by blow account of the class. Still, there was one part of the duel that was interesting. I moved for another thrust, this was deflected in what CC called a rainbow, pushing my blade overhead in an arc. Then, I twisted around and brought my blade around and upwards against my back to block a strike by CC. It struck me as terrible for fencing since this would be easy for an opponent to strike you there, but Jedis don’t worry about such things. I then swung my blade downwards.  

I had my wrist twisted in a strange position, CC pointed out that it was a simple hold downwards, very loose. I was trying too hard. All of the groups went through the duel.  I had Nick take pictures as I went through my duel. CC wanted me to kick her as a finishing move, but I was reluctant to hit an instructor. I could understand the moves and the fencing training I got from Ren Faires helped me through repetition and movements. I asked Nick afterwards how long it took the actors to learn the routine and he said that it took a week and a half with eight hours a day of practice.  

It does not surprise me that Ewan MacGregor knew all of his lightsabers moves on the The Graham Norton Show. The workshop has 90 minutes, but it could have been all day. Nick Gillard was offering the workshop through his website. I have a greater appreciation of lightsaber dueling and believe that the Sequel Trilogy is not as stylish as what Nick brought to Star Wars. I do consider myself a Jedi, not a knight, I only engaged in The Trial of Skill and have three other trials, but Padawan Apprentice is a beginning.

#JediLightsaberMasterClass, #StarWarsRevengeoftheSith, #NickGillard, #WizardWorldNewOrleans

The Major Problem with Galaxy’s Edge!

As we get closer and closer to the 2019 opening of Galaxy’s Edge, we are getting more details about the park expansion, and Galaxy’s Edge problem seems almost glaring.  The expansion of a park with an IP was fulfilled in Universal Studio’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It opened on June 13, 2010 and then Universal Studios Japan on July 15, 2014 and Universal Studios Hollywood on April 7, 2016.  Located at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, two rides were re-themed for Harry Potter, it is separate from the other park areas.  It was immersive, you don’t get a Woody Woodpecker, Jaws, or E.T. anywhere in Hogsmeade.  There isn’t a single Universal Studios brand; Universal Studios t-shirts, postcards, magnets.  You might find them at the Jurassic Park or Transformers store.  It is merch that is sold at other outlets in the park, but it is exclusively Harry Potter merch.  The food isn’t Harry Potter Wand Cakes or Fluffy Burgers.  This would be the Disney approach with Darth Tamales and The Pastry Menace (which were sold in 2015 at Disneyland).  You can tell that Disney is specifically following in Wizarding World’s footsteps, but there is something they didn’t learn from it. 

Galaxy's Edge model at Star Wars: Hangar Bay, photo by the author.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is set in well known environments, the village of Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, and the expansion of Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida which opened on July 8, 2014. They were constructed under the supervision of the production designer, Stuart Craig, and supervising art director, Alan Gilmore, of the Harry Potter films.  An ambitious construction project to bring the detail of the film sets to a working theme park.  You are literally walking  in Hogsmeade; little corners, parts of the stores, food, and drink. So this leads us to Galaxy’s Edge.  It was announced that the setting of the park expansion is Batuu, a planet in the current setting of the Sequel Trilogy. It was dropped on a November 17, 2017.  The location was seen as one of the stops in the Star Tours attraction.  Here’s the major problem, Batuu is not familiar to me, Galaxy’s Edge does have Doug Chiang to help with it’s design, still I never saw it on film.  This is Disney’s version of what Star Wars is like, not actually Star Wars.  

It is like the Marvel comic books, officially canon, but not really Star Wars.  I don’t know if there will be space vampires and serial killer droids at Galaxy’s Edge, but if it is all something canon, it is still new. This was the problem with Star Tours at Hollywood Studios, they have an Ewok village with a full size AT-AT walker peeking out, next to a photo op with a speeder bike, and the Star Wars Galactic Outpost store which was themed to a Tatooine storefront.  It was a mish mash, cheap, and Disneyfied.  Now Galaxy’s Edge is going the opposite direction, new Star Wars, which is never been seen before.  If so, it misses the point of the Wizarding World, it gives guests the chance to walk through the world they only saw on screen.  Wizarding World would be disappointing if it took place in Zonko’s Dimension which we never saw in the movies.  Galaxy’s Edge is in Zonko’s Dimension.  I think the Disney Imagineers in response to the Wizarding World were like Warner Bros. DC movies, instead of releasing movies on individual heroes like Marvel, let’s all throw them in one movie, you see how that worked.  Without identification with a property, it’s difficult to be invested.  

Galaxy's Edge gate, photo by the author.

Galaxy’s Edge is the chance to walk a new world, which could be anything.  It is not Star Wars.  Batuu was introduced in the Timothy Zahn novel Thrawn: Alliances. This takes place in the Clone Wars with Anakin Skywalker and the pre-Star Wars: Rebels time with Thrawn.  So there is some time before we get the Sequel Trilogy-era Batuu.  Still, even if we get a glimpse of Batuu and Black Spire Outpost in Episode IX, or a scene set there, it will not be enough time to get a sense of it as a Star Wars place.  Plus, Episode IX will out, December 20th, after the opening of Galaxy’s Edge, said to be sometime in the summer.  If they show videos of characters in Galaxy’s Edge, a scouting log of the Resistance finding possible safe places, then that will be better.  Still, it would not be full immersion if it is a place that is new.  I would like a world like Tatooine, California feels like it has twin suns now, Felucia would be like Pandora at Animal Kingdom, or even Lothal from Star Wars: Rebels. These are worlds that may change in the Sequel Trilogy era, but have a connection to Star Warriors.  You can see in the press releases that Disney is already breaking canon, it is not formatted like an intercepted HoloNet transmission, and written up by Disney reps.  Disney really has to promote Galaxy’s Edge better, most likely there will be an opportunity for attendees of the Chicago Celebration on April 11th to the 15th, 2019, probably before Galaxy’s Edge opens.  I suspect JJ Abrams will have a Force for Change opportunity connected with Galaxy’s Edge, Episode IX may or may not premiere at Galaxy’s Edge.   I have a bad feeling that we will be seeing Chewbacca Churros soon.  

#GalaxysEdge, #WizardingWorldofHarryPotter, #Batuu, #BlackSpireOutpost