Golden Age of Geek

The Most Influential Sci Fi, Fantasy and Horror Movies Part 5: Flash Gordon

2012-01-31T11:51:00.001-08:00

Flash Gordon wasn’t the first science fiction pulp hero. The 1936 movie serial isn’t considered among the best, but this is the film that would define science fiction in Hollywood for years to come and would serve as the inspiration for Star Wars

Out of such humble beginnings, empires are made. We’re moving ahead again. The ‘30s and ‘40s really belong to the horror genre and to family friendly fantasies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Science Fiction was sort of the red headed stepchild of the genres. Except for very rare efforts like Things to Come science fiction was consigned to the lowest of the low; the movie serial.

Not that serials a ton of fun as well as being vitally important to the development of the action adventure movie. But they were given budgets even below the B movie and it often showed. Still innovative studios like Republic turned those budgets into gold with series like Daredevils of the Red Circle, Secret Service in Darkest Africa, and the best of them all The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Among serial aficionados Flash Gordon isn’t considered among the top tier of movie sequels but it is still well respected. It has plenty of action and stuntwork. Charles B. Middleton makes Ming the Merciless into a classic screen villain.

The science in Flash Gordon is total fantasy. Mongo is supposed to be on a collision course with Earth somehow but that has no effect on their climate or atmosphere. Science in this serial is basically magic, capable of doing whatever the plot requires.

While you can nitpick Flash Gordon all day there’s still no denying the tremendous impact it had. It set the look for science fiction movies. The sets, costumes, and rocket ships would be reused in a dozen more serials. It would influence later bigger budget science fiction movies. Even in something like Forbidden Planet you can still see the Flash Gordon DNA in the look and design. Captain Video owed a great debt to Flash Gordon.

Flash Gordon also had a huge impact on literary science fiction. The new hard science fiction writers at Astounding were openly dismissive and that drove them to be even more rigorous with their scientific facts. Robert Heinlein wrote an entire short story, “Space Jockey” that dismantled the Flash Gordon school of science fiction.

Despite the objections of the hard science writers, Flash Gordon remained popular with young fans. One of those fans was George Lucas who in the mid ‘70s took his love of the character and combined it with state of the art special effects. In doing so he blasted the science fiction genre out of the low budget ghetto and onto the Hollywood A-List. So Flash Gordon occupies one of the most unique spots on the list. It’s responsible both for elevating the genre but at the same time it’s one of the reasons science fiction needed elevating in the first place.

Next up: Frankenstein

Kung Fu Review: The Tattooed Dragon

2012-01-26T16:35:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Wang Yu and Lo Wei are two of the most important figures in kung fu film history. This lesser known but entertaining entry has a solid story and an awesome finale. It also has some value for fans of today’s Bourne series

I was really hooked on kung fu movies by the time I saw this one. I noticed this one was a little grittier. It had a contemporary setting but the action took place in a very rural area. Most of the time the only thing to see in the background were grass fields. This was my introduction to the lower budget films of the ‘70s. These weren’t the relatively lavish films of the Shaw Brothers. No this one was done on the cheap with available sets. Still I didn’t mind. The plot was very straightforward. In fact it was very western.

A gang of bandits steal money meant to help refugees. Into their camp, apparently in the middle of Angkor Wat, they are interrupted by The Dragon, played by Jimmy Wang Yu. The Dragon steals the money back but is wounded. He takes shelter in a village. As it so happens the bandits have set up a casino near the village. The bad guys cheat the villagers out of their life savings. The Dragon comes to the rescue, using his razor sharp hearing to turn the tables on the crooked game. The villains retaliate by killing the Dragon’s friend and he goes to casino one last time for a showdown.

I didn’t know it at the time but Jimmy Wang Yu was one of the most important figures in kung fu cinema. He’s credited with starring in and directing the first kung fu film to emphasis unarmed combat, The Chinese Boxer. Previously kung fu films had been swordplay movies like Come Drink With Me and its sequel Golden Swallow which also starred Wang Yu. Tattooed Dragon was directed by Lo Wei another important figure. As a director he worked with not only Wang Yu but also Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.

I doubt Chan has anything nice to say about Lo Wei though. His pictures with the director were pretty forgettable. It was his projects with other studios that made Chan a rising star. The final “divorce” between Chan and Lo Wei was far from amicable. It may or may not have involved Triad members. Bruce Lee too had his problems with Lo. His first two big hits were with him but their success was more due to Lee’s charisma and groundbreaking fight choreography. Wang Yu seems to be the only actor who got along with Lo Wei and they brought out the best of each other as in this film. It’s slow in the middle with the action scenes at the beginning and end. Lo Wei loved gambling as this movie and A Man Called Tiger make clear. Despite this the story is solid, easy to follow and holds up to terrible dubbing.

Also in the cast are a pair who would star in their own action franchise a decade later. Samuel Hui plays the Dragon’s doomed friend and Sylvia Chang plays his girlfriend. Both would go on to star in the comedy action Mad Mission movies also known as Aces Go Places. Ms. Chang enjoyed a very long and diverse career. She became a director and writer herself and continued to act, appearing in Eat Drink Man Woman among other films.

Finally there’s Wang Yu’s fighting. For years it’s been derided by kung fu fans. Bey Logan once said he looked like he was trying to claw his opponents faces off. It’s very true that despite Wang Yu’s athletic background, he was a champion swimmer, that he wasn’t nearly as flexible or as acrobatic as later kung fu stars. He couldn’t kick above waist level and even then he rarely had his leg straight. But he was a Shotokan practitioner so it wasn’t like he didn’t know anything about martial arts. Asian Cult Cinema described his approach as no nonsense and when I viewed this movie again for this post I saw what they meant. He actually through in a lot of rough and tumble, down and dirty moves into his fighting. A lot of elbows, knees, and double strikes. His low kicks he aims at opponents’ knees or else he kicks them when they’re already down. In fact his fighting reminded me a little of Jason Bourne. The fighting in those movies wasn’t meant to be pretty. So in a strange way maybe Jimmy Wang Yu is ready for rediscovery.

If he is I’m glad. For further entertainment here is a review of Jimmy Wang Yu’s Australian epic The Man From Hong Kong, a glorious example of two gonzo filmmaking schools come together.

Next up: Avenging Eagle

The Most Influential Sci Fi, Fantasy and Horror Movies Part 4: Thief of Bagdad

2012-01-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hollywood’s first big budget fantasy adventure would cast a long shadow over Hollywood. The Arabia of myth became the industry’s go to source for the fantastic

Why did it take so long for the Lord of the Rings to make it to the big screen? Was it technology that held Hollywood back? I don’t so. As we’ll see later on, Hollywood never let lousy special effects stop them from doing anything. If anything, making the Lord of the Rings back in the ‘50s or ‘60s would have been much easier as the studio system was still alive and well and capable of turning out gigantic sets, lavish costumes and fielding hundreds of extras and Ray Harryhausen was in his prime. But they never did. And part of the reason was because of this movie made in 1924, nearly three decades before Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings.

This wasn’t a huge hit for its star and producer Douglas Fairbanks Sr. It wasn’t something he went back to. By contrast he made two Zorro themed swashbucklers and two Musketeer movies. But it was enough of a hit that it pulled the focus of fantasy movies towards it and its subject matter.

To see this film is to be impressed by it. Sure Fairbanks is sporting the world’s first spray on tan to portray the titular thief.

But the film is full of amazing effects for its days. The thief has to fight his way past a fire breathing dragon. He summons a huge army with magic powder. And of course he and his lady love fly through the air on a magic carpet.

But why Thief of Bagdad and not say King Arthur? It’s funny how the Middle East would come to dominate fantasy movies along with Hercules movies. Very few big budget fantasy films after this one had a medieval European setting. This is more baffling because in the decades that followed, there were medieval sets waiting to be used. Hollywood was churning out plenty of swashbucklers without any fantasy elements. Sure an occasional King Arthur movie cropped up or something like Jack the Giant Killer. But for the most part fantasy in Hollywood meant a trip to a 1001 Arabian Nights territory…or ancient Greek mythology which we’ll get to later.

That’s probably part of the answer. Medieval pictures tended to be rather chaste. Arabian and Greek fantasies allowed Hollywood to show off more skin while still keeping an atmosphere of good wholesome fun.

Thief of Bagdad would be remade several times including a glorious version by the Korda brothers I’ll review later. It might not have been a smash success by Fairbanks’ high standards but just as he gave Hollywood the template for costume swashbucklers with Zorro, the Musketeers, The Black Pirate and Robin Hood, Fairbanks gave Hollywood the template for fantasy adventure for the next several decades.

Next up: Flash Gordon

Kung Fu Review: Master of Kung Fu

2012-01-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

This early Shaw Brothers gem has been overlooked in recent times. But it’s one of the most ambitious and thoughtful kung fu films of the ‘70s and deserves to be rediscovered

This was another early kung fu cinema experience for me. Return of the Dragon was the first kung fu movie I had ever seen. Five Shaolin Masters was the first of a long line that I saw on Saturday afternoons via local TV. Master of Kung Fu may have been the second in that series. It’s hard to remember exactly in what order I saw things. But the film really stuck with me. The action was fast and furious. The hero uses a three sectional staff which is like a nunchaku’s bigger, nastier brother. But what really caught my attention was the main character and the story.

The main character is a wise kung fu instructor and it was his kindness and wisdom that I really admired. He wasn’t played by David Chiang or Fu Sheng or any of the other actors I would later recognize. The actor here was Ku Feng and he had much more quiet persona. He was an actor that sucked you in with his performance rather than projecting outward like most kung fu stars do. And his character was fascinating. He forbade his students to fight or look for trouble. He always tried to do what was ethically right. And he had some real tragedy. He’s a master of something called the Death Kick. And back in his younger more reckless days he was goaded into using it on his brother. Now in Chinese culture the word brother gets tossed around a lot so it’s not clear if the guy in question was his actual flesh and blood or just his good friend. But whatever the relationship the result was… well the good news was his Death Kick really worked. I joke but it was presented very well in the movie. It’s shown as being the main motivation for his behavior.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that this character was based on the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung. He’s even called Fei Hung in the original and maybe in the dub. For those who don’t know (and at the time I didn’t) Wong Fei Hung was a larger than life character in Southern China in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. He was renowned as a martial artist and a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. He was known being completely scrupulous and a pillar of Confucian morality. When the Hong Kong film industry got started they cranked out films about Wong Fei Hung by the bushel. A ton of them were made in the ‘50s and ‘60s and most of those still haven’t been seen here in the West. The Wong Fei Hung character received renewed attention here in the states when he became the main character in Jet Li’s Once Upon a Time in China series.

But of all the films about Wong Fei Hung, Master of Kung Fu is the most ambitious and the most challenging. Instead of being set in the slightly romantic time of the 1890-1900 like Once Upon a Time, Master of Kung Fu transports the character into more or less into the modern age. The filmmakers seem to be asking the question; can a figure like Wong Fei Hung operate in today’s society? And the answer they come up with is ambivalent.

In the movie, Wong Fei Hung and his students are harassed by the school of another kung fu master who sees his pacifism as a sign of weakness. Soon both Fei Hung and his rival become embroiled in a plot by gangsters to rob a rich Westerner. The rich man is holding a martial arts contest to see who will be his new bodyguard. The gangsters send their top fighter into the match against Fei Hung’s rival. They cheat and beat the man nearly to death. Fei Hung intercedes and offers to medically treat the man. At this point in a regular Wong Fei Hung movie, the rival would see the error of his ways and become Fei Hung’s friend. But this movie twists the knife. The gangsters slip poison into the wounded man’s medicine so he dies and it looks like Fei Hung murdered his rival. Our hero tries to do the right thing but the tragedy is compounded. Out of revenge his students are attacked and all of them are killed except for two. This struck me back then as incredibly dark and looks even grimmer now. The decimation of Fei Hung’s school is never addressed. It’s just another something he will have to live with. Eventually Fei Hung brings the evil doers to justice. But there’s no triumph. The happy ending belongs to one of his young students. Fei Hung is left to continue on, now with more ghosts to haunt him. It’s an incredible and brave story to tell. It’s a revisionist story told when the genre was still at its height. It would be like making No Country For Old Men in the middle of the ‘80s action craze.

Master of Kung Fu is now very difficult to find. There are no images to sample on Google or clips on Youtube. That is a shame. This is one kung fu movie that took a huge chance. It’s entertaining even if you know nothing about Wong Fei Hung. And if you’re a fan of the Once Upon a Time in China or Drunken Master series, it’s a must see.

Next up: Tattooed Dragon

The Most Influential Sci Fi, Fantasy and Horror Movies Part 3: Nosferatu

2012-01-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

This classic of the silent era gave us an iconic new image of the vampire. Ninety years after it was made, the images still haunt us

Last two parts I mentioned how filmmakers like George Melies and Fritz Lang were ahead of their times. The science fiction and fantasy genres as we know them today are really a product of the Twentieth Century and many of the seminal works were produced after World War II. With Horror fiction it’s sort of reversed. Much of the classic works were written in 19th Century. The Victorians may have been buttoned down but they enjoyed a good scare.

By the 1920s the genre was well established and respectable. Frankenstein was by then over a century old and had been a staple of live theater for almost as long. Poe and Hawthorne were now being marketed to young readers. The decades previous to 1920 were very rich for creepy stories with tales like Turn of the Screw. The problem now was how to create horror that would stand out.

Some people like HP Lovecraft thought all this respectability went against what horror was all about. He set himself to making the genre dangerous and controversial again. He succeeded maybe a little too well in that it would be several decades before anyone even tried to adapt his stories to the cinema. Movie makers in the silent era were satisfied to bring Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to the screen. F.W. Murnau wanted to adapt Dracula but couldn’t obtain the rights. Out of that obstacle a classic was born.

Nosferatu keeps a lot of plot elements from the Dracula novel but in every other respect it is completely different. Count Orlok is a human rat rather than handsome and seductive. His appearance is meant to do one thing; terrify.

The imagery in Nosferatu is some of the scariest in any vampire movie. Murnau used light and shadow to maximum effect. This is one of the first films to show just how cinematic the horror genre would become.

There is no romance to this vampire film. This is about a monster relentlessly attacking a group of people until he is finally destroyed.

Nosferatu instantly became one of the first horror movie classics. People who have never seen a minute of the movie recognize its iconic vampire. To this date there are only two iconic images of the vampire; the seductive Count Dracula and the monstrous Count Orlok.

Next up: Thief of Baghdad

An Open Letter to Team Green Arrow

2012-01-13T08:41:00.001-08:00

The internet is buzzing with rumors that Green Arrow will be made into a pilot for the CW. Nobody asked but I’m going to offer my two cents. When it comes to comic book TV and movie projects you can’t assume anything. So if Team Green Arrow has already had this discussion then congratulations you’re off to a good start.

The series has two ways it can go; young Green Arrow or Older Green Arrow. Both versions offer strengths and weaknesses.

With Young Green Arrow you might be thinking this is easy, it would be a continuation of the Smallville series. Except that that Smallville was no longer Smallville by the time it ended. Hell it technically came to an end when Green Arrow appeared IN COSTUME. Remember the primary concept of Smallville originally is this was Clark Kent before he put on the mantel of Superman. The moment Green Arrow showed up Smallville essentially became its own sequel as it was about young heroes in costume; except for Clark who for some reason put off donning the Superman cape for another 5 years. So a continuation would actually be a continuation of Smallville 2.0, young heroes in love. This can work because of one character, Black Canary. The Green Arrow/Black Canary pairing is one of comicdom’s greatest. It’s been going on since the ‘70s. It’s provided loads of sex and is the main reason IO9 ranks it No. 1 on its list of comic book movies that should be R-Rated. But like all good couples there’s been plenty of friction and conflict over the years. They’ve broken up, found new love interests (always another costumed vigilante) only to come back together again. So this would be nothing like Smallville in tone or focus. Think Fraser vs. Cheers. Same character but the show completely changed once Fraser Crane became the focus.

Black Canary will be such a central figure in this show, unless you DON’T want the massive built in audience to tune in. This is a chance to correct a major TV injustice. A decade ago the then WB announced Birds of Prey based on Gail Simone’s hit comic book. The TV writers thought they knew better, didn’t consult Ms. Simone at all and proceeded to create one of that season’s biggest flops. Do yourselves a favor an have a much publicized sit down with Gail Simone to talk about the characters, particularly Black Canary. That alone will give you early points with the fan community. Believe me you’re going to need them because you’re going to rub some fans the wrong way no matter what you do.

And for the love of God please don’t do a Smallville prequel and show how Oliver Queen eventually took up the bow. Prequels suck. It didn’t work out for George Lucas. Do you think there’s a huge fanbase out there that wants to know what Oliver Queen was doing before he was Green Arrow?

Now some on the internet fret whether this show will be Gossip Girl with Weapons. That actually is a good description of the current Green Arrow “family.” You have the two sexy parental figures Green Arrow and Black Canary. Then you have younger characters like Roy Harper, Arrowette, Mia, Connor Hawke. This wouldn’t be a bad set up. The younger characters have diverse backgrounds. Mia was living on the streets and is HIV positive. Arrowette had a privileged upbringing but an overbearing mother. Then there’s Roy Harper and your chance to redress a huge outrage. Roy Harper was an amazing character; a recovering drug addict who was also a single father to an adorable little girl, Lian. But then DC decided to kill Lian off because they wanted to make Roy more “intense.” The result was enormous fan backlash and the new “intense” Roy Harper was something of a joke. For some reason comic books are the one industry where it’s okay to cause massive fan outrage. Don’t expect the same courtesy. Fans will keep shelling out hard earned money for comics but they’ll drop a show they can see for free if they don’t love every second of it. If you put Lian Harper into your show you’ll have a ton of goodwill from fans.

So good luck. I’m hoping this project gets picked up and that it does right by the characters. No matter what you choose to do, there are opportunities. But there are also pitfalls.

Kung Fu Review: The Five Shaolin Masters

2012-01-12T10:28:00.000-08:00

This all star epic is a perfect entry into the Shaw Brothers films especially for Star Wars fans

Five Shaolin Masters has a special place in my heart. It was the first kung fu movie I saw after Return of the Dragon and it blew me away. It was poorly dubbed but that didn’t matter, there was just so much action and adventure it captured my imagination.

The plot is simple, after the burning of the Shaolin Temple by Manchu soldiers, five of the monks escape and join the local resistance movement. They are hunted by five enemy martial arts experts including a traitorous former monk. In the finale they fight the five enemy masters and win. It’s a simple plot that’s easy to follow despite atrocious dubbing and an unfamiliar setting. That’s the secret to the appeal of a kung fu movie; the studios kept their plots short and easy and put all their energy into fight choreography and stuntwork. Joe Bob Briggs in his book Profoundly Disturbing said that no Western studio would even dream of putting as much time and effort into a fight sequence as the Hong Kong Studios did, but for the Shaw Brothers and their counterparts there was no other choice. The fight scenes weren’t just a compliment to the story, they were the story. The actors were telling a story through their stuntwork and fight scenes. Even at a young age I responded to this. And why not? Despite every critic at the time looking down his or her nose at the genre this is a purely cinematic way of story telling. It’s all action just as it was in the silent era. It wasn’t until after Jackie Chan started making extremely obvious references to Buster Keaton that the Western critical community finally took notice. But Chan didn’t invent this still, it had been in developed over the course of decades in Hong Kong and Five Shaolin Masters is a fine example of the mid ‘70s style.

Another big reason I loved this film so much is that I was a sci-fi geek and I loved Star Wars. Five Shaolin Masters is part of a kung fu sub-genre called, appropriately the Shaolin Cycle. As it turned out The Shaolin Cycle was a great gateway for a Star Wars fan to get into the kung fu movies. The Shaolin Cycle is about the Shaolin monks and their resistance to the Manchu Dynasty in the late 17th Century. The Manchu Dynasty is probably the most hated in Chinese history. And much of the criticism is well earned, just see Last Emperor. They were very malleable bad guys in that regardless of whether you lived in the PRC, Taiwan, or Hong Kong they were easy to hate. If you were a democracy advocate they represented totalitarian authority. If you were a nationalist they represented foreign domination. If you were a communist they represented feudal lords oppressing the common man. But the great thing is they make compelling villains to those outside the Chinese community. To me they were the evil empire. The resistance movement was the rebel alliance. The Shaolin masters were Jedi and the Manchu masters were the Sith Lords. Kung Fu was this strange discipline that they used in combat, much like the Force. It’s well known that George Lucas was inspired by Samurai films when he was creating Star Wars. It’s incredible that the Shaolin Cycle seems to fit his world even better than the samurai films do. Imagine what Star Wars would have looked like if Lucas had discovered the Shaolin Cycle.

Five Shaolin Masters also has one of the great superstar casts of any Shaw Brothers movie. David Chiang and Ti Lung had starred in some of the first great Shaw Brothers classics in the early ‘70s and at this point were still in the prime of their careers. David Chiang plays the leader of the five monks. The role represents something of a departure for him. In movies like Vengeance and Shaolin Handlock, Chiang is more impulsive and often brutally reckless. But here he and Ti Lung play the older brothers of the group and they have to be more leveled headed. Chiang is the group’s strategist and planner and he manages to convey a lot of intelligence.

Opposite David Chiang and Ti Lung are Sheng Fu, also known as Alexander Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan Chun who were just starting to make their names. Sheng Fu is known as the James Dean of kung fu films and not just because his life was cut tragically short by a car accident. Sheng Fu specialized in playing rebellious youth. I’ll visit several of his films later. In this one stands out as the hotheaded youngster of the group. His mannerisms and even his look are anachronistic. He’s clearly sporting ‘70s hair. But provides a lot of energy and humor in between the fight scenes.

The villains here are very well cast as well. All of the actors here would go on to have long careers in Hong Kong cinemas. Liang Chia-Jen would become a kung fu hero in his own right in films like The Victim. But the villain who nearly steals the entire movie is Wang Lung Wei who plays the legendary traitor Ma Fu Yi. Wang just has the perfect look for a kung fu villain. He would have a very long career and would reappear in the ‘80s to fight Jackie Chan in Project A Part 2 and provide a memorable fight in Millionaire’s Express.

Five Shaolin Masters lit the fuse for me. After that I watched these movies religiously for next five years. I caught every one that was on TV whether it sucked or not. I’m very glad to see it is revered as one of the best from the Shaw Brothers.

Next Up: Masters of Kung Fu

The Most Influential Sci Fi, Fantasy and Horror Movies Part 2: Metropolis

2012-01-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

The First Classic Sci Fi Movie Was Way Ahead of Its Time. It’s a Modern Science Fiction Story Created 10 Years Before Modern Science Fiction

Going a little out of order but so what. Metropolis is a classic of the silent era. It’s one of the first great science fiction films. Most impressively it is a modern science fiction story that was made a full decade before modern science fiction really got started. The term “Science Fiction” wasn’t even in use at the time. Hugo Gernsback is credited with coming up with the term “scientifiction” in 1926 but switched to the easier to understand and pronounce “science fiction” in 1929.

In 1937 John W. Campbell became the editor of Astounding and instituted a policy that moved the genre from the pulp fantasies of the 1920s into what we now call Science Fiction; stories based on speculation about the future, where some advancement or discovery becomes the basis for the conflict and the plot.

Campbell’s policies ushered in writers like Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clark and took the genre out of the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers era and moved it towards works like Dune and Childhood’s End.

But all of that lay a decade in the future when Metropolis premiered. But Campbell probably would have approved of most of the film if not the entire work. There is some mysticism but mostly what people take away from this film is the incredible vision of the future.

The sharp divide between the workers and the rich is something that was going on in society in the ‘20s. Fritz Lang simply extrapolated what would happen if the trend continued. Something that is very Campbellian. The movie didn’t invent the dystopia but it was one of the first to portray it in such stark terms.

The term “robot” had only just been invented. The play R.U.R. premiered in 1921, just 6 years prior to this film. Yet here we see one of the definitive robots in sci fi. Not only that, but a robot duplicate; a trope that would reappear again and again from the Twilight Zone to Austin Powers.

And of course you can’t have a robot duplicate without a mad scientist.

All of this combined to make a classic that was in every sense of the word ahead of its time; every bit as ground breaking in its subject matter and story as with its visuals which became the standard for science fiction design throughout the ‘30s and early ‘40s.

Next up: Nosferatu

Kung Fu Review: Way of the Dragon AKA Return of the Dragon

2012-01-05T12:11:00.000-08:00

Long admired for the climactic duel between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, this movie is a lot more innovative than most people realize and its influence is still being felt today

Kung Fu movies were a huge part of my life growing up. I discovered them at age 12 and during my teen years I must have watched a hundred or so. They became my thing along with RPGs, wargames, and Dr. Who. The first one I can remember watching was Return of the Dragon.

Even its fans don’t seem to put this film in its historical context. It is in fact a vital turning point for action cinema and is probably Bruce Lee’s most influential movie. Sure plenty of actors tried to copy Lee’s mannerisms; his death stare, his high pitched yells. But looking at his movies, how many of them were copied? Game of Death was just a slapped together mess redeemed only by Bruce Lee’s footage. Leonard Maltin called Enter the Dragon a perfect action movie but its Sax Rohmer inspired plot was rarely copied, the notable exceptions being Gymkata and the first Mortal Kombat movie. The Chinese Connection/Fist of Fury was too much of traditional kung fu movie to have an influence beyond Hong Kong. Fists of Fury/The Big Boss was pretty close but not much happens until the final reel. Return of the Dragon however has had an enormous impact on action cinema in the West.

Look at the plot to Return of the Dragon, then look at all the Hollywood chop sockey films that followed. Return of the Dragon has been the template for most Western made martial arts movies. Look at China O’Brien, Nowhere to Run, Roadhouse. You can find this plot being repeated in non-martial arts actioners like The Annihilators or The Substitute.

The Return of the Dragon is your basic Western with kung fu replacing fast draw gunmanship. It’s nearly identical to Shane. Instead of the Wild West it takes place in Rome. The damsel in distress (Nora Miao) is danger of losing her restaurant instead of the old homestead. Instead of a cattle baron, she’s menaced by a mafia boss. And instead of a gunfighter coming to her aid, it’s top Kung Fu man Tang Lung. At the time this movie was made, 1972, the action genre was undergoing incredible change. Old genres like the costume swashbuckler and the Western were all but dead; victims of changing tastes and rising production costs. The switch was being made to action movies with contemporary settings. Just a year previously, Clint Eastwood had transported his Man With No Name from the old West into 1970s San Francisco in Dirty Harry. It was one of the first if not the first movie to move tropes found in Westerns into the modern day. But that movie pointed out just how difficult that can be. Dirty Harry is mostly about how out of place Harry Callahan is in the modern day. The final scene of him throwing away his badge is character’s acknowledgment that his brand of justice doesn’t belong in the modern world. They conveniently overlooked that part when it came time for the sequels but a big problem remained with these new Westerns; there was only so much gunplay you could put into them and still be believable.

Nothing makes this more clear than the first scene at the restaurant. Tang Lung arrives just as a group of thugs show up to start trouble. In a Spaghetti Western it’d be no problem to gun these men down go to the coffin maker and ask for four coffins. But how would that fly in modern Rome? No so much. So what is our hero supposed to do? Movement Number 4, Dragon Seeks Path.

And here is where Return of the Dragon changed action movies. Kung Fu provided the missing ingredient needed to transpose Western and Swashbuckler plots into the modern day. The hero could no longer shoot the hat off a man’s head or cut a Z into his shirt, but he hit a guy in the jaw with a lightning fast sidekick. It was this movie along with Dirty Harry and the car chase classics Bullitt and French Connection that became the three pillars of the modern action movie. Every actioner in America between the ‘70s and early ‘80s leaned on at least one of these movies.

Getting back to Return of the Dragon, this movie is packed with more Western tropes than Silverado. After Tang Lung makes his appearance the bad guys try to ambush him or overwhelm him with numbers. When that doesn’t work they call in three “hired guns” to fight him with karate including Chuck Norris who plays a character named Colt. And their battles with Tang Lung are staged like classic western gunfights; with two opponents facing each other before exploding into action.

This is topped off by the famous showdown between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris in the Coliseum adding a reference to another once popular but at the time dying action genre, the sword and sandal epic.

This movie set the standard for modern actioners in other ways. Whereas police bureaucracy and modern civil rights were a major stumbling block in Dirty Harry, here the police are non-existent. They don’t show up until the final scene. The criminals’ motivations and methods are very simple and don’t hold up to tight scrutiny. Why do they want that restaurant so badly? It can’t be doing that well. Who the hell goes to a Chinese restaurant when they’re in Rome?

But also Bruce Lee himself is very much a pioneer in this movie. He’s playing a very different character here, one with a lot of humor to him. He’s anticipating the late ‘80s mugging for the camera action heroes like Willis and Schwarzenegger.

Return of the Dragon/Way of the Dragon is one of the best kung fu movies out there. It’s exciting, fast paced and contains some of the best fight sequences ever filmed. But it doesn’t get enough credit for shaping action cinema. It provided a lot of the key ingredients for future action movies.

Next Up: The 5 Shaolin Masters

The Most Influential Sci Fi, Fantasy and Horror Movies Part 1 George Melies

2012-01-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

The movie Hugo has thrown the spotlight back on this cinematic pioneer. He was truly ahead of his time but also a victim of his own intransience.

George Melies created the first fantasy films and in the process created modern movie making. It can’t be stated any plainer than that. The movie Hugo takes some dramatic license with the great man’s life and work but one thing is true; before Melies films were about trains pulling into stations or waves crashing on the beach. George Melies had a spacecraft smash into the Moon’s face. The former stage magician dared to use the camera to capture his imagination and in the process helped turn film into the movies.

Even now it’s pretty hard to fully appreciate just what Melies did and when he did it. He created special effects without editing equipment or even electric lights. He shot his films in a specially constructed glass house because that was the only light source available. Melies used what he knew, painted sets and theatrical pyrotechnics. But he quickly learned the camera could create its own magic. If he stopped the camera and started it again he could make a character disappear. If he kept part of the aperture covered he could rewind the film and create duplicates of his own head.

He created fantasy films when fantasy literature was in its infancy. Tolkien was far in the future. Weird Tales wouldn’t reach its pinnacle until after World War I. Even Edgar Rice Burroughs didn’t publish his first fantasies until Melies was in decline. When he started William Morris had only just published the Story of the Glittering Plain.

But Melies was ahead of his time in another, sad way. What Hugo leaves out is that Uncle George faded into obscurity mostly because of his own limitations as a filmmaker. After The Great Train Robbery, filmmakers finally learned how to tell a coherent story. Melies however remained stuck in his ways. He created fantastic sequences but had no use for plot or character. Sound familiar? George Melies was one of the first filmmakers and he was definitely the first film technocrat. And he suffered a fate that many technocrats are familiar with. He wouldn’t be the last fantasy filmmaker to value effects over story.

Next up: Metropolis

The 5 Biggest Problems with Ghost Protocol

2011-12-30T16:50:00.000-08:00

It’s delighted both critics and audiences, but is the latest Mission Impossible movie headed towards a severe backlash?

Now let me get this out of the way, I love Ghost Protocol. It’s one of my favorite movies of 2011. And I am very happy for the film’s director Brad Bird who had made some of the best movies the previous decade but hadn’t been getting the credit because they were animated. His talent for combining interesting characters and thrilling action scenes is incredible (no pun intended.) This is easily my favorite entry in the Mission Impossible franchise and I would recommend it to anyone without reservations.

But…

Have you ever had someone tell you they don’t like one of your favorite movies? And you get ready to defend it but when they explain their problems with it you realize they actually have a point? That there was something you missed all along? Well Ghost Protocol has plenty of ammunition for its critics. What are they? Spoilers ahead.

The villain – I left that lower case deliberately. Who is he? No really if you ran into him in the parking lot in LA would you recognize him? Would you recognize the lead henchman? I doubt it. This is a problem. Villains in this kind of movie need to stand out. To be fair Michael Nyqvist who plays Hendricks and Samuli Edelmann who plays Wistrom are very good actors. But you need to be more than good actor in a movie like this. You need to have enough presence that you’re not being upstaged by what’s going on around you. See Alan Rickman as a classic example. What’s really frustrating is that the movie boasts actors like Josh Holloway and Anil Kapoor who HAVE that level of screen presence. Kapoor is slated to be the Indian Jack Bauer! The one villain who does command our attention is Sabine Moreau played by Lea Seydoux. Her angelic beauty makes a nice contrast to violence that follows her character.

Having the proper actors is of little help if they aren’t given enough to do. This is another problem. The villains are kept vague. Their plans and methods are murky. Hendricks plans to start a nuclear war. Okay, what exactly is Wistrom getting out of this? What did he pay him with, a lifetime supply of fresh water, beef jerky and a deluxe survival bunker? Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows isn’t getting nearly the love that Ghost Protocol is but the movies are very similar. The difference is Game of Shadows has an excellent villain whose methods and motives make sense in terms of the movie.

The Mask – Big spoiler here. At the end of the otherwise magnificent scene in Dubia, Ethan Hunt is chases Wistrom through a sandstorm. Suddenly he pulls off a piece of the man’s face! He’s wearing a mask! Who could it be? It turns out to be Hendricks. Okay. First that’s not much of a twist for the mastermind to impersonate his own henchman. Secondly why? Why would they bother with such a charade in the first place? Is Wistrom really innocent? No, he appears with Hendricks in India performing the usual henchman role. So what was that mask about?

Brandt – This is my biggest pet peeve in writing, when people don’t act the way they should. You have a character who is revealed to be a traitor, except that special piece of equipment he gave the hero turns out to be perfectly functional (see Blade 2.) In this case of Jeremy Renner’s Brandt his introduced as an analyst and for the first half of the movie he acts that way, clumsy, not very helpful in the field. Then it’s revealed he’s an experienced field agent. This isn’t much of a spoiler since the trailer shows Brandt and Ethan Hunt exchanging gun fu moves with each other. The problem is, if Brandt is a former field agent he should act like one. He should not be babbling like a scared kid after he and Ethan first escape. He should know that constantly nattering about the time limit as Ethan dangles outside an impossibly tall building isn’t helping.

The Backstory – This is a like it/hate it area with me. I like what they did with Ethan’s story. But I hate that it’s conveyed totally second hand. When this movie opens it’s hard to tell what happened in the time after MI3. To review at the end of MI3 Ethan’s wife discovered his secret identity and had been brought into the IMF. Slowly it’s revealed what happened to her and to Ethan. But we never see any of it. We only hear about it second hand. As it turns out, this stuff isn’t just important to Ethan. This backstory effects another member of the team as well. Again to be fair it does create a bit of mystery in the final scene. We’re not completely sure if Ethan is telling the truth or if he’s just trying to comfort somebody else. But that one scene doesn’t make up for others which are static and dramatically dead. Brad Bird is a stickler for the rules of good drama, but he should remember next time “Thou Shalt Not Use Flashbacks” does not trump “Thou Shalt Always Convey Important Information Visually.”

The Big Finale – I’m not talking about the battle between Ethan and Hendricks in the automated car park. That scene is awesome. But it contrasts that with what the rest of the team is doing at that moment; trying to get power back to the TV station. It’s like they ran out of clever things for the rest of the cast to do. If I’m going to give Brad Bird credit for the rest movie where he perfectly balances this cast of characters, then I have to ding him for this sequence where it take 3 highly trained operatives to take down one henchman and turn the lights back on. Take out the battle in the car park and imagine if the TV station sequence was the climax to the film. The audience would throw their popcorn at the screen. Compare this to the Dubai sequence where everyone got to shine in their own way.

The backlash may have already started. See this opinion piece at the Hollywood Reporter. Let me repeat this is one of my favorite movies. Its strengths far, far exceed its weaknesses in my opinion. The action scenes are some of the best I’ve seen in years. The cast has great camaraderie. But in the future if this winds up on somebody’s list of “Movies That Everyone Loves But I Don’t Get” I’ll understand why.

Upcoming Projects

2011-12-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

Been a while since I posted new stuff on this site.

First I'll be starting my list of the most influential science fiction, fantasy and horror movies.

I'll also start my Kung Fu Reviews with Return of the Dragon.

But first I'll be doing a kind of review of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and reasons for fans of the film to be worried.

Red Band Trailer for HOT TUB TIME MACHINE

2009-07-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Here's the Red Band Trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine. Don't know what it's about well this will tell ya and make you laugh. It's funny but there's one problem namely that I have to picture these four guys getting into a hot tub together. Was Minnie Driver not available? Could they borrow the cast from Couples Retreat?

ASTEROIDS Producer Tries to Answer Big Question

2009-07-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Why God? Why?

Why would you even think a video game with just two colors could be expanded to a full two hours?

Answering why anyone would try to turn Asteroids into a movie seems like an impossible task but Lornezo di Bonaventura gave it a go when he told IGN:

“It’s funny because people say there’s nothing in the game, but that’s not entirely right,” Bonaventura told them. “I was attracted to Asteroids, plain and simple, because I think what it tells you is that there’s going to be this big thing in space.”

“We’ve crafted a really strong, deep mythology for the thing. Without divulging too much about it, it’s two lead characters – two brothers – who have to go through a seminal experience to figure out their relationship, against this huge backdrop.”

So they've taken a game, which isn't even scientifically accurate, and plopped in a standard "me and my brother have issues" subplot. Got to give Bonaventura points for trying.

Thanks to Sci-Fi Scoop.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND TRAILER at Empire

2009-07-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE for the wondrous trailer for Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's latest at Empire Online. I'm a little ambivalent. It looks gorgeous but where's the heart? Tim Burton is a director who loses his way very often see Planet of the Apes. His team ups with Johnny Depp can be great (Edwards Scissorhands, Sweeney Tood) or good looking but a little empty inside (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hollow.) It seems their at their best when Tim allows Johnny to play with knives in the movie, maybe he should do some reshoots with Depp handling some haberdasher's shears.

JONAH HEX Poster Revealed at Comic-Con

2009-07-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Josh Brolin looks well scarred though you can't see to much of his face. Megan Fox looks, well, like Megan Fox. No sign of John Malkovich which is a shame, a good poster sets everything up, hero, girl and villain. At least superimpose his evil glaring eyes over our two leads.

I'm so glad they're going with the traditional Western Hex and not the "Where in the Hell did that come from" Hex comic where they sent him into the far future. It was fun in a goofy sort of way but come on, Hex belongs in the Post Civil War West kicking 19th Century ass!

CLICK HERE for the Movie Posters on Yahoo Movies!

BOOK OF ELI Trailer Tears a Hole in the Sky

2009-07-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the new Book of Eli Trailer. Looks like a Joel Silver version of The Road which I hope is coming out this year. I have a soft spot for post apocalyptic movies, not just the Mad Max but the old school ones like Ultimate Warrior with Yul Brynner. The one thing that worries me is Mila Kunis. I have insider info that while she loves starring in these action movies like Max Payne she really doesn't work out a lot or study stage fighting. Maybe she's improved since then. We'll have to see. Unlike Payne, this looks like a movie I might actually watch.

Birthday Mashup! Harry Potter, Mickey Knox, Truman Capote, Peter Benton, Cordelia Chase, and Dick Jones get together

2009-07-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

In an odd Geek coincidence, Daniel Radcliffe, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eriq La Salle, Charisma Carpenter and Ronny Cox all celebrated their B-days today. It makes for one surreal birthday bash.

Mickey Knox would be prowling around the Shakey's Pizza slicing open the wait staff while Dr. Benton tries to sew them back together and Truman Capote chases him around trying to get him to talk about it all in detail. Dick would be growling in the corner and fingering the remote control to his ED209. And Harry Potter would be trying to cast a spell but can't because he's unable to tear his eyes off Cordelia who's crouched behind an overturned table with a crossbow.

WHITEOUT Trailer Seems to Missing Something.

2009-07-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hmm let's see. We've got Kate Beckinsale. Kate Beckinsale's Ass (albeit through the shower door), gunplay, airplane crashes, frost bite. Wait I know. How about THE COLOR WHITE!! Seriously people, it's called WHITEOUT, not Shades of Grey-out.

Raimi to Direct WORLD OF WARCRAFT

2009-07-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

News from AICN, Sam Raimi will direct the big screen adaptation of World of Warcraft. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it's great if you're Sam Raimi or his agent. It's great news if you're one of the millions of fans of WoW. For me I can't help thinking of that South Park Episode shown below. Sorry for the screen size.

But it also makes me wonder if a straight up adaptation is the way to go. Yeah people want their FX and their sword fights and their Titanic battle scenes. But the writer in me thinks there's more to be mined with the true story of WoW the way Aaron Sorkin found the drama in Facebook. I mean let's face it, there has to be a movie somewhere about people making money playing a video game!

Jean Claude Van Damme at it again in EAGLE PATH

2009-07-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

TwitchFilm has a new promo video for Jean Claude's latest The Eagle Path. Have to admit there is some good action in this clip. Bad news is, he is directing this one. Remember his last directorial effort The Quest?

Looking at this I can't help but think of JCVD which I liked a lot. Specifically it reminds me of that movie's best scene where Van Damme has a heart to heart with his agent.

Click Here for Video!

Look like the agent won again this time.

English School Rips Off Orson Welles

2009-07-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

IO9 has a great piece about an English school that tried to spark students imaginations by faking an alien invasion.

Diana Goss, the headteacher, informed pupils that an alien craft had crashed near the school and pupils were encouraged to "follow a trail of debris" before stumbling across the UFO.

A member of staff was then abducted by aliens before the children were sent back to class.

Have to give them points for moxie but not originality. Orson Welles tried similar stunt to stimulate the imagination of the entire country. Missing the anniversary of the famous 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast by a just under year, the English school did manage to get similar results.

Said one parent:

"My daughter was deeply upset by it all and came home looking shell shocked.

"She wasn't sure what had happened and really wanted to know that everything was going to be alright."

I guess some gags just never get old.

Whoa! He Did Not Just Say That!

2009-07-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Devin Faraci over at CHUD.com has slammed Game of Thrones!

Faraci calls the series "mostly unreadable" and concludes "TV talent is strong, unlike the literary talent." I guess the NY Times bestseller list and numerous book awards mean nothing compared to the opinion of one movie blogger.

If Game of Thrones fans want to "enlighten" Mr. Faraci his twitter is:

http://twitter.com/devincf

MYSTERY TEAM Trailer. There is hope for good movies

2009-07-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

This Summer got you down? When Transformers and Harry Potter 6 are the best of the bunch it's a bit of a down year (deliberately not counting Up. Pixar just ruins the curve.) Fear not. Good stuff is on the way. Check out this trailer for Mystery Team.

Sean Bean is Eddard (Ned) Stark!!!

2009-07-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

Yee Hoo!

In news sure to please Game of Thrones fans around the world, George RR Martin announced on his Not a Blog that Sean Bean has been cast as Eddard (Ned) Stark in the upcoming HBO miniseries adaptation.

Bean is beyond perfect for the role as he's already demonstrated in Lord of the Rings and the BBC series Sharpe. He joins the likewise beyond perfectly cast Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister.

Mark Addy has joined as King Robert Baratheon. I would have preferred Ray Winstone or Brendan Gleason in the role but Addy (Full Monty and that sitcom with Jaimie Gertz)may surprise me.

Martin also mentions a number of largely unknown teenagers who've joined the cast as Joffrey, Viserys, and Jon Snow. There's still plenty of casting to be done, most importantly Cersei, Jaime, and Catelyn. I'd like to see Chris Eccelston as Jaime. Rosamund Pike would make a great Catelyn. For Cersei I'd pick Diane Kruger and for Tywinn Lannister Alan Dale from Lost.

Real Life Sea Monster Squids Scare Off San Diego Scuba Divers

2009-07-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

Click Here for this Huffington Post story. Schools of 5 foot long carnivorous Humboldt Squid have been sighted off the coasts of San Diego.

The squids can grow up to a hundred pounds and can hunt in schools up to 1,200. Many local divers are staying out of the water.

"I wouldn't go into the water with them for the same reason I wouldn't walk into a pride of lions on the Serengeti," said Mike Bear, a local diver.

Calling Peter Benchley!

12 Great Geek Things for July 16 2009

2009-07-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Here's just an overview of all the great geekiness you shouldn't miss.

1. ARCHER on Fox

Click here for the Hollywood Reporter story and a 2 minute clip so funny it'll make you pee yourself. Archer is a new animated comedy for Fox. Before you say, "Not again" check out the clip. The animation is fresh and original and the material is A+. Looks like a winner.

2. Scarlett Johannson is the Black Widow

This photo has been burning up the internet.

And more than makes up for the somewhat underwhelming shots of Mickey Rourke as Blacklash. I wonder how she'll fare with the action elements. I keep hoping they'll stage a superheroine fight as rough as this one.

3. STRAW DOGS to be Remade by Rod Lurie

Click here for The AV Club's report on another wrongheaded Hollywood remake. They did actually watch the original right? They did see the scene where Susan George gets raped and likes it, right? Straw Dogs is a movie that is very wrong on several levels but that's kind of why it works as well as it does. If they try and remake it, the first thing that's going to go will be the nastiness that Peckinpah brought to his original.

4. The Trailer for TRIANGLE

Click Here for Empire Online's exclusive trailer for the new horror movie Triangle. It looks like a mash up between Ghost Ship and Groundhog's Day. And it looks good. Horror geeks rejoice!

5. Willem DaFoe Joins JOHN CARTER OF MARS as one of the Good Guys!

Albeit a gigantic four armed green good guy. Click Here for the full Hollywood Reporter story. DaFoe will be providing the voice and mo-cap for Tars Tarkas, who starts out as John's captor but becomes one of his best friends on Mars.

6. Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore in WHIP IT!

Click Here for the Yahoo Movies trailer of Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore in the new comedy Whip It! I'm hugely disappointed that Devo's song does not make an appearance. But there's plenty of other stuff in here that makes me happy. Page's underwater make out session for one. And the joke at the end. "Let's celebrate mediocrity!"

7. HACK/SLASH Gets a Director

Click Here for the Hollywood Reporter story. Hack/Slash takes the Buffy idea of the victim girl turning into the hero and applies it to slasher movies. They have a great mythology behind why ordinary people turn into undead killing machines. Who's your pick for Cassandra Hack? Mine would have to be Whip It girl Page.

8. Pierce Brosnan Starring in New Comedy

Click Here for the HR story. Let's hope this is as delirious as The Matador. I think Brosnan is this close to finding the perfect second act for his career as a top flight comic actor.

9. Trailer for DESPICABLE ME

Click Here for this awesome trailer for the upcoming CG animated comedy. Looks like it does for super villains what The Incredibles did for superheroes. If they can be just one fifth as good as Incredibles, I'm sold. Steve Carrell as the voice sounds like it can't miss.

10. SCREAM 4 starring the Arquettes

Click Here for the Empire Online story. Ghost face will be returning and Dewey and Gail will be running for their lives again. Seeing Ghost Face again would be great, but the series high point for me was the shocking death of Jamie Kennedy in 2.

11. Emily Blunt to star in Philip K. Dick Movie

Click here for the HR story. She was my first choice to play Black Widow but I'm glad to see she hasn't strayed too far from the geek reservation. I don't know the short story The Adjustment Bureau but if I know PKD it's going to be unusual. Philip K. Dick in movies can mean a wide range of things, from Total Recall to A Scanner Darkly and I'd be up to see Blunt in any of them.

12. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Remake gets Viggo Mortensen's Son (From THE ROAD)

Click Here for the IO9 report. Kodi Smith-McPhee will be playing the lonely and bullied hero of Let Me In, Matt Reeves' remake of the vampire insta-classic Let the Right One In. I have high hopes for this one even though the original was a near perfect film. You can never have enough creepy kid movies (good ones that is.)

Black Blob flowing down from Alaska

2009-07-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

IO9 and Anchorage Daily News have been tracking a story about a gigantic mass of goo crawling down from the waters of Alaska. Seen here.

The whatever-it-is is reportedly up to 12 miles long in some areas. No word yet on how many horny teenagers it has devoured.

And to think it's only the second most disturbing thing to come out of the 49th State.

Weird Science! Scientists try to Make Robot that can Swim in Sand! Alert Pete Weller!

2009-07-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

IO9 has a great piece, first reported in Science on a lizard that can swim through the sands.

This little guy down here

Had baffled scientists on just how he was able move through sand with a swimming like motion. With a pretty elaborate set up scientists have been able to determine exactly how the little guys do their thing. The next step is to build tiny robots that can duplicate the feat.

The step after that? Screamers!

108 Reasons I love Hong Kong Action Flicks!

2009-07-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

With The Kung Fu Kid starring Jackie Chan and 11 year old Jaden Smith it’s worth going over what Chinese cinema has given to the action genre. I strongly doubt that Kid is going to add to that impressive legacy but there’s always a chance especially if the producers listen to their Chinese collaborators. Here are the 108 Chinese action classics that I love. 101 is the usual number for lists but 108 is a power number in Chinese numerology so it here it goes.

The Classy Beginnings

When they first hit the festival circuit these films caused a sensation.
1. Come Drink with Me – Believe or not there was a time when Kung Fu films were art films. This was one of the standouts of the ear.
2. Touch of Zen – Another art/Kung fu film. This one was nominated for the Golden Palm at Cannes in 1975.

The Master

There can be only one Bruce Lee
3. The Big Boss – Bruce Lee’s first. Real cheap production values but skip to the final act when Bruce unleashes his Jeet Kune Do on the bad guys
4. Fist of Fury – Bruce Lee’s best early film. When people think Bruce Lee this is the Bruce Lee they’re thinking of
5. Way of the Dragon – Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris. You can watch this fight sequence a 100 times and it still never gets old
6. Enter the Dragon – Bruce Lee’s American blockbuster. You can see Hollywood slowly start to water down the product. It isn’t as vicious as his Hong Kong pictures but its still miles ahead of American chop sockeys that were churned out in 70’s and early 80’s.
7. The real footage of Game of Death – Don’t go for the butchered version of the film. There are several sources for the unadulterated footage shot as Bruce Lee intended. There’s nearly twice as much material than appears in the movie

The Shaw Brothers and Others

Those classic, brutal films I grew up with.
8. Have Sword Will Travel – David Chiang in one of his earliest and best.
9. Water Margin – Known as Seven Blows of the Dragon. This was picked by Quentin Tarantino.
10. Vengeance – A more modern day Kung Fu film. Uses the same plot as the John Boorman film Point Blank only with a bloody finale.
11. Angry Guest – I like this sequel to Duel of Fists more than the original. Wild fight at construction site at the end.
12. 5 Shaolin Masters – This is the one that did it for me. Style versus style ads the Shaolin masters take on the Manchu generals.
13. Death Chamber – Basically the 300 with Kung Fu
14. Savage 5 – Savage is the right word. Simple but grim story of bandits who come to a sleepy town and the 5 men who stand up to them.
15. Shaolin Mantis – Man infiltrates a family then has to fight his way out. Twist ending.
16. Boxer from Shangtung – Great Kung Fu and gangsters film. A little bit like Public Enemy
17. Slice of Death – David Chiang goes bald in this one as a kick ass monk.
18. One Armed Swordsman – Jimmy Wang Yu’s big launch. Guy loses arm? No problem. He can still cut you to ribbons.
19. Golden Swallow – Sequel to Come Drink With Me isn’t the artistic masterpiece but instead an epic bloodbath
20. One Armed Boxer – Bug nuts crazy Jimmy Wang Yu production.
21. Chinese Boxer – The grand daddy of all Kung Fu flicks. First time the hero uses his hands instead of a sword. Not that it makes much difference as his hand goes right through people.
22. Master of the Flying Guillotine - The sequel to One Armed Boxer is even crazier than the original.
23. Beach of the War Gods – Jimmy Wang Yu’s period films are always nuts. This one has all kinds of crazy from rolling shield men to a duel on a windmill blade
24. A Man Called Tiger – Jimmy Wang Yu on the hunt for his father’s killer in Tokyo. Great fight at the end has him fighting off axe swinging baddies on one leg!
25. Tattooed Dragon – Jimmy Wang Yu’s Robin Hood with Kung Fu story
26. Four Real Friends – Jimmy Wang Yu and friends battle a gang with baskets over their heads.
27. Chinatown Kid – Fu Sheng’s finest. A young kid comes to America and kicks butt
28. Invincible One – Fu Sheng again as a tragic hero. Kid who’s great at Kung Fu gets flattered by corrupt boss and winds up being used.
29. Boxer Rebellion – This one is messy! Fu Sheng and friends take on the foreigners. Only problem, they have guns. The attackers think they’re immune to bullets. Let’s just say they were grossly misinformed!
30. Five Fingers of Death – One of the first to hit our shores. The movie that shows just because your fingers have been pulverized doesn’t mean you can’t kick some ass!
31. Jade Claw – Billy Chow’s best film. Little tyke sees pop killed by Kung Fu killer, spends the rest of the film seeking revenge.
32. Supepower – Billy Chow again, this time taking on Northern Eagle stylists
33. A Hard Way to Die – Billy Chow in a bug nuts film that takes place in the West. Who’s west I’m not sure. The cowboys use Kung Fu and kitchen knives.
34. Kung Fu Executioners - Billy Chow’s Kung Fu version of the godfather. Let’s just say Don Barsini gets it a lot worse in this one.
35. Master Killer – The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. The Gordon Liu Kung Fu epic. Wimpy student goes to Shaolin Temple and after arduous training becomes a butt kicking machine
36. Return of the Master Killer – This is a comic redo of the Master Killer, a lot more humor and no fatalities, though the baddies get pummeled severely
37. Shaolin Challenges Ninja – Kung Fu as romantic comedy? It can happen here!
38. Fist of the White Lotus – The craziest film Gordon Liu ever starred in until Kill Bill. This time he’s fighting Pei Mei instead playing him and the white haired priest is invulnerable unless you hit the one spot. Damned if Gordon doesn’t do everything to find it!
39. Challenge of the Masters – The movie Karate Kid should have been. Gordon Liu plays a young man desperate to learn Kung Fu and prove himself.
40. Martial Club – A follow up to Challenge of the masters sees Liu as a mature martial artist. Terrific final fight in a narrow alley.
41. Eight Diagram Pole Fighter – Gordon Liu’s darkest film. He actually fights his way into a monastery. The monks try to calm his troubled spirit to no avail.
42. Dirty Ho – No this is about Sunset Blvd. Gordon Liu plays a prince in disguise trying to get back to court with the help of a bumbling thief. The thief is named Ho.
43. Street Gangs of Hong Kong – Next to Boxer Rebellion, the bleakest Kung Fu film ever made. The young James Dean like hero tries to do good but ends up in a brutal massacre instead.
44. Five Deadly Venoms – The classic. The film that kick started the early 80’s venom films.
45. Kid with the Golden Arm – Crazy venom film gives Lo Mang indestructible arms. Plays like a video game with complete with “Boss” villains.
46. Two Champions of Death – Vicious Venoms flick. Guy challenges government stooges, gets married, widowed and finally goes out in a blaze of glory with his best friend. Good times!
47. Magnificent Ruffians – Kung Fu masters get put out of work by firearms. Get involved in a Deadliest Game like situation
48. Crippled Avengers – Known as Return of the Venoms this is one of their best. Each venom gets crippled in a unique way. Each has to learn how to overcome it and learn to fight.
49. Masked Avengers – Final battle in a trap filled lair is almost like something out of Middle Earth.
50.Spearmen of Death – Spearmen? Yeah if spears fire everything from darts to needles. One those “impossible” weapons flicks. The Venoms tend to throw everything but the kitchen sink. Speaking of “kitchen” don’t miss the gag with the chopsticks!
51. Killer Army – Make that four different armies. Each with its own weapons. Best, the guys with clubs shaped like metal fists.
52. Ten Tigers of Kwantung – Sueprsized Kung Fu action takes place over two time periods and includes every Kung Fu actor ever.
53. Invincible Shaolin – Lo Mang actually survives this one. Good guys get tricked into feuding by the baddies. Result is awesome.
54. Avenging Eagles – A little misleading since the Eagles don’t do any avenging. They’re a gang whose the target of said vengeance. Another kung Fu epic that takes place in an Ancient China that more resembles something out a D&D sourcebook.

Jackie, Sammo, and Yuen

These three stuntmen/actors changed Kung Fu in the late 70’s and early 80’s and it’s never been the same since.

55. Drunken Master – Jackie Chan’s first big break. Finally created his own persona which he’s maintained to this day.
56. Police Story – Proof that Jackie Chan is nuts. So many holy shit moments in this one.
57. Project A – Contains one Jackie’s most famous stunts gone wrong when he falls through the awnings and right on the ole’ coconut.
58. Project A II – Sequel might even be better than the first. Ends with a thunderous homage to Buster Keaton
59. Meals on Wheels – No that’s not a typo. Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao bring Kung Fu to Barcelona and take on Benny the Jet in the finale.
60. Dragons Forever – The fight scenes in this one are apocalyptic. The story is mostly light farce until the end. The Chinese can take contrast!
61. Heart of Dragon – Don’t really care for the Rain Man storyline but final battle in a construction site is one of the best ever. Jackie Chan uses everything and is more brutal and ruthless than you’ve ever seen him.
62. Drunken Master II – I don’t by the domestic drama/comedy either but the fight scenes are always worth a look.
63. Supercop – Dynamite teaming of Chan and Michelle Yeoh. The ending with the motorcycle, a helicopter, and a moving train must have James Cameron green with envy
64. Operation Condor – Three words. Wind. Tunnel. Fight.
65. Magnificent Butcher – Sammo Hung is his own special effect. Don’t believe me, watch him move like a leopard in this Kung Fu battle.
66. Millionaire’s Express – Another one that is just nuts. Is this China? Texas? Who cares. A whole army of bad guys rides into town and its up to an army of kung fu stars lead by Sammo Hung to kick them out.
67. Knockabout – Yuen Biao’s first starring role. In the finale Biao and Sammo Hung Double Dutch the bad guy to death
68. Prodigal Son – Another Sammo Hung directed classic starring Yuen Biao. A classic kung fu tale but told with a lot more weight and thoughtfulness.
69. Eastern Condors – More Rambo than Platoon, this Hong Kong Vietnam War epic ends with some of Sammo Hung and Yeun Biao’s best fights.
70. Warriors Two – Sammo Hung directed this one starring Casanova Wong (no really) Name may be laughable but the guy can sure kick!
71. Spooky Encounters – Kung Fu Ghostbusters is all I can say. Sammo Hung mixes the supernatural and Kung Fu in ways no one would have thought.
72. Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars – Frat boy comedy combined with some amazing fights. Sammo Hung and Richard Norton pound on each other in this one.
73. Winners and Sinners – Another mix of comedy plus amazing action. Jackie Chan has a stunt with roller skates and a semi truck that puts The Fast and the Furious to shame.
74. Thunderbolt – Jackie Chan vehicle has great car stunts and a massive fight at a pachinko parlor
75. Twin Dragons – Not as good as some of Chan’s others but the stunt work at the end makes this film
76. City Hunter – Jackie Chan takes a shot at bringing an manga to life. The Street Fighter sequence is better than anything you’ll see in that Kristin Kreuk movie.

For the Ladies

Or rather featuring the ladies. Hong Kong may not be at the forefront of women’s lib but if want to see really empowered females, try looking over here.

77. Broken Oath – Angela Mao, Bruce Lee’s sister in Enter the Dragon stars in her own film.
78. When Tae Kwon Do Strikes – Another Angela Mao actioner. This time she takes on the Japanese in World War II ear Korea.
79. Angel – Kung Fu version of Charlie’s Angels featuring the toughest girlfight ever! Moon Lee and Yukari Oshima practically kill each other.
80. Inspectors Wear Skirts – Cynthia Rothrock returns. Again the fights in this are unbelievable. Can’t imagine Hollywood actresses even attempting this stuff.
81. Yes, Madam – Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock team up, bad guys need more insurance.

Gun Fu

In the 80’s they started using firearms. Big change right? Not really. They directed these things just as they did kung fu fights. Cinematic violence has never been the same.

82. The Killer – Gun Fu at its finest. This is revered and rightly so. This may be John Woo’s Best. One of Chow Yun Fat’s best. Hong Kong Action as Wagnerian opera.
83. A Better Tomorrow – The one that started it all for John Woo. Groundbreaking gunfights
84. A Better Tomorrow II – Story’s okay but the gunfights are what you come for in this one. Guys blast each other at point blank range. Shock? Blood loss? Trauma? Never heard of ‘em
85. Bullet in the Head – Harrowing actioner set in Vietnam war. Hong Kong gets a little too violent for three friends so they head for Saigon. Nice thinking guys.
86. Hardboiled – John Woo does for cops what he’d been doing for gangsters. The hospital shootout is so great yet so wrong at the same time.
87. Fulltime Killer – Recent addition to Gun Fu and pretty darn good. Love Andy Lau’s just crazed enthusiasm for his job
88. Moment of Romance – An earlier gem from Lau. Hong Kong is awfully crowded so it isn’t known for car chase movies but this stacks up with anything from the US
89. City on Fire – The one that inspired Reservoir Dogs and gave us Tarantino.
90. Legacy of Rage – It’s a shame Brandon Lee was taken so soon. This shows he could gun fu with the best of them

The Modern Era

Since the 90’s there’s been a flood of HK action cinema in the US. It remains to be seen if this trend in quality will continue or if we reached the high water mark.

91. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Finally coming full circle with Touch of Zen, this artful Kung Fu epic wowed audiences everywhere and snagged a nom for best picture. Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Zhiyi should have been nominated as well.
92. Hero – Visually stunning Zimou epic. A little dubious as a political message but breathtaking to watch
93. House of Flying Daggers – Causes arguments among HK fans. Some love it, some hate it. I love it. I don’t care if the love story isn’t for everyone, all I care about is amazing scenes of bamboo throwing assassins.
94. The Emperor and the Assassin – More my cup of tea with regards to the Hero story. Not necessarily a Kung Fu film but an epic nonetheless. Takes Chinese history and tells a story worthy of Shakespeare.
95. Fist of Legend – Jet Li’s best film. A remake of Fist of Fury but also a repudiation of that film’s xenophobia. The final fight is one of the longest and roughest in history.
96. Once Upon a Time in China – Early big hit for Jet Li. Has the famous ladder fight they tried to copy in that Musketeer movie
97. Once Upon a Time in China II – Even better than the original. Jet Li battles a crazed cult and goes one on one with Donnie Yen in the finale.
98. Chinese Ghost Story – Hark Tsui learned filmmaking in the States and brought that knowledge back to make this groundbreaking mix of Kung Fu and Evil Dead like horror.
99. Peking Opera Blues – Another Hark classic. Wild story of spies and opera players
100. Bride with White Hair – One of the most famous Kung Fu fantasies around. The movie that made hair a lethal weapon.
101. Iron Monkey – Donnie Yen’s best flick. A wild modern update on a classic story. This is the one with the fight on top flaming poles.
102. Fearless – Jet Li turns the Kung Fu flick into serious drama. All the usual trappings are here yet with the added dimension of real tragedy and redemption. Not to mention some great fight scenes.
103. Fong Sai Yuk – Jet Li in some of his best action scenes. Wire fu at its best.
104. Tai Chi Master – One of Jet Li’s best with choreography by Yuen Woo Ping. Don’t miss the opening when Li and his friend take on an entire monastery.
105. Wing Chun – Michelle Yeoh’s solo actioner. She fights while on stilts
106. Royal Warriors – Michelle Yeoh in modern action, showing she can pull off gun fu as well.
107. Shaolin Soccer – Steven Chow’s hilarious comedy adventure. Team Evil, best villain group name ever.
108. Kung Fu Hustle – Steven Chow’s follow up. If you’re wondering if Kung Fu can survive CGI, I think this provides the answer. It’s yes!

So that’s what young Jaden Smith has to live up to. Let’s see what he can add.

You gotta be kidding me. Jaden Smith is the new KUNG FU (not KARATE) KID

2009-07-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

There's an AP report that 11 year old Jaden Smith is playing the lead in the Kung Fu Kid, a sorta remake of The Karate Kid. Amelie Gillette at AV Club wastes little time ripping the movie a new one. The movie started shooting in China yesterday.

Now Karate Kid is a movie I loved at the time. I was really into Shaw Brothers movies and was juiced that the the number one movie in America was basically a Kung Fu film. But I quickly realized it was a Kung Fu film the way One Missed Call was a J Horror. It had all the beats of a Shaw Brothers movie but they were all safe and sanitized. I mean what would have happened if they had gone the whole 36 chambers with this? You want bizarre training methods? Look at Master Killer. If Daniel had been carrying water buckets with metal spikes attached to his arms, he would have broken Johnny in half without even trying. And the fight scenes? They were basically doing the same old late 70's fight choreography of such classics as Gymkata and Breaker, Breaker (Chuck Norris' best fight is still the one he had with Bruce Lee all those years ago.) It did do one thing very well and that was the teen angst/romance factor. And it gave us Elizabeth Shue which is a very good thing.

The point is, I don't hold Karate Kid up on a pedestal as some people do. But still there's plenty about this news to give me pause. Did I mention Jaden is 11? That kind of ruins the whole coming of age storyline. To say nothing of the teen angst and romance. And how well do kids at that age fight? 3 Ninjas anyone. Jackie Chan is in this one and that's a plus but is he going to do all the fighting? I'm sure this will be a hit with the cuteness crowd, but damn it Jackie Chan deserves more than being costar to Will Smith's kid.

BRÜNO What's up?

2009-07-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

Brüno opens with a shot of a guy’s pubs then moves on to a man getting his butt bleached by a dildo hooked up to a stationary bike. And it gets worse from there. You are spared seeing any actual penetration thanks to a tiny little gray spot that appears in these and numerous other scenes. The good news, if you can call it that, is that this is pretty balanced semi-porno and hetero sex and female nudity make an appearance as well.

Brüno is Sacha Barron Cohen’s follow up to his monstrously successful Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and I think a comparison of the titles says it all. There was a lot more to Borat.

First to Brüno. After the initial assault on the eyeballs were introduced to the title character a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista who lives the high life in Vienna. All of that comes crashing down after he wrecks a show with a Velcro suit. Brüno decides to get his life back in order he has to go to America and become famous. And right there we’re off on the wrong foot. Brüno’s quest may be one we understand but that doesn’t mean we sympathize with it. Borat on the other hand we could both understand and feel for.

Brüno’s adventures in the US left me a little cold. The real genius of Borat was how he was able to connect to numerous Americans. Often what they connected over was bigotry and sexism. But it was that ability to connect on a caveman level that gave Borat a humanity that’s missing from Brüno. Here the character never connects with anyone around him. It’s all about alienation.And not because he's gay but because his only concern is the mercenary goal of fame and to hell with everything else. After a while that gets old. Furthermore you wonder why people don’t see the camera crews and think “Am I being punked?” Cohen does deserve credit for hunting done enough people who never saw Borat. But too much of this ambush style humor feels used already. There is one exception and it’s the one instance where Cohen makes a Borat-like connection with the audience of a MMA event in Arkansas. You’ve probably seen the news articles about this already, but Cohen managed to fool an entire audience for a few minutes at any rate. Their reactions when he finally springs the joke on them are almost worth the price of admission. There’s a close up of one muscle bound fellow who looks distraught. You’d think Cohen shot his puppy in front of him or something.

The difference is one of reflection. Despite it all, Borat was a lot like us and he was able to hold up a mirror to ourselves. Brüno is nothing like us except in a reptile brain desire for fame and riches. That’s not enough to really make a good reflection.

MAX STEEL coming to theaters...Who?

2009-07-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Variety reports Max Steel is the next toy line tapped for big screen stardom. Nick Nunziata over at CHUD.com ponders how somebody as sharp as Joe Roth could think this blip in the pop culture landscape could have the cache of G.I. Joe.

How unknown is Max Steel? I had no idea this toy line and cartoon even existed. When I first heard the news I thought they were referring to the 80's Maxx Steel Robo Force. I wondered how they were going to make suction cups with arms into cool looking robots.

But no, this Max Steel hails from 2000, nearly fifteen years after the "Golden Age" of toy based cartoons. When the explosion of cable stations made syndicated kids cartoons an endangered species. This was so popular that the company making the original seasons went bankrupt. The action figures it's hawking according to Wikipedia "Cannot be found in the United States except for a few select cities and states." Apparently this escaped Paramount's market research when they made the deal.

On viewing this, I think I'd rather see the suction cup guys!

First ASTEROIDS and the SMURFS now HONG KONG PHOOEY

2009-07-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Family Guy's Dave Goodman has been tabbed to write the big screen adaptation of Hong Kong Phooey. It promises to be a mix of live action and CGI so I'm guessing they'll do the same thing they did with Underdog (can they please get Taylor Momsen to costar in this one too?)

At certain point this remake crap starts to look like a cry for help. "I'll remake those old Mountain Dew commercials, just please don't make me come up with something, gasp, original!" I remember being bored with this thing as a kid. HKP shows up, makes a fool of himself, his cat does the real work and he takes the credit. It's almost as if the original creators took some karate lessons and still got their butts kicked. So to get revenge on the sensei who conned them they made him into a dopey superhero wannabe. Seriously does anyone think this can really stretch past a ten minute cartoon?

Everything you wanted to know about PAUL

2009-07-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice two minute video that neatly sums up the new movie Paul shooting right now with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Go ahead and watch, we'll discuss later.

First off, the plot sounds largely like E.T. the Extraterrestrial as told by the Cohen Brothers. Second the cast couldn't be better, I wonder if any other comedies are being shot at this moment because every funny guy and gal on the planet is in this one. Thirdly, Greg Mottola, this is a huge and very welcomed surprise. The man behind Superbad and Adventureland is venturing deep into geek territory and he is most welcome. You can count on an extra dose of heart with his comedies which is really important in a sci-fi comedy. With all the FX and weirdness it's real easy to lose the track of the humanity in the story. I don't expect that to happen here.

John Wayne Resurrected for THUNDER RIDERS OF THE GOLDEN WEST

2009-07-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

The Houston Chronicle reports that footage of John Wayne shot before his death in 1979 will appear in a new DVD release Thunder Riders of the Golden West. Thunder Riders is described as a sci-fi Western about modern day cowboys looking for gold on atomic test sites (somehow I don't see this becoming a box set with Serenity.) The films director Dave Burleson was a friend of Wayne's and played minor roles in 70 Westerns. The Wayne footage was apparently shot before The Shootist according to this quote by Burleson:

It’s not the last movie he acted in, but it’s the last performance to be released

The movie was originally produced in 1984 and has apparently stayed on the shelf until now. Besides Wayne, the only other cast is Burleson and his family and friends. I have distinct Los Manos vibe about this.

The comments over at the Chronicle seem mostly supportive. Nobody is up in arms about Wayne being dragged back from the night's plutonian shore for a super cheap direct to DVD shlocker. I do give Burleson credit for holding off for this long. I'm sure back in the day, he would have had guys offer him the moon for his footage.

Thanks to Graeme McMillan at IO9

Josh Brolin and John Malkovich in JONAH HEX

2009-07-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

Empire Online reports John Malkovich has signed on to play the bad guy in the upcoming Jonah Hex movie opposite Josh Brolin. Earlier I posted about getting the casting right in comic book movies. Well the makers of this film have just about knocked it out of the park. Brolin has been on a role since he held his own against Javier Badim in No Country for Old Men (as an actor, his character wound up a grease spot on the El Paso asphalt.) Malkovich has had some ups and downs lately but he always commands attention. Let's hope he's back in Line of Fire form.

For those who don't know, Jonah Hex is the biggest of the 1970's DC Western heroes. He's a rough and tumble Civil War veteran with the side of his face hideously scarred up. He looks an awful lot like Harvey Dent in Dark Knight minus the oxidation.

Here's an animated sample of the guy.

Nu Cheaus for SyFy

2009-07-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

Graeme McMillan over at IO9 has an excellent piece speculating on what reboots of classic sci-fi (or syfy) shows that could replace Battlestar Galactica. It's a good list. Now I've been given the channel all kinds of grief over it's name change (and I still think its dumb) but time to be helpful. If they're really interested in expanding their audience then they need to expand the range of their content without pissing off longtime fans. They need to start thinking outside the box. As good as McMillan's suggestions are, they're very much in the networks comfort zone. Here are some suggestions that are a little more left of center.

SyFy version of The Office

In an earlier post I talked about cinematic styles in modern sci-fi and fantasy. I pointed out that digital photography had opened up a whole new realm of "fantasy realism" where you can blend FX seamlessly in realistic digital camera image files. Now over at SyFy parent net NBC they've already been wildly successful with faux documentary series like The Office and Parks and Recreation. Why not bring that same template over to SyFy? What would it resemble? Well remember those commercials for Ratchet and Clank? Imagine Michael Scott with a gravity bomb thrower.

SyFy version of Burn Notice

Over at sister net USA, they have successfully rebranded themselves (without having to change their name to Yu Es Eh) from a place for cheap thrillers starring Shannen Doherty and Donald Sutherland to the network of "Characters Welcome." Right now they're doing everything to copy the Burn Notice formula. Well what if they throw in a fantasy/horror twist. Instead of a burned spy we follow a burned vampire or a stranded alien, complete with informative voiceovers!

Something that really takes advantage of the green screen

SyFy has actually been very good at using cutting CGI in their shows. But so far they've been used in a pretty standard way. CGI allows you to, with very little cost, completely plunge the audience into another world. You can use it to create visuals completely out of this world. Or that hearken back to an earlier time. This technology could take the visual style of classic science fiction and fantasy and bring it to life. Instead of the "updated" version of Flash Gordon, they could have given us a planet Mongo right out of Alex Raymond's original comic strip. Imagine adapting masterworks from the 40's, 50's 60's and 70's, each using the visual style of period. My favorite would be a version of Magnus the Robot Hunter! I mean why should Frank Miller have all the fun?

Does Will Smith endorse Sci-Fi Prejudice

2009-07-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

Annalee Newitz has a great piece in IO9 on what she calls the only good scene in I,Robot. She talks about how this scene shows some of the complexity that was in the Asimov original and was largely missing from the Will Smith actioner. There's a larger issue for me. Both this film and I am Legend made me very uncomfortable because they were endorsing prejudice. In Robot Will Smith is shown to have an irrational hatred for robots. It's so bad he even tries to arrest a robot because he thinks it's mugging an old lady. What would a machine need with a purse? That's like arresting a dog chasing a car for attempted grand theft auto. Instead of a trip to the looney bin, he continues on the force and eventually gets a case that proves he's right all along! I mean if you replace robots with an ethnic group, this film would be Birth of a Nation. Legend comes across even worse. That's because the film's creators originally intended to show that the mutants still had some humanity left inside them and that Will Smith had been decimating intelligent beings all this time. That was in keeping with Matheson's brilliant novel but it was deemed to egghead for the audience. So the mutants were turned into a mindless plague that Will Smith had to destroy (including the young female he had actually cured.) It's ironic that two of Smith's biggest hits should have an underlying theme of trusting your unreasoning hatred.

I Am Legend - Original Ending | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Will Sylar Spock meet Spock Classic Again?

2009-07-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

Starland.com has a great interview with Leonard Nimoy about working on the JJ Abrams Star Trek movie. As expected he heaps praise on everybody and their grandfathers. But there is this one bit about whether he might appear in the next sequel.

I have no illusions on whether or not they need me. They decided that they wanted to make this film using Spock as kind of an anchor for the story, which I think worked very, very well.

A lesser being might use the interview to silently pressure Abrams into including him in the next movie whether he was needed or not. Nimoy demonstrates not only great class but a lot of understanding about his character and his place in the movie. It shows he really takes the role, character and franchise very seriously. It almost makes me want to say to Abrams, "Put him in the next film." Ooo, you're a clvere one, Nimoy.

British Critic says Brits can't do Sci-Fi. Wha?

2009-07-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Over on Spiked critic Patrick West ponders why the Brits can't make decent sci-fi. Huh? I say.

According the West:

"...the US has given us Flash Gordon, The Twilight Zone, many incarnations of Star Trek, The X-Files, Quantum Leap, Futurama and, more recently, a re-vamped Battlestar Galactica, Britain’s principal contribution to the field can be summed up in two words: Dr Who. Granted, The Quatermass Experiment was popular back in the 1950s, and The Hitchiker’s Guide to The Galaxy was superb - but the latter was sci-fi parody, and inadvertently betrayed our timidity when it came to taking this genre seriously. It was also perhaps even an unconscious admission that our previous attempts to do so had been execrable."

Flash Gordon? You mean the Sci-Fi Channel Flash Gordon, now canceled and largely unlamented? He can't possibly mean the Buster Crabbe serials which pre-date modern Sci-Fi entirely (which is generally thought to begin at the same time as the Atomic Age and Space Race of the mid 40's early 50's.)Plus he goes on to diss not only Blake's Seven but also Life On Mars and Ashes to Ashes. Gee those things sucked so much the Us tried to copy them. He also completely disregards Torchwood, Hex, Primeval, and Red Dwarf. As for Hitchhiker's Guide being a parody, so what? It was an excellent parody and the Brits at least have two sci-fi parodies whereas the US has only the long forgotten Quark. West blames this "gap" on Brit inferiority complex to the US. I think he's demonstrating said complex himself. The Brits have nothing to apologize for in terms of Sci-Fi. I mean we have an entire channel devoted to the genre (though you wouldn't know it by the name change.) And what does that channel show? Dr. Who reruns! Fact is we have several times the resources that British television has and that may give us the edge in sheer number of series and overall production values. But the Brit audience is more receptive to the genre. Dr. Who was a PBS geek staple over here, across the pound it was on in almost every household. That's a huge difference.

Footage of the new TRON REBOOT

2009-07-11T20:05:00.001-07:00

Not really. It's a couple of guys goofing Tron. It is amazing to note that was super duper cutting edge tech way back when is now completely surpassed by what two funsters have on their home computers. Enjoy.

Seth Green to Host RAW

2009-07-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a tidbit for all you Buffy and Robot Chicken fans out there. According to Pro Wrestling Insider Seth Green will be guest hosting this Monday night's edition of RAW. Honestly, except for Amber Benson, I can't picture a less likely Scoob to host a WWE show. Don't get me wrong he's a hilarious guy, but I wonder if this will play out like Jimmy Kimmel hosting Monday Night Football.

Or maybe he's going to stage an Andy Kaufmann/Jerry Lawler feud.

But chances are he's going to sit there and stick to the Stephanie and Vince McMahon script. Well it can't be any worse than Without a Paddle.

Van Wilder is the New GREEN LANTERN!!

2009-07-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

This just in. Mike Fleming at Variety reports Ryan Reynolds has won the role of Green Lantern! This is huge news for Reynolds and geekdom in general. It means a number of things. First we can expect a lively, snarky Hal Jordan from the film which will be directed by Martin Campbell and starts shooting in January. Second this puts the kibbosh on any Deadpool project that may have been percolating over at Fox and Marvel. As I said Warners and DC would love to stick it to their rivals and I think they just did so in a huge way.

My personal choice of the three rumored finalists still would have been Bradley Cooper but the logic of Reynolds is just too strong. He's been in two films to cross the 100 million mark this summer, including The Proposal which he headlined with Sandra Bullock. Those are the kinds of Q rating numbers execs can't pass up.

So rejoice GL Corps! I leave you with this.

SyFy tries to clarify. Creates more questions than answers.

2009-07-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Variety is asking the same question I am about the change from Sci-Fi Channel to SyFy. Why? They're explanation, it's a brilliant marketing strategy. The Sci-Fi moniker was standing in the way of growth.

"First off, show me a network that doesn't want to be bigger," responds Syfy prexy Dave Howe. "We really do think that the name is a barrier to entry for some people. Rather than changing the programming to suit some new brand strategy, we're changing the brand to fit the programming."

Of course that begs the question, if they're going to keep their programing which is all sci-fi and horror related, what potential viewers are being kept away by the term Sci-fi? In other words, once you get all the people who hate the term Sci-Fi what are they supposed to watch? Nothing on the channel's production slate points to a change in direction (thank God.) This has all the earmarks of a New Coke decision. Some suit decided there had to be a change in order to justify his existence in the company. And so now a very successful cable channel has gone from Sci-Fi to SyFy. Can't you just feel the synergy.

For a dose of sanity click here.

The Three Lanterns

2009-07-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well you got to hand it to Warner Bros. They're announcement that they've come down to three choices to play Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern has kicked up tons of interest in the project. Somehow I don't think that was an accident. But hype aside what we're left with are three choices for the role and it's real important that Warners and DC choose the right one. They say casting is 75% of directing. Robert Downey Jr. proved that. On the other hand there have been some galactically bad casting choices in comic book adaptations. Not that they cast bad actors, just that they cast the wrong actor (Julian McMahon is great in Nip/Tuck but just wrong as Dr. Doom.)

Justin Timberlake

This is the one that has everyone up in arms. Yeah, I piled on. Truth is Timberlake has made a serious stab at an acting career (more serious than one Britney Spears at any rate.) He did good work in Alpha Dog and Black Snake Moan but hasn't blown anyone away. But he's just Julian McMahon-level wrong for the part of Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan is supposed to be a mature, mostly together kind of guy, a former test pilotand all around solid citizen. Timberlake looks young and callow. If he's going to play a hero he needs to play somebody more out of the Peter Parker mold.

Ryan Reynolds

Reynolds is a really good fit for a comic book movie. Blade III was awful but in it Reynolds showed he can handle the action scenes. I don't think he'd be right for Hal Jordan, at least not the Hal Jordan we're used to seeing. His wise cracking would make him a better fit for GL pal Green Arrow (and make us forget the Smallville incarnation) Reynolds already has Deadpool to worry about but I'm sure Warner Bros. and DC wouldn't mind sticking it to Fox and Marvel.

Bradley Cooper

Cooper is riding high after scoring a huge hit with The Hangover. I've been watching him since Alias and I think, of the three, he'd be the best fit. He may seem a little bland when compared to Reynolds but that fits the traditional version of Hal Jordan. He's got kind of a Superman steadiness to him. He isn't a dark avenger like Batman or a laugh a minute funny guy like Spiderman or Green Arrow. And while that doesn't sound exciting remember that it's all about how the character works within the movie. I remember someone once wrote that Harrison Ford was the perfect action star because his personality didn't get in the way of the audience enjoying all the stunts and FX going on around him. That sounds like a put down but it really isn't. In big movies like this you need the action to speak for you especially here where FX are going to be a huge part of how the character expresses himself.

I'll leave you with Kevin Smith's Superman Reborn story as an example of somebody who really doesn't get superhero casting. Eyes of a violent caged animal.

Zooey Deschanel gets HIGH(NESS, YOUR) with Danny McBride

2009-07-10T13:38:00.001-07:00

Empire Online reports that Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer) has signed on to costar with Danny McBride, Natalie Portman, and James Franco in the medieval comedy Your Highness. Empire Online calls it a medieval stoner comedy which may sound anachronistic but in fact the era was no stranger to recreational drugs. The word "assassin" comes from the same root as the word "hashish." The real exciting news is that Danny McBride is co-writing the script. McBride has one of the most off kilter and biting senses of humor around. See his work in Foot Fist Way, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, and Observe and Report. I'm looking forward to a real no holds barred laugher out of this one.

Rainn Wilson and Nathan Fillion meet with DC Comics!

2009-07-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

Splash Page is reporting that Rainn Wilson and Nathan Fillion are meeting with DC Comics. What they are meeting about what is anyone's guess.

There's plenty of speculation about what the meeting could be about. Geekdom has been clamoring for Fillion to be Hal Jordan in The Green Lantern but that seems unlikely with the official announcement that it's down to Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, or Justin Timberlake. (Man I sure hope they didn't call Fillion down just tell him he was out of the running!)

Neither man is known to have any literary ambitions, so an upcoming graphic novel penned by Captain Mal Reynolds (though that would be cool) is also unlikely.

Most logical seems to be they're being offered more voice work for upcoming DC animated projects.

There is an outside chance the talks could be about a supporting role in GL. Guy Gardner anyone? Not to speculate too much (I'm sure Gardner's even in the GL script) but that would be kick ass. Either of these fellows would put a great spin on Guy, Wilson if you want a more comedic approach, Fillion if you want to be serious. Again this is a super longshot. If this were the case they'd probably be meeting with Warner Brothers not DC.

Edgar Wright's next is BABY DRIVER

2009-07-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

Empire Online reports that if director Edgar(Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz)Wright gets his way, his next project will be Baby Driver. Still hard at work at Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Wright tells Empire:

"On this film (Scott Pilgrim) and other things I’ve been blogging furiously and putting up a photo every day, but I think when I do that one I’d like to go completely silent for once. Probably because it’s not an adaptation or anything, or a sequel to anything else. I’d like to just make it in private, basically."

Well he's certainly done a good job so far of keeping us in the dark. Details are sketchy to say the least. Ugo's movie blog has the most information on the project which isn't much at all. Even though the title sounds like a Lorne Michaels skit, Baby Driver is an action/comedy set in the US. Wright's already sent up the action genre with Hot Fuzz but that film didn't do nearly as well as Shaun of the Dead. Maybe he's going to try a different approach. I wish him luck and hope that after that he tackles Science Fiction and Bollywood. That way he'll become a comedy version of Danny Boyle!

Rumor confirmed Justin Timberlake has 1 in 3 chance to be Green Lantern

2009-07-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

This from Hollywood Reporter, it is true Justin Timberlake is in the running to be the Green Lantern. He is the finals along with Bradley Cooper and Ryan Reynolds. If you put a gun to my head and asked me to choose between the three of them I'd say Cooper.

A lot of people are really excited about a big screen $150 million Green Lantern flick. Now they can tweet among themselves who they'd rather have.

Future of Fantasy Films

2009-07-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

In honor of the tenth anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, Ew.com interviews the directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. It got me thinking about something else, namely the future direction for fantasy, science fiction and horror films. Blair Witch may seem like a strange place to start but it was the beginning of something very important in films in general and fantasy films in particular. To explain you need to look at what has happened to the way fantasy films are shot and made. It can be broken down into three styles.

REALISM

This is where Blair Witch had an impact. It made digital filmmaking acceptable to the mass audience. EW gets it right in that afterwards the DVD aisles were packed with hundreds of films shot digitally. It created a huge glut in the horror market that we’re still suffering from. But it also opened the doors for digital filmmaking. It became the standard format for the Dogme group overseas. Many of Lars Von Tier’s work was shot digitally as was the Pusher series. George Lucas, Robert Rodriguez and especially Michael Mann would follow suit a few years later. But for a while it looked like digital’s impact on fantasy and horror was going to be mostly negative. That all changed when Cloverfield came out. Cloverfield took the Blair Witch concept and added cutting edge CGI technology. The result they were able to create a frightening real attack by a giant monster. Cloverfield was the movie that really cemented “fantastic realism” as a style. It’s a cousin to the “action realism” in the Bourne movies. Both use documentary camera moves and often digital cameras to create the illusion that this is really happening. The effect can be stunning as seen in this trailer for District 9. Christopher Nolan’s Batman films tend towards this style as well especially when compared to the Tim Burton films. Nolan uses real cities and city streets to create his Gotham City. Many of the stuntwork is practical most notably Dark Knight’s amazing semi truck crash. A lot of M. Night Shyamalan’s early work falls into this category. He uses FX “on the side” instead of front and center to create a more realistic feel.

FORMALISM

The digital revolution that us realism also gave us it’s exact opposite. Robert Rodriguez can be credited for pioneering this form. Starting with the extension green screen work he did for the Spy Kids series, Rodriguez took film in a whole new direction with Sin City. Instead of trying to mimic reality, this school of cinema uses the digital technology to manipulate the image to the point where we are completely submerged in a world of pure fantasy. This approach was used again in The 300 and The Spirit. (Side rant: can’t green screen be used to adapt somebody besides Frank Miller?) This also follows anyone with a distinct visual style like Tim Burton or Guillermo Del Toro.

CLASSICISM

As my old film studies teacher used to say, there are three schools of cinema, realism, formalism, and classicism. We’ve already looked at Realism and Formalism. Classicism sits right between the two. It’s Goldilocks, not too hot and not too cold. Usually that means an “invisible style” like the kind they used in classic Hollywood studio productions. Everything is about telling the story, supposedly without calling attention to the director. Of course that was never really the case. All classically filmed movies are centered around big set pieces whether it’s the parting of the Red Sea in the 50’s or Iron Man zipping through the skies above Los Angeles. The classic approach for the modern fantasy film means having the FX sequences be FX sequences. They’re not trying to fool the audience into thinking something is real. But at the same time they’re not overwhelming the entire scene and taking us completely out of the reality of the story. Examples of this include just about every fantasy or horror film you can think of; Star Wars, Star Trek, Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Hancock, I Am Legend, Terminator: Salvation, Transformers, etc. It’s the most dominate kind of fantasy film because it is just trying to tell the story.

So there are the choices. Technology has given the director more ways than ever before to create his fantasy movie. The only question now is, which path to choose.

Egon Spengler talks GHOSTBUSTERS 3

2009-07-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a cool video interview with Harold Ramis, Egon Spengler of Ghostbusters. In it he talks about the script for the proposed third outing. He uses the word "we" a lot so it sounds like the plan is to get the original cast back together. That would be to put it mildly, interesting. Plenty has happened since then. Dan Ackroyd in case you forgot was nominated for an Oscar in Driving Miss Daisy. And Murray? Wow, I really can't picture Bill Murray going back to Peter Venkman after Lost in Translation and Broken Flowers. But then again he has continued with the Garfield movies. (Interesting trivia, Garfield the cartoon was voiced by the late Lorenzo Music who also did the voice for Peter Venkman in the Real Ghostbusters cartoon) Ramis also talks CGI and how it's distancing audiences from the action. He makes a funny point about movie trailers. I don't know how this will play out. I really hated Ghostbusters 2. The original I could add to my list of movies that suffer the curse of perfection. But here's hoping to see those gray haired paranormal investigators in a decent sequel sometime soon.

Aaron Sorkin Plays MONEYBALL

2009-07-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

The Hollywood Reporter says Columbia has brought on Aaron Sorkin to try and adapt Michael Lewis' baseball non fiction best-seller Moneyball. Sorkin's already apparently turned the creation of Facebook into high drama. This is a taller order since Lewis' book is about which metrics you should use when creating your baseball team. I'm sure we can all relate to that. And it's not like there's a sudden triumph like with Facebook to build around. The Oakland A's have been competitive but they haven't been back to the World Series in ages. Hollywood should learn that not every bestseller is prime material for a big screen adaptation. Still if somebody can miracle a great script out of this, it's Sorkin.

REMO WILLIAMS The Adventure Continues?

2009-07-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Risky Business blog reports that Charles Roven, producer of Dark Knight, and Steve Chasman, producer of the Transporter are seeking to resurrect Remo Williams. Remo Willaims The Adventure Begins was a famous 80's bomb that has since gained a cult following. Itself it was an adaptation of the Destroyer series written by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir. The producers track records are excellent. It may give us another butt kicking super hero franchise. Of course it has to get past the big problem, nobody know who the hell Remo Williams is. The Destroyer like The Executioner started in the 60's and 70's as successors to the pulp tradition of Doc Savage only with more sex and violence. Their audience has always been small but dedicated. The series has been long lived but no single book has ever hit the bestseller list. Wikipedia lists the number of books in the series as 145! There's a saying in football that if you have three quarterbacks you really don't have any. You can make a similar case for book series. If you have 145 entries you really don't have any! At least we can look forward to actual Asians in the film this time.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN DIRECTOR taclkes John LeCarre with QUEEN scribe

2009-07-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

Empire Online reports that Tomas Alfredson, director of the stunning vampire movie Let the Right One In, has signed on to direct an adaptation of John LeCarre's Cold War thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Peter Morgan already busy with the Special Relationship between Tony Blair and the Clintons and the next Bond film, will pen the script. Alfredson made one of the best vampire films of all time. I'm excited to see what he can do in the spy genre. It's also going to be interesting to see what Morgan does with a story very much steeped in the 1960's Cold War. Not to give anything away but the title refers to a code a spy is supposed to broadcast from a remote cabin. Obviously that's not going to play with the Twitter generation.

Let the Right One In

BBC 1979 Adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy

GREEN LANTERN bringing the SexyBack

2009-07-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

There's an unconfirmed rumor at Ain't It Cool News that Justin Timberlake has gone into Warner Bros. to test for Green Lantern. It doesn't say if he's testing for Hal Jordan, but what other part is there. It's not like GL has Batman's supporting cast. There's basically Hal Jordan, maybe his psycho girlfriend Star Sapphire and Sinestro. Maybe Guy Gardner but I don't think even Warner Bros. is dumb enough to try and pas Timberlake off as Gardner. But then again I can't picture him as career test pilot Hal Jordan either. On the plus side Timberlake is a good sport about things as this demonstrates.

Hope Davis has SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP with Michael Sheen

2009-07-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

The Hollywood Reporter says Hope Davis will play Hillary Clinton in The Special Relationship, the third piece of the Peter Morgan/Michael Sheen Tony Blair Trilogy. Dennis Quaid will be playing President Bill. Morgan and Sheen started with the BBC movie The Deal. Their second outing The Queen hit the big screens and produced Oscar gold for Helen Mirren. Now the third installment looks at Blair and the Clintons. I'm always impressed by Ms. Davis. She seems to morph seamlessly into any role. Morgan and Sheen (who also gave us last year's Frost/Nixon) are a great team. I was shocked how much drama they were able to wring from the royal family's reaction to Princess Di's death. But I have to wonder why Morgan would focus on the Clintons. Not to sound like a commie liberal (which I am) but nothing much happened in the Clinton years. At least not when you compare it to the years with George W. Bush. That would seem like a perfect end to their trilogy with Blair losing much of his popular glow by supporting the Iraq War. But Morgan has earned my trust so I will be looking forward to this one.

Warner Bros Loses by Winning SUPERMAN case

2009-07-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

Variety reports that a judge has given a favorable ruling to Warner Bros. and DC Comics in the case brought against them by the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel. The lawyers for Warners sound happy.

"DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment are very gratified by the court's thorough and well-reasoned decision in this matter," the companies said in a joint statement. "The decision validates what DC and Warner Bros. have maintained from the beginning, which is that when they do business with each other, they always strive for -- and achieve -- fair market value in their transactions. We are very pleased that the court found there was no merit to plaintiffs' position that the Superman deals were unfair to DC Comics and, by extension, the plaintiffs."

Not so fast with the champagne says plaintiff lawyer Marc Toberoff in the same article.

"To put this in further perspective, the entire accounting action pales in comparison to the fact that in 2013, the Siegels, along with the estate of Joe Shuster, will own the entire original copyright to Superman, and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros. will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters."

And this little bombshell thrown in at the end.

"The Court pointedly ruled that if Warner Bros. does not start production on another Superman film by 2011, the Siegels will be able to sue to recover their damages," Toberoff added.

So instead of shelling out a few million off of Superman Returns disappointing box office, Warners is faced with the task of mounting another 200 million FX tent pole in the next, oh, 72 hours. Well it's not like Brandon Routh is doing anything.

Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore WHIP IT!

2009-07-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

USA Today has the first picture of the upcoming roller derby movie Whip It! starring Ellen Paige, Drew Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden and Kristen Wiig. The film marks Barrymore's directorial debut and tells the story of a rebellious teen (guess who) who quits the beauty pageant circuit for the bumps and bruises of roller derby. Hmmm, so this is what Paige was doing instead of getting all slimed up in Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. This feels a little bit like a safe choice for her. The one who's really taking a chance is Barrymore. Will a girl power movie featuring a lot of bashes and bruises make it in the box office? This looks more bonecrusher than Blue Crush. As a producer she's had her hits (He's Just Not That Into You, Charlie's Angels) and misses (Duplex,Fever Pitch) and one cult classic (Donnie Darko.) She nails this one she could be a better looking Jon Favreau.

USA Today.com all rights reserved

Miyazaki coming to Comic Con

2009-07-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

This is pretty hot. Producer Frank Marshall announced on Twitter that legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki will be paying a visit to Comic Con. He'll be coming to attend the US premiere of his latest film Ponyo. Miyazaki is one of the greatest Geek gods of the last twenty years. In a world taken over by 3D CG animation, Miyazaki has kept the 2D faith and produced some of the most amazing, eye popping, movies of all time. He's directed or produced in Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, The Cat Returns, Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service, and My Neighbor Totoro. Only Pixar has a similar track record. Comic Con attendees are in for a real treat. Pete Jackson and James Cameron are already coming, now Miyazaki. As for Ponyo, well take a look for yourself, cuz I can't describe it.

Michael Moore announces new project. Conservatives on High Alert

2009-07-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

Variety reports Michael Moore has announced his latest project. Here's the title Capitalism:A Love Story. I think I just heard Bill O'Reilly say "Ready" and "Aim." In Moore's own words

"It will be the perfect date movie," Moore said in an announcement Wednesday. "It's got it all -- lust, passion, romance and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day. It's a forbidden love, one that dare not speak its name. Heck, let's just say it: It's capitalism."

Variety.com July 8 2009

Fox News right now is saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Well Moore has never been a friend of the free market. Seeing your hometown crushed economically will do that for you. I know there are plenty of valid complaints against his approach, but I've come to terms with his editorializing. Truth is, he was just ahead of the curve. Nowadays 10% of journalists do actual reporting, the rest spin it. Moore may not be fair and balanced but he's no worse than anyone else at this time.

I don't know if I'll see this one in the theaters but I can't wait for the circus to begin.

Brooke Shields and Brendan Fraser in FURRY VENGEANCE

2009-07-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

THR reports that Brooke Shields will be back on the big screen for Furry Vengeance. The family film stars Brendan Fraser as a real estate developer who incurs the Vengeance and the Furry part is provided by a family of raccoons. The film also costars Ken Jeong last seen flashing his junk (thankfully very briefly) in The Hangover. The logline sounds like typical family fare but that title gives me hope that something slightly insane is in the offing. I strongly doubt we'll see anyone's wee wee except for maybe the raccoon's. But the family film is getting too safe by half (unless you're Pixar.) Somebody needs to inject a little bit of craziness.

PLEASANTVILLE director to write SPIDERMAN 4

2009-07-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

At the The Hollywood Reporter they're saying that Gary Ross has been tapped to help pen Spiderman 4. Ross was the director of Pleasantville and Seabiscuit both with Tobey Maguire (Seabiscuit also included Spidey's Betty Brant and all around dream woman Elizabeth Banks.) Ross is certainly no schmuck. But as I stated earlier the real problem with the Spiderman franchise is that there's nothing left to say about the character after 2. Maybe Ross can find something to add. As long as he doesn't express Peter Parker's dark side with a musical number.

Will Smith sets sail with the entire island of Manhattan

2009-07-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Hollywood Reporter writes that I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence is developing an original fantasy The City That Sailed at Will Smith's Overlook company. The story is about a street magician (Smith) whose daughter makes a wish that turns the entire isle of Manhattan into the worlds biggest luxury cruiser. It's always great to see original fantasy being produced though I have to admit I'm extremely jealous. The rest of us have to turn our fantasy ideas into YA novels or comic books and hope they get optioned! I wasn't happy with the theatrical release of I Am Legend. It seemed like we were finally going to get a true adaptation of the Matheson classic only to have it turn into a typical monsters vs. good guys ending. Then I saw the original ending they intended to show. Some people seem to hate it like the plague which is why I can't find it on Youtube. But Dark Knight they couldn't get enough of. Go figure.

Cameron Diaz to GREEN HORNET....To play what?

2009-07-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

EW.com has breaking news that Cameron Diaz is set to sign on as the female lead in The Green Hornet. To which I reply, what female lead? It's not like the TV show had a Hornet Girl running around. This project is already taking a pretty surreal quality with Seth Rogen as the lead and Michel Gondry set to direct. Somehow I don't think this is going to look like The Dark Knight. Wonder if it will look like his other work. Wouldn't that be cool.

Info on Joss Whedon's CABIN IN THE WOODS

2009-07-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

ScreenRant has a nice piece about Joss Whedon's Cabin in the Woods. It confirms that Fran Kranz, Topher on Dollhouse will be playing the stoner comic relief in this story about a group of college age kids who go to, ta-dah, a cabin in the woods. Everyone is mum about what happens at said cabin. Sounds like Whedon maybe taking a page from the M. Night playbook and hit us with a super secret twist. Only problem is that can be either a good twist (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable) or a bad twist (Signs, The Village) Sure Buffy and Dollhouse were full of twists you never saw coming. But that was TV this is the movies. Maybe he could use a little help!

Red Band Trailer for FUNNY PEOPLE Good advice for the ladies

2009-07-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the new Red Band Trailer for Funny People the next big soulful comedy from Judd Apatow. Love the "advice" Sandler gives to the ladies in this one. And Seth Rogen's Grand Theft Auto joke kills, especially the guy's reaction.

Something's wrong with the embed code. So here's the link to CHUD.com.
Click Here.

DISTRICT 9 Trailer will blow you away

2009-07-08T13:53:00.001-07:00

The Pete Jackson production directed by Neil Blomkamp District 9 has a new full length trailer up at Yahoo! Movies. It is breathtaking. The pseudo-documentary feel is right on point. Cinema verite fantasy my sound like a contradiction in terms but I believe it's the next big movement in movies. Pete Jackson sort of got the ball rolling when he insisted his production team go to insane lengths to recreate Middle Earth. The approach failed him in King Kong because Kong needs to be mythic more than he needs to be real. Jackson isn't directing this time, but the detail that marked his LOTR films are well in evidence in this spectacular trailer. Click here to view!

SMURFS movie? Oh dear God.

2009-07-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

In the I-wish-I-was-making-this-up category, Sony has added a director to their big screen adaptation of The Smurfs. They actually seem happy about this. Have they actually sat down and tried to watch this? Here's a taste of the theme song. See if you can listen the whole way without jamming a pencil in your ear drum.

Trailer for Dario Argento's GIALLO

2009-07-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

The trailer for Dario Argento's new thriller Giallo is on line. On one hand this is a pretty bloodless trailer. On the other one there is a high squeamishness factor especially when the guy takes the scissors to the girl's lips. I'm not sure if this one is going to go over that well. Remember the huge backlash against the torture porn movies led by none other than Joss Whedon? As an audience, we can only take so much really sick crap. Compared to Asia we're pussycats. This doesn't have the funny, humorous vibe of Jennifer's Body and the story doesn't look as high concept as The Collector. Dario seems to be trotting out the same old tricks as it were still the 70's. Don't know how this is going to play in 2010.

New CROW not like the old CROW

2009-07-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Mania is reporting here that recently returned from exile Stephen Norrington isn't just hard at work on a Deacon Frost movie, he's also deep in a reboot of The Crow. Norrington claims his version will have nothing to do with the James O'Barr comic or feature Eric Draven. Didn't they do that already with The Crow: City of Angels? Norrington claims it'll be more realistic and documentary-like. I guess he means for it to be an undead version of Jason Bourne. Sounds like a good idea but the guy who got his start with Death Machine and gave us The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen wouldn't be my first choice to direct it. Directors just don't switch styles like they switch socks. Plus this is the second moldering franchise Norrington has tried to latch onto. Like Blade, The Crow has been drained of life thanks to lame sequels and a TV series everyone's already forgotten about. A new version at this point would just be seen as more of the same.

BRAVEHEART scribe trying to find Nemo

2009-07-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

Empire Online is reporting that Bravheart screenwriter Randall Wallace will be penning the script for McG's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea prequel which is supposed to star Will Smith as Nemo. Empire sees this as a good sign and maybe it is. But Wallace is a serious screenwriter. Look at his work, Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, and, um, Pearl Harbor. Not exactly a laugh fest. It's clear that Disney wants another Pirates-like franchise. They want big FX, big action, and most importantly some laughs. They want something light. McG can be light, see Charlie's Angels. Will Smith is at his best when he's light and charming. Wallace on the other hand I don't know if he can lighten up if you put a gun to his head. I'm afraid he might focus in on Nemo's backstory of being enslaved. That will just kill all the fun. If I'm going to a Nemo movie I want to see him fight a giant squid not give a speech about freedom. (Yeah, I know James Mason did both in the original but that was a different time and a different actor)

This is what Wallace does best.

Bad idea gets worse. MAGRUBER adds Phillippe and Kilmer

2009-07-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

Early there were disturbing reports that Magruber was moving full speed ahead in New Mexico. Now The Holly Reporter tells us that they've added Ryan Phillippe and are in talks with Val Kilmer. Just what an already unfunny comedy needs, the former Mr. Reese Witherspoon and Doc Holiday. Anything about either of these guys say "laugh riot?" anything? I guess that makes them perfect for this project.

Internet Mash Up: IO9 and CHUD copy Golden Age of Geek

2009-07-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

Not really, but I am feeling a lot like a trend setter. It was just Friday that I wrote about movie franchises that should have stopped long ago because they had reached perfection either in the original or in the second sequel. Here it is Tuesday and I come across not one but two posts by IO9 and CHUD in similar veins.

Over at IO9 Charlie Jane Anders ponders why three-quels always suck. It's a good well thought article although she excludes Oscar winner Return of the King. I suppose I can give her that because Lord of the Rings was originally meant to be published as a single work. It also ignores second films that were clearly inferior to the original (hello Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest) And she overlooks Mission Impossible III which, if there's a decent movie in the entire series that's it. Also the third films in the Harry Potter and James Bond series weren't just better than their predecessors, they became the templates for the later films. That aside I agree with most of her arguments but I have this to add, the second film in the series is always the freest. They've gotten past the awkward "first date" phase in the first movie. The creators know everything that didn't work the first time around. It's only after they get it right that things get harder if not downright impossible. As I stated before it's tough to follow perfection.

Devin Faraci over at CHUD lists five movies that are perfect. It's #1 so I guess there are more perfect movies to come from CHUD (in which case there'd be more than five wouldn't there.) It's an eclectic list, Starship Troopers, the original King Kong, Groundhog Day, Grease, and the Billy Wilder classic The Apartment. He's right in this is probably the only list that will ever include the words Starship Troopers and "perfection". He's also right in that it is madness to try and remake King Kong, even for Peter Jackson. I think it would be a more important list if any of the titles had sequels or remakes in the works (or in the case of Starship Troopers sequels we cared about.) Why not take a stand on Dark Knight or say that's enough of that to The Descent? I mean is the perfection of The Apartment in any imminent danger from the current Hollywood suits?

Well I guess this is proof that great minds think alike.

Invisibility and Illusion Superpowers Just Around the Corner!

2009-07-07T15:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a nice day for would be super heroes (and Villains.) Soon you'll have nanites running around in your bloodstream giving you super strength, speed and healing properties (or more likely just cleaning the cholesterol out of your veins.) But now researchers are using metamaterials to manipulate and bend light. Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility? That's easy. Think bigger. Think illusions throw up a curtain of metamaterials and see whatever it is they want you to see.

This is really cool!

SyFy to bring back ALIEN NATION and QUANTUM LEAP?

2009-07-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

Mark Stern is a busy man these days. He just finished talking about a new space opera series to be named and now he's talking to IO9 about upcoming reboots of Alien Nation and Quantum Leap. I'm very excited about Alien Nation especially with Peter Jackson's District 9 coming to theaters soon.

Here's a fondly remembered scene from the original Alien Nation series. They really did take some chances with this series when it first aired. Hopefully Firefly vet Tim Minear can finally get a series that lasts more than one season.

Epitah One sneak peak on line

2009-07-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

Dollhouse fans who can't wait to get their hands on the DVD package and see the unaired Epitah One episode with Felicia Day? Well good news you can get check out 34 seconds of the episode here. Looks like Day is packing some heat in this episode. And guess who she and her team run into.

DESCENT 2 Trailer: Back into the dark!

2009-07-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

The original Descent was one of the best horror movies of the last decade. It was tight, claustrophobic, and very, very real. It was a tremendous follow up to director Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers. Now the trailer is up for Descent 2. It looks dark and bloody but at the back of my mind I'm worried. Is this just going to be more of the same? That was what killed the Ring sequel. I'm also nervous that Marhsall isn't in the director's chair this time. I'd love for this to turn into a series but for that to happen they need to pull off something unexpected here. We'll just have to wait and see if they do.

MAGRUBER THE MOVIE? Can No One Stop Lorne Michaels?

2009-07-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

Production Weekly is tweeting that Magruber will begin filming in New Mexico. Magruber is a SNL parody of MacGuyver. So what the Hell is MacGuyver you may be asking? Just a show starring the guy from Stargate that ran from 1985 to 1992. So yeah it's been off the air for 17 years now. When it began there was still an East Germany as this clip shows.

What is Lorne Michaels doing? Is he that detached from reality? Does he honsetly think his bowel movements smell like roses? This reminds me of Love Guru scene where they waste time spoofing a song the entire planet had forgotten about except for Mike Meyers.

Bombs away Hollywood!

FaceBook the Movie: High drama? Great cinema?

2009-07-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

ScriptShadow has a lengthy review of Aaron Sorkin's script for the Facebook movie and it's an unqualified rave. Devin Faraci over at CHUD is gloating in the good news as he was an early champion of the idea. I have to say I'm not that surprised. I remember the old TNT movie Pirates of Silicon Valley and liking the hell out of it. What ScriptShadow's review and that movie point out is that even though the geeks have inherited the earth, they don't necessarily know what to do with it. Solving code is a lot easier than solving human relations or money matters. That always makes for good drama.

HARRY POTTER to kick Optimus Prime's Butt?

2009-07-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

Nikki Finke is reporting that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is outpacing Transformers:Revenge of the Fallen in advanced ticket sales. This is great news for the business end of Hollywood. ROTF has already made a ton of moolah. To have HP6 top it would have the execs singing "Happy Days Are Here Again." God knows LA could use some good financial news. It looks like people really do want fantasy escapism in these tough times.

BLADE prequel featuring Deacon Frost?

2009-07-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Sunday Mail is reporting that actor Stephen Dorff wants to do a movie featuring his Blade baddie Deacon Frost. And people in Hell want ice water. The interesting thins is that he's teamed up with Blade director Stephen Norrington to make this happen. Norrington hasn't been seen in Hollywood since the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen debacle.

Well at least he's not talking about remaking The Gate.

What the Hell is a SyFy?

2009-07-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

And so it has come to pass. Sci-Fi Channel has morphed in SyFy. The Hollywood Reporter covers the big unveil at Rockefeller center of a SyFy Imagination Park at Rockefeller center. With, get this, free WyFy. Get it!

I know I'm late to this party, but this has all the earmarks of a bad marketing campaign run amok. It's like those annoying commercials you see on TV. They don't work but they keep beating the joke to death anyway. You want to yell at the company, "You just wasted a ton of money on no talent hacks!" What is a SyFy? It looks the name of some Southeast Asian parasite on Bite Me! With Dr. Mike. And no, I'm not about to call it syence fyction. Funny thing. You look up SyFy on youtube and come up with this fellow here. A rather pleasant chap with an upcoming album entitled Save You From Yourself. Hmmmm. Talk about irony.

UPDATE

IO9 has an interview with SyFy director of development Mark Stern about their plans for a new space opera series. Looks like the channel isn't saying goodbye to the science fiction and fantasy movies and TV series that built it. It's just saying adios to common sense and proper spelling.

BAYWATCH THE MOVIE....Seriously?

2009-07-07T10:56:00.000-07:00

And here's your typical Hollywood moment. They've decided to remake Baywatch as a big screen movie. Variety is reporting here that Break-up scribe Jeremy Garelick will be making his directorial debut with this one. Lucky man.

Garelick says he'll be trying to make this a comedy.

"It felt like the template to do a movie that was similar to 'Stripes' and 'Police Academy,' the comedies I loved growing up," Garelick said.

Variety.com July 6th. 2009

Pardon me for being dense but I thought Baywatch already was a comedy. You certainly can't mistake it for a drama. Then again it really wasn't anything other than an excuse to take the cameras down to the beach and film gorgeous bodies. As this video demonstrates.

Nanotechnology Superpowers Are Right Around the Corner!!!!

2009-07-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a piece in The Inquirer about a tiny robot designed travel through the veins. It has a diameter of one millimeter which doesn't sound like a lot but is huge in terms of the blood stream so this puppy can't travel into the small capillaries. The clever thing they did here was control and propel it externally with magnetic force. That saved them the hassle of creating a motor that small and conserves space for things like tools to break up clogs.

No word yet on when these things will be able to travel into your brain and take it over, or replicate inside your body and take over your cells! And they can't turn you into a superhero like Jake 2.0 here.

New Red Band Trailer for THE COLLECTOR

2009-07-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Those wacky Saw boys are at it again. Don't tell them torture porn is dead! This does have a strong hook, thief vs. psycho. This summer looks to be pivotal for the horror genre. We've already had Drag Me to Hell wow the critics and die with the audience. Orphan and Jennifer's Body are both coming up and so is this one. Fingers crossed one of these hits it big time. Until then, enjoy the Red Band carnage!

Tony Jaa fights aligators in ONG-BAK 2 Trailer

2009-07-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

FilmDrunk has the French language trailer for the upcoming Ong-Bak 2. It looks every bit the awesome we've come to expect from Tony Jaa. That alligator sure looks real to me!

The back story behind the production is insane. Twitch describes how Jaa's battle with the film's producer unfolded. It reads like the plot to his next movie, disgruntled action star must complete film...or else!

Let's hope Tony didn't buy himself some broken knee caps. With Jackie Chan reaching the end of his career we need someone as amazing as this!

Juliet back on LOST?

2009-07-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

Lost Spoilers has a report that ABC's V will finish shooting in mid-January. This opens up speculation that Mitchell will be available to reprise her role as the soulful gynecologist Juliet.

I wouldn't get hopes up just yet. Shooting schedules are a tricky thing. Though I'm sure Ms. Mitchell will relish the chance to trade spending January/February in Vancouver for spending it in Hawaii.

Stan Lee's part already written in VENOM?

2009-07-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

Superhero Hype.com caught up with Venom scribes (and Zombieland masterminds) Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. The pair didn't give out much except to say that Stan Lee will be appearing in this latest Marvel production and that his part was already written. Hey I know Stan is the Man but you actual wrote his part? He's not just going to show up one day and have the second unit throw something together for him? Is he actually going to have lines? Well here's a Youtube compilation of his previous appearances. Makes you wonder how the affable and naturally charming Lee is going to fit in to something as dark as Venom.

Sally Field's Son to Try his Hand at Horror/Comedy with Hoban Wash and Sock

2009-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Calgary Herald has a report from the set of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. Apparently the big news is a visit by the director's mom, Sally Field. This project should be interesting to geeks out there. It stars Whedon regular Alan Tudyk (of Firefly/Serenity and Dollhouse) and Reaper's Tyler Labine. The premise sounds promising. It's sort of a reverse of the Evil Dead/Cabin Fever formula. Here the backwoods hicks are the heroes and the smart ass college kids are the villains. Going to be interesting to see if that clicks. Smart ass college kids make up a good portion of the horror audience. Director Eli Craig talks about finding his own path in Hollywood. Call me skeptical but I have to think he's being Sally Field's son had a little bit to do with getting the greenlight on a horror/comedy with no A-List stars. Especially after what happened to Drag me to Hell. But however he got it done, I'm wishing him well. The world needs more horror and more horror comedy. And base don his Tao of Pong short here, he's got the chops to pull it off.

The Tao of Pong from Eli Craig on Vimeo.

Crazy Silent Ghost, Piano, Romance White Pencil Story

2009-07-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Title says it all folks. This short Phil Mucci is a silent short by way of David Lynch and Tim Burton. It's about a ghost, a piano player, his jealous girlfriend. A white pencil and a chicken leg also factor into this one. I don't know if you'd call it horror but it's definitely interesting.

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

GEEK WORLD: Rendevous. Crazy French car short film

2009-07-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

Saw a piece on Slate about movies stuntmen love. One of them was the following short by Frenchman Claude Lelouch. This nutcase did the ultimate in DIY action films. He got a really fast car, mounted a camera on the underside and took off one early morning around 5 AM and tore up the streets of Paris with no stuntmen, permits or any kind of safety measures. Yeah they did throw him in jail. But the knowledge that this is guerrilla film making makes the pic even more harrowing. It does demonstrate however that you need intercuts to keep things interesting. This is amazing footage but it does get a little tedious clocking in at 9 minutes. So look and check out the slate article. But this is the mother of all Do-Not-Try-This-At-Home moments!

Claude Lelouch's Rendezvous... from Dat on Vimeo.

GEEK FILM: Review of PUBLIC ENEMIES

2009-07-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

I caught Public Enemies up at the Mann Plant. Not the fanciest multiplex around but it was close by and I didn’t feel like driving too far. The one thing I will say is if you have a chance to see this in DLP digital projection do so. Michael Mann has become the advocate of high def digital moviemaking and this is a terrific example. I’ve seen this technology used in so many low budget direct to DVD flicks (one that sticks in my mind is Nursie) but imagine that same visual style used on a big budget film with real stars. Forget Transformers or Star Trek for a moment. Public Enemies might be the most unique visual experience you’re likely to have this summer.

I’ve been excited since I saw the first trailers for this project. I was anxious to see Mann’s digital semi documentary approach used on a period film. Up until now virtually every other director of a period film has shot in a very traditional style. Lot’s of establishing shots and a slower pace to show off the production designer’s work. Mann did it himself over decade ago in Last of the Mohicans. Remember that beautiful establishing shot of the bridge with the carriage rolling over it. There’s nothing like that in this movie. Mann keeps the camera moving and in close on his subjects and almost always with available lighting. He doesn’t spend his time looking at the architecture and the costumes and say, “Look how much research I did.” His depression ear America feels real, lived in. The result is a really gritty look and feel. This isn’t a representation of the 1930’s, you’re living in the 1930’s right alongside these characters.

You can’t really talk about a Michael Mann crime movie without discussing the gunfights. Ever since Heat, Mann has been perfecting his own style of realistic gun battles, usually taking moves right out of military handbooks. So how does it work for a 1930’s gangster film? In a word, awesome. The sound, the visuals, everything is so real you’ll have an urge to duck when the shots get fired. There is a nighttime battle at a hunting lodge that is just harrowing to sit through.

It’s not all successful. The biggest problem is that the romance between Johnny Depp’s Dillinger and Marion Cotillard’s Billie Frechette is at the main heart of this movie. As movie romances go it’s just okay. While the two of them are easy on the eyes, they don’t strike sparks between each other for most of the movie. The relationship does grow both between the characters and with the audience and Cotillard does have two of the best scenes in the movie’s final act.

It is really interesting to compare this movie with John Milius’ Dillinger, one of my favorite movies. They both tell the same basic story with only slight differences. Both of them have tremendous gunfights. Mann’s are more realistic while Milius’ have more savage power to them. I always loved Milius’ over the top action scenes, but I’ve never really liked his dialogue. For me Milius writes in such mythic terms that the only time it doesn’t sound ridiculous was in Conan. Mann’s dialogue is much more realistic with a few really nice pieces. There’s a great phone conversation between Christian Bale’s Melvin Purvis and Billy Crudup’s J. Edgar Hoover. Purvis is trying to Hoover that the necktie wearing “G” Men of the day aren’t up to the task of taking on Dillinger and his gang and Hoover’s having none of it. It’s a nice test of wills. There are Cotillard’s scenes towards the end which I won’t spoil for you. There’s also a marvelous scene where Depp’s Dillinger strolls into the police department undetected and walks right into the offices of the task force assigned to catch him when everyone is out to lunch. Dillinger walks by all the photos and diagrams detailing his entire career. It’s a great character moment and Depp pulls it off. It’s the kind of scene Milius expressed verbally. Here Mann does it all with visuals.

You can’t talk about this movie without also giving props to veteran actor Stephen Lang. You’ll remember Lang as Ike Clanton in Tombstone and General Pickett in Gettysburg. Here he plays a rough and tumble Texas Ranger sent in to help with the investigation and he is awesome. He’s got snow white hair and the craggy face of a man who’s seen a lot. He projects menace, confidence and authority brilliantly and reminded me a lot of action movie vet Everett McGill (Under Siege 2). But he’s also a top notch actor and his Agent Winstead is never just a tough guy. It speaks volumes that Mann had him do the final scene in the movie with Cotillard instead of Bale. Hopefully Lang gets recognition for his work and more parts. I’d definitely would want to see him growl some more.

This movie was more of an after thought in the Ice Age 3 vs. ROTF smackdown from this past weekend. But don’t overlook it. This is a different kind of summer shoot ‘em up and definitely worth your time.

GEEK FILM: The Curse of Perfection

2009-07-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

Sequels sequels everywhere and not a drop to drink. Hollywood is one big sequel machine right now. But what do you do when there’s nothing left to tell in a saga. What happens when you hit perfection on the first or second time out? Here’s where a number of famous franchises should have stopped.

Robocop

How does it end. “What’s your name?” “Murphy.” Story is character. A character starts out incomplete. In this great sci fi he starts out literally blown to pieces (and yes I used “literally” correctly in this case). The main conflict is trying to get himself back together (not literally.) He’s not chasing Clarence Boddicker (happy B-Day Kurtwood Smith!) and Dick Jones just to enforce the law. He’s trying to become more than a product and regain his own identity and he does that at the end. Fade out. Nothing left to say.

Aliens

Maybe it could have been followed by something awesome. The Dark Horse comics were ten times as awesome as anything the sequels came up with. This was in the Dark Ages of Hollywood, back when they ignored the comic book world instead of trying to co-opt it. But even in that case they had shifted focus to the now teenage Newt. They realized that Ripley was done after Aliens. Again story is character and after you have Ripley fly off to face down the Alien menace of her nightmares, what else is there for her? Fincher put her through the stages of dying and in the process earned howls from the fans. Joss Whedon resurrected her but not even the genius behind Buffy could make that dog hunt.

T2

Some argument about this one. Most notably David Foster Wallace lays the mid 90’s FX crapfest at its feet. On the other hand several people (yours truly among) put it as one of the best sci-fi films of the last 20 years. As a story it brought the Terminator full circle, from menace to protector. As T3 and T4 have shown, there just isn’t anything else to say about the Terminator. The saga is now about (or should be about) John Connor and the resistance. T2 brought the story of the most famous movie cyborg to a close in a big way.

Spiderman 2

Perfection in terms of character and storyline. The real reason Spidey 3 blew chunks, it’s because it came after this one. Peter Parker finally got the girl! At their hearts the first two movies were romances. It’s all about Mary Jane as far as Petey is concerned. And after they finally get together, what else is there. You haven’t seen Pretty Woman 2 have you? Remember the sequel to Romancing the Stone? No? Well you ain’t missing anything.

Dark Knight

Insane I know to argue that the biggest money maker of all time should stop right there. But hey, they resisted Titantic 2. This one elevated the comic book movie to an apocalyptic grandeur worthy of Cormac McCarthy. Heath Ledger’s Joker is almost like Anton Chigurh or The Judge from Blood Meridian. He’s like a force of cosmic chaos sent into our world. Batman is a different kind of character, he’s forever incomplete. He can never kick enough bad guy ass to quench the fire inside. But in Dark Knight it’s his own ass that gets kicked with half of Gotham getting leveled in the process. What are they going to do for an encore? Nuke Gotham off the map and have Bats fight the Penguin over the ruins?

There are a few projects I’m leery of. I’m worried Iron Man may have summed up Tony Stark too well. What else is there once you move from playboy to hero? Too often sequels occur because fans of the original just can’t let go. That and studio heads like to count money. But who suffers? The story, the characters, eventually the franchise. See where Robocop and Aliens have ended up lately.

GEEK FILM: Grading the Epic Battle Sequence

2009-07-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

One of the more geektastic things about the last decade has been the return of the large scale battle sequence, something that hasn’t been seen since the days of Cecile B. DeMille. New CGI technologies have brought back the epic scenes of army clashing against army. As a long time fantasy lover, classic movie buff, and avid wargamer I couldn’t be more pleased. But how have Hollywood’s directors used this new technology? Let’s take a look at some of the more famous examples.

Return of the King A+

The LOTR series started this whole trend and Return is one of the best. The battle is pure wargamer nirvana. We get to see the tight ranks of soldiers maneuver and then break apart once they clash with cavalry. We can see actual strategy being used as artillery and air units are used to soften up the defenses and allow the troops enough cover to breach the walls.

Troy B-

Disappointing. The one on one fights are some of the best in the last several years. Spear fights are rare in Western movies. (In Asia they’re much more common. One of the best is in Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress) But in the mass battles it’s just rows of guys charging into each other. There’s no sense of strategy or battlefield tactics. The Greeks barely use their signature phalanx tactic. Plus why are the Trojans abandoning such a strong defensive position. The whole idea of having a massive walled city is so you don’t have to meet the enemy out in the open, where your own troops get mixed up with the enemies and it makes it hard to fire arrows at them!

300 A-

More style than tactics or strategy but that’s to be expected in this which is more concerned with myth than accuracy. The action is exaggerated and stylized but there is a kernel of historic truth buried in the CGI. In real life the Spartans made good use of the phalanx. Their tightly packed ranks really were able to push the lighter Persian units clear off the battlefield. Didn’t look quite like this but hey, it does look cool.

King Arthur F

Oh god what the hell are they doing here? Where to begin? King Arthur seems to have no strategy, no strong defensive position. Half way through they give up the one solid advantage they have when they dismount and fight. Apparently any and all thought about this battle stopped once they got a look at Kiera Knightley’s wardrobe. I mean if you have that many archers, how about defending the wall? That's what it's there for!

Kingdom of Heaven F

FAIL! They skip over one of the greatest battles of the Middle Ages, Hattin. That’s like making a movie about Napoleon and going yadda yadda yadda past the battle of Waterloo. What the hell was the point of all this? Showing us some minor battles but skipping over the main course? All we get instead is a battle that we never see the end of! There isn't even any decent Youtube battle footage to embed!

GEEK FILM:Mid-Summer Movie Report Card

2009-07-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

So July 4th is upon us I was wondering, how does this year stack up? Usually after a terrific summer like we had last year there’s a steep drop off. But I’m not going to judge until all the grades are in.

Time for the mid summer report card.

It really is not fair to compare this summer to the last which was beyond brilliant. At this stage we already had Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E and Dark Knight were just on the horizon. This year the highs aren’t as high but let’s just see what we have here.

Star Trek

GRADE A-

A really good film and a successful one. It’s not flawless by any means. There’s a big Deus Ex Machina in the middle on the ice planet. But by making us care about Trek again it deserves all the kudos it has received. Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine delivered what had been missing in all previous Trek films, real drama between the characters. The main conflict wasn’t so much between Nero and the Enterprise as it was between Kirk’s intuition and Spock’s logic. Hopefully they keep this up in the sequels.

Up

GRADE A+

Okay Pixar just stop right now. Seriously how do they do it? How do they keep knocking these films out of the park. The good news is they are so successful commercially they can afford to take big risks creatively. Forget all the X-Treme BS, Up is the most extreme film you will see this summer. The logline reads like a drunken dare between Brad Bird and Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. “All right guys, I made a hit film about a rat, top that!” “Oh yeah how about a really old guy who ties a bunch of balloons to his house?” And they didn’t just make it work, they made it deep and emotional. By far the best movie of the summer.

Terminator: Salvation

GRADE C-

Talk about a let down. This one came in with a trailer so good it gave me chills. That was before I learned that seeing the trailer was a lot like seeing the movie. There was a distance between the characters that McG was just never able to bridge. Rumor has it that he was actually planning on a serious twist to the Terminator mythos with a shocker of an ending. That might have helped. I don’t give this a D or an F because I thought Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) was a fine addition to the storyline. If only they had treated the character properly, this could have been a classic.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

GRADE B-

Color me surprised that I actually liked this one. See my review here. You know I really don’t expect much from my summer movies. If I get three quality action scenes I’m usually a happy camper. And ROTF delivers action. Yes it has offensive characters and humor. I would recommend sensitivity training for those responsible. But the offensive stuff is mostly on the sides. And there is too much good stuff to just write the whole thing off.

Drag Me To Hell

GRADE B

Ah audiences, ya broke my heart. To say nothing of Sam Raimi’s. This film is everything I love about Sam Raimi. Unfortunately this is also the same stuff that kept him in cult movie status until he somehow landed Spiderman. Every now and then, a successful director wants to shake off the shackles and just do HIS thing. And this is what usually happens. Here’s my review.

The Hangover

GRADE B

Funny stuff. See my review. Every summer needs a good comedy, preferably two or three of them to counter act all the explosions. This isn’t on par with the greats of 08, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, and Step Brothers. But it is a worthy laughfest.

I am impressed. This summer seems to be holding its own. The bad new is that there isn’t anything on the horizon that will top what we’ve already seen. But I’ll wait and see. Come August I might be even more impressed.

GEEK FILM:WORLD WAR Z hits a snag. Is that a good thing?

2009-06-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

So the movie has hit a snag. Script problems. Can’t say I’m surprised. World War Z presents a whole slew of challenges for a big screen adaptation. In fact us geeks may be better off without a movie. There’s another format better suited to Max Brooks’ zombie Opus. We’ll get the preferred medium later, but for now let’s look at the problems facing a successful movie adaptation.

1. Horror

The biggest problem is that World War Z is a horror novel. You may be sitting there and think, “Well duh it’s a horror novel, what else would it be?” But Hollywood doesn’t want horror horror anymore. They don’t do horror horror. They do horror action like in Underworld or Daybreakers. They do horror comedy like Zombieland. Straight horror horror makes Hollywood nervous. There hasn’t been a pure horror hit in nearly five years now. Drag Me To Hell didn’t do well and The Ruins, another horror bestseller, died at the box office. And both of those films had excellent reviews. With the World War in the title I’m sure the execs thought this would be a rock ‘em sock ‘em Michael Bay explosion fest with zombies thrown in. But no, Z is horror to the bone. A lot of the fear actually comes from the fact that in the book current military technology and, and especially Rambo style spray firing and bomb chucking, is USELESS against the zombie hordes. That’s not something Michael Bay is going to get his head around any time soon.

2. Intimacy

You expect blockbuster novels about a zombie apocalypse to be all action and no subtlety. You couldn’t be more wrong when it comes to World War Z. The brilliance of the novel is that it is told a series of personal recollections by the survivors. While those recollections do include some harrowing large scale set pieces (like the Battle of Yonkers) some of its best moments are quiet and intimate. How can you have a World War Z project and not include the child-like Sharon and her eerie recount? How can you exclude Ijiro and his amazing journey? But these sequences are best told statically, like they appear in the book. This doesn’t make them very cinematic, but if you dramatize and show us instead of implying, then you’re really missing the true spirit of the book.

3. Size

The biggest reason Hollywood has with this project is the size and scope of it all. It really is a World War ranging for several years across all continents and including a cast of dozens. Simply put that’s too big a story for a single picture. While there have been several movies in the past that have been set during World War Two, no movie ever attempted to tell the entire war from beginning to end. There’s simply too much material. Movies need focus in order to work. A single incident with a few main characters. That just goes against everything that makes World War Z work. In order to do it they would have to junk so much of the novel and use it more or less for just back drop.

So there are the problems facing a World War Z movie. So what is the solution? What medium works better in telling longer stories, what will work with “face-to-face” interviews, and still does horror quite well. The answer: Television. Yes folks the answer is so obvious it’s stupid. World War Z should be a series or mini-series, preferably on premium cable. HBO has kept the horror quotient high in True Blood and did justice to the sprawling saga of Band of Brothers. This way we could get all the interviews of Max Brooks’ novel and flashback to scenes as they happen. You can introduce new characters and storylines and still have all the vignettes fans of the book love. It’s the perfect solution. Now let’s see if Hollywood can change

GEEK FILM:Review of TRANSFORMERS:REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

2009-06-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

I am not a Michael Bay fan. I guess you’d call me a hater. The guy has rubbed me the wrong way since he started. For a long time my favorite Michael Bay movie was the first Bad Boys. The Rock I find tiresome. Armageddon I loathe with a passion. Pearl Harbor I can barely sit through. In these early films, Bay isn’t a director, he’s a DP run amok. These aren’t movies so much as three hour long car commercials. Then as a producer he started the whole slasher remake trend. His first stab (heh, heh) was Texas Chainsaw Massacre and that gave me a whole new reason to hate Michael Bay’s guts. The TCM remake was everything I hated about him as a director, loud, obnoxious, incoherent, and generally clueless. I remember being mad way more than I was scared. It’s supposed to be a HORROR movie, scare me for crying out loud.

Oddly enough my view on Bay started to change with the film that’s his only commercial bomb to date, The Island. Yeah it wasn’t a good film. Yeah it was a rip off of a cheesy MST3K’d clone movie. And yet there were things in it that weren’t Michael Bay. There were actual quiet moments in it. There were, not great characters, but better characters than we’d seen before. Most importantly Michael Bay wasn’t the biggest problem here. If the script had been better (and original) we’d probably still be talking about it. With The Island I noticed a guy who actually wanted to make better films than the ones he started out with. The trend continued with the first Transformers a few years ago. I liked it but it was a very near thing. I thought there were too many side stories and distractions. We had to wait nearly the entire movie before we finally saw a giant robot smackdown (though it was worth the wait). The final fight had more flash than impact. And yet, I liked it all in all. It became my new favorite Michael Bay film.

I still wasn’t a fanboy by any means. When they announced the sequel I was a little worried. I still hold Bay’s overall track record against him. Then the reviews started to roll in and my expectations dropped. Especially after the rain of fire on Ain’t It Cool News. I was thinking of skipping opening day altogether.

But on Saturday my sister’s in town so I take her out and we see the sites and one of the things she wanted to see was The Arclight Theater. So we head down there, Transformers: ROTF is the only big new release and wouldn’t you know, I have enough points to get us two free tickets. So in we go. I figure a 2 and half hour movie is a good way to relax and take a load off my feet after walking around LA all day. It’s a free movie. I have no expectations.

Holy crap, I liked it.

This wasn’t even a close call heavily qualified like either. I really liked this one. Yes it is too long. But Michael Bay movies are normally a full hour too long. This one runs over by only half an hour. Yes there are two characters that are on Jar Jar Binks level of wrongness. But as groan worthy as Mudflap and Skids are (and they are) they do get to kick some ass at the end (real ass kicking, not fake saved the day by accident Phantom Menace crap). And kicking ass goes a long way to making a character more palatable in my book. I probably wouldn’t be as near as forgiving if I was a different ethnicity and if I was producer they’d be the one thing I’d excise without hesitation. But they are a small part of everything that’s going on.

This one has all the advantages of a fantasy sequel. The introductions are out of the way, we can get to butt kicking. The transformer fights are plentiful in this one. Bumblebee kicks ass. Optimus Prime kicks so much ass he’s a cybernetic Bruce Willis. The story sucks but it has enough good stuff to keep things moving. It’s jumbled but not nearly as much as the first one. Josh Dummel’s marine is on the sidelines until the shooting starts, where he belongs. There isn’t a third group of hackers taking up screen time and no attempt to turn Donald Rumsfeld into an action hero. The story focused (more or less) on Spike and his crazy search. The attempt at mythos doesn’t work but it isn’t a gigantic pile of FAIL like say Chronicles of Riddick. A lot of the jokes produce groans, but some produce laughs. The action sequences, they might be the most coherent I’ve ever seen in a Michael Bay movie. Yes he’s still in overkill mode, but now I can actually see all the really expensive toys and effects he brought to the party. This is a positive step for Michael Bay, director. It’s more focused than he’s ever been. The action is clearer. His mind’s still in the gutter when it comes to humor and Megan Fox, but there’s less pretension in this flick than in any of his others. Remember the presidential speeches in The Rock and Armageddon? Remember the invasion of Cuba in Bad Boys 2? There’s some of speechifying in ROTF but it’s done by the soldiers not by the Commander in Chief. Bay’s clearly learning that he’s making bubblegum. And he’s capable of making some real tasty bubblegum.

Bottom line is, I can’t really hate too much on a film that’s editing and some post work away from being really awesome. A little snip snip in the editing room. Go back to redo the faces on Mudflap and Skids, tone down their dialogue a little bit. Or kick them out entirely. There’s just too much I actually enjoyed. And the faults are mostly on the periphery. So a surprise good review from me. I’m frankly shocked.

GEEK TV:Reveiw of BURN NOTICE #3.4

2009-06-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

Fourth episode of the season brings the conflict with Det. Paxson to a head. The good detective has decided to put a 24 hour police tail on our hero and decides to start right when Fi is in the middle of collecting a debt from a group of musclebound platehead! Fi manages to bust out a window and escape but Michael now has a patrol car following him everywhere he goes. Having tried everything in the previous episodes to get Paxson to back off, the crew decides to go the opposite route and give her a helping hand on a tough case.

Said case involves former ER doc Erik Palladino as a violent crook who rips off drug dealers and the great Nicholas Turturro as a Beta male hanger on. Michael and crew decide Turturro's Tommy is the best way into the gang. What follows is a better than average sting with the super competent crew of ex-spies kissing up to the super small time Tommy as if he were a master criminal. There aren't any holy crap MacGyverisms in this outing, at least not on par with the Pringles can phone monitor from the last episode. But what we do have is great work by Turturro as a big talking, gangster wannabe who turns out to have a lot more going on than we first anticipate.

In the end, the crew get Paxson her bad guy in such a way that she has to throw out all the previous work she's done on Michael to make the case stick. Paxson decides to take the offer calling a temporary truce. In the end Michale and Fi have dinner and Michael contemplates his future now that he is free of the police and the his former employers. That's not a bad question. I'm glad Paxson is off his case, Moon Bloodgold is simply too good to just show up every week and hiss "We'll be watching." But the show really needs that added layer of tension the cops provided. After all, we've seen what Fi can do if given completely free license. I'm hoping the cops still take an interest in Michael while Paxson and he develop a Batman/Jim Gordon relationship.

Looking forward to the next one in 2 weeks.

GEEK FILM:REMAKE-APOLOOZA Part 3 Hammer!

2009-06-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

Going down our list of movies that Hollywood SHOULD be remaking, but currently isn’t, we come to a favorite of mine. Hollywood is in overdrive to remake every slasher film from the 70’s and 80’s. This has garnered mixed results to be generous. Part of the reason is a clash of aesthetics. The cheap look of the originals added something. It made them seem more out of control. It gave the impression (often very accurate) that a group of misfits had gotten some film equipment together and was just shooting whatever warped idea popped into their minds. Today’s films, especially out of the studios are controlled to within an inch of their celluloid lives. That control acts counter to the main attraction of these films, that they are often out of control. Instead Hollywood should be turning its attention to a different era. A little bit more before the slasher era there was

HAMMER FILMS

Hammer Films, like slashers were done on the cheap. The difference was the producers did everything in their power to make sure it didn’t look that way. Hammer productions were as controlled and as planned as anything coming out of Hollywood today. The results were stunning visuals for the time period on a low budget. Today a lot of the Hammer effects show their age. They are excellent targets for today’s CGI geeks to focus their attentions. You can’t really improve on the best of the slasher effects. Red blood, looks like red blood. But take a look at some of these beauties and try to imagine how’d they’d look today with first rate FX.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT

One of Sir Christopher Lee’s finest moments. That in of itself should make it high on anyone’s remake list. Christopher Lee plays the hero in this one. And not just any hero, but a kick ass, demon fighting super hero. Buffy Geeks will recognize a lot of Giles in this story of a family under a supernatural siege. The scene where Lee and his friends are inside a magic circle waiting for the evil to come get them was so good I admit to copying it in one of my earlier scripts. This film even has a giant spider! Jon Peters are you listening?

THE LOST CONTINENT

This one is bug nuts crazy. The story is actually too complex to sum up but this is one of the most visually ambitious Hammer Films. Most of the monsters here are obvious puppets and don’t hold up. But check out the pit monster! It has a lot of undulating movement that makes it ten times creepier than the Sarlacc in Return of the Jedi. It makes an appearance around the halfway point of this video.

CAPTAIN KRONOS: VAMPIRE HUNTER

Seriously Hollywood? No Captain Kronos remake? Not even a rumor? Wow! And this on top of the last Underworld film? Color me gobsmacked. Consider the 180 degree turn around from then to now. Back then everyone said “What are you stoned?” They probably were. Action, comedy, sword fights and vampires had never been combined before. Hell, vampires had never been combined with ANYTHING before. The whole High concept , multi genre crossover era was still decades away. Flash forward to today, Kronos is still cool, though not as cutting edge because it's kinda been DONE and the producers are just as stoned.

VAMPIRE LOVERS

Another major DUH! Vampires! Lesbians! Blood! Neck suckings! Tight bodices! What’s the matter, Hollywood? Too Tasteful for ya? And you’re still looking for a vehicle for Asia Argento? And to top it all off it’s based on the 18th Century novel Carmilla which is in the public domain! You don’t even have to bother with the rights unless you want the name.

QUATERMAS AND THE PIT

Also known as 5 Million Years to Earth. Technically this was already a remake of the superior BBC mini-series. Both of these are available on DVD and are must sees. This terrifying tale has actually gotten more timely. The theory of panspermia has been seriously discussed and scientists have reanimated ancient bacteria and believe they could do the same to a martian sample should one be located. But this is a terrifying, mind bending horror story regardless.

That's it for now from Remake-Apolooza.