DEBRISLAND.

Yes, it was on this day that Will Smith saved us from those evil, freedom-wanting-to-steal aliens. So to commemorate the holiday I did this portrait. Here’s to you, Mr. Smith, and your foxey hard-working nurse wife.

This one’s gonna go right next to my Machine Girl DVD.

Was so excited about Left4Dead from the first time I heard about it, being a rabid George Romero fan as well as a Valve fan, and considered the combination of them and a co-op zombie shooter as some sort of thematic hat-trick. And the game did not disappoint, even if it was rather brief. However, the real thrill for me was being able to make my own stuff, and couldn’t wait for an SDK. Well  I had to, and it was a good while before Valve released one. But good news, the tools will be out of beta next week — and to celebrate I’ve decided to show some pics of my L4D map. Mind you, this is early on, and I’ve mostly got basic rooms, lights and navigation stuff for the zombies to do their thing. But have a look (click on the pics to embiggen them):

I can’t say I’ve ever been like a raving mad Terminator fan. I mean, I really do like the movies — especially the first one — but it’s not like one of my all-time fave franchises or anything. My favorite James Cameron movie will always be Aliens, after all. T2 was a really kickass action movie, with (for the time) stunning visuals and, of course Ahnuld doing his thing, and T3, while not exactly the pot-boiler the first films were, was still fun to watch and had, of course, Ahnuld doing his thing. No, not like that. Buncha preverts, I swear.

But here comes Terminator Salvation, a movie that takes place before/after the original trilogy of films, and wants to begin anew. This time the focus will be on a war against the mechanized denizens of SkyNet, and not simply a big chase with lots of destruction. But no Ahnuld. Well — never mind. Since the premise was a bit controversial, I ended up doing some sleuthing (read: Googling, forum trolling) on how this was supposed to work, and ended up hearing a lot more. Turns out the film  would have little or nothing to do with the character of John Connor, since the thing was supposed to be the preface of a new trilogy of films. I found this to be rather ballsy, really. Connor would be in hiding, trying to lead the troops and bolster their fighting spririts via radio while trapped in some secret bunker somehwere, since he was The Prophecied Hero That The Terminators Don’t Really Like. Well, that’s how it was supposed to go, until the director (McG? Had never seen anything he had done, besides he sounded like something you’d get in a Happy Meal) contacted Christian Bale to play Marcus Wright, and Bale wanted to be John Connor.

Until Bale had come along, Connor was not the lead of the film. The film would instead focus on the young fledgling Resistor Kyle Reese and Marcus Wright, some new anti-hero character. But here comes Bale, with none other than Christopher Nolan in tow, ready to make changes in the script for his insertion as Connor. So John Connor would move from being the non-lead to being the, well, sort of co-lead — with two other characters. Sounding like Spiderman III to me. In the press, the film was getting shot down as it lurched out of the gate (in fact even the original ending, which will hopefully be represented in some version of Blu-Ray or DVD, was apparently changed because it was spoiled by Harry Knowles’ Ain’t It Cool News site).

But the trailers looked so cool. I have to admit, I am incredibly shallow when it comes to movie trailers. While my gut instincts have saved me many a time, I usually go for the movies that look really cool, or at least have some premise that appears to be intriguing. And the TS trailers were rather badass, in my opinion. If anything the film would be like watching a car crash in slow motion, as captured by Michael Bay (with at least three angles covering the explosions) — gotta see it, right?

Well, I did and I have to say I really liked it. Honestly, if I didn’t know what I did know on the front end, I might have been soured on the scattershot nature of the plot (how Spiderman III hit the skids). But I expected that, and instead enjoyed the visuals the action and what I could of the performances. These include Bale (Batman series), Anton (Star Trek) Yelchin, Sam Worthington and Moon (Pathfinder) Bloodgold, who all were great — really. Bale does grim better than anyone in the business, Yelchin makes a marvelous Kyle Reese (he’s just a great young actor, even though Charlie Bartlett kinda creeped me out), Worthington makes for a great post-apocalyptic rogue, and Bloodgold is believable as a kickass yet noble heroine. And kudos can certainly be given to McG, whom I’m now a fan of. Some have compared his direction style in TS to be an aping of Big Jim Cameron’s, but I beg to differ. His is more like that of Alfonso Cuarón in Children of Men: gritty, yet fluid and often inspired. He really did well by the movie, and like the actors has made the most of the material.

Therein is where the faults of the film lie. I don’t know if it was a matter of a new director casting a big name actor to ensure attention to his work, or maybe even pressure from the actor or some studio conniving, but seemingly due to Bale’s insertion the film suffered a kind of malaise. Whenever a movie gets spread out so thinly without proper service to all the plot elements and characters (go see Star Trek!), nothing ever comes across as important or involving enough for the viewer. So while the stunning effects, wicked post-apocalyptic setting (which I always dig) and solid performances all around do well for Terminator Salvation, it is ultimately dulled by it’s lack of focus and inconsistent flow and pace.

Bottom Line: Go see it, but just don’t expect too much.

7/10

As a kid, I often was able to see the original Star Trek series, and since I was a kid my young brain was ripe for the imprinting. Trek was as archetypical as a television show could get, regardless of genre — William Shatner’s Kirk was an seemingly unending source of swagger, but we got to see his squirrely side as well; Leonard Nimoy’s Spock was as tragic a figure as there has been on television, as trapped by his own principles as he was empowered by them; and my personal favorite, DeForrest Kelley as Bones McCoy was often in some sort of turmoil or furor — and wouldn’t have it any other way. The show was also as much a product of its time,  with a ham-fisted style of diplomacy and often sexist slant towards female characters. But as a child of that time, I forgave this sort of thing — I was there when things changed, but knew what had come before.

The eventual movies were uneven, mainly because in an increasingly changing cultural state of affairs the crew of the USS Enterprise — and the era they represented — seemed more than out of place. The first film (directed by the astounding Robert Wise), while a natural evolution from the show, was far too slowly-paced and starkly serious for people who had missed out on Kubrick’s 2001, struggled through Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and welcomed The Empire Strikes Back. While The Wrath of Khan remains the pinnacle of the TOS movies, with The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home truly rounding out the palette of the show, The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country signaled what Trekk(ies/ers) feared most — the end of that era, even for those nostalgic to return to those beloved characters.

Then Paramount and Gene Roddenberry re-vamped the show by vaulting it ahead some 70 years after the original was set. Gone was the bravado of Kirk, the inner conflict of Spock, and the rawness and rambunctiousness of McCoy — this was The Next Generation. Here were characters that were more with the times — a kindler, gentler Trek, with fewer fisticuffs and more heated debates. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved TNG. Picard as played by Patrick Stewart was amazing, but he wasn’t Kirk. He wasn’t the guy you sort of winced at when he made certain decisions, because you weren’t sure if they were the smart thing to do. Of course he didn’t have Spock either, to snap back at, or Bones to slap him back into perspective. TNG was great, but it wasn’t the iconic set that the original series was.

Of course, then came the TNG movies, which were all fine and good — if anything they seemed even more suited to the big screen than the previous iteration of the show. And of course, they soon ran theirs. Then there were other series — your DS9s, your Voyagers and your Enterprises — but it sort of seemed like they made the lack of the original show even more prevalent than before, like a flag in a golfhole.

Now here comes the studio’s latest run — a film that harkens back to the original show. Can’t you just imagine some Paramount executive looking out the window of his office, hand at chin and saying, “You know, it’s just crazy enough to work…”? I can, and did. I thought Paramount must be facing layoffs of the grandest order, or maybe someone slipped something into their bottled water. There was no way they could recapture the classic Trek, and why would they — didn’t the TOS films finish it off enough? Well, maybe not.

“This isn’t your father’s Star Trek,” the taglines blared. But J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were behind it — the guy who brought forth the big and stompy goodness that was Cloverfield, and the team behind one of my fave TV shows of late, Fringe. And wasn’t I on a similar edge before a certain other sci-fi classic was about to be revamped? Needless to say, it was a similar outcome.

The film centers itself on the stories of Kirk and Spock, played Chris Pine and Zachary (Heroes) Quinto, respectively. Pine I had never heard of before, but in this film he is a marvel. He is Kirk — without any Shatnerisms of any kind. A younger, brasher and sometimes more naive Kirk, surely — but very much the shoot-from-the-hip-and-deal-with-the-repercussions-later sort of guy I remember. I forgot about the guy I’d never heard of and welcomed back the one I’d missed. Quinto meanwhile even held his own — well, no spoilers here, but let’s just say he certainly held his own as the character of Spock. Every bit the half-human balancing act as Nimoy had ever been, Quinto gives a nuanced performance that counters Pine’s wonderfully.

Then there’s Karl (the man who will always be Éomer) Urban as McCoy. It’s obvious that I would be most suspicious of his performance, and honestly his delivery at times is a bit too much like DeForrest Kelley’s — but that only made it more endearing. Urban’s an excellent character actor, and even manages to turn this to his favor. While not as prominent as the first two (and not rightly so, in my opinion), he gets just service in a film that maintains an near-breakneck pace throughout it’s length.

Rounding out the cast are John (Harold & Kumar) Cho as Sulu, Anton (Terminator: Salvation) Yelchin as Chekov (with an admirable Russian accent), Simon (Shaun of the Dead) Pegg as Scotty, and Zoe Saldana as Uhura (although I was pulling for Cloverfield’s Jessica Lucas in that role, she does a great job) — as well as Ben Cross and Wynona (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) Ryder as Spock’s parents, and Eric (Chopper) Bana as a wonderfully effective Romulan villain.

As mentioned above, the film moves at a warp drive pace (nyuk) and manages to not only hit all the proper notes with every character, but brings in some eye-boggling space combat scenes and even some the other kind of eye-candy (wink wink) into play as well. What would seem in almost any other film as pandering comes off as exactly what should be going on in the context of the uber-charged plot. Each character is properly served and portrayed, and all are given their moment to shine. This alone is an achievement, not even mentioning the above burdens of expectation. The creators were able to not only serve the memories of Trek past, but even surmounted those burdens by taking the same characters and giving them new avenues to explore.

If there was any sort of nitpicking to be had, it would have to be with Michael Giacchino’s score. While his treatment of many scenes is effective, he unfortunately comes up short in some respects. The film is given no theme to speak of — only Alexander Courage’s piece for the original show during the credits. Maybe I’m just spoiled on having the likes of Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner doing such amazing jobs with the previous films. I was really hoping for Goldsmith’s theme, but it’s understandable that they went with Courage’s seeing as how the former has mostly been attached to TNG at this point.

In any case, I am certainly glad to be wrong yet again, and very much sitting on my clammy little hands in anticipation of the Blu-Ray release. Let’s hope this Trek does live long and prosper.

Bottom Line: Dammit, I’m a blogger not a reviewer — just go see the movie!

9/10

As usual I’m behind on the news, well you all should be used to it by now. But as an outspoken Frank Zappa fan I find it odd that I hadn’t heard about this for some time. Apparently, Frank’s widow (and now executor of his erstwhile media empire) Gail Zappa has declared that tribute bands and other artists publicly performing FZ’s music outside her knowledge and permission are committing “identity theft”. Furthermore, she feels that those musicians who cannot perform FZ’s music correctly (as the composer intended, that is) should not be allowed to do so.  Even guys like Ike Willis, who was Frank’s right-hand man for over 17 years, have been included in this category. Her other combatants is this arena of “identity correctness” have included the cover band Project/Object and the Zappanale festival.

Although it smells of the kind of authoritarianism FZ lived to rail against, I find myself agreeing with Mrs. Zappa. Just compare the following interpretation of Frank’s Zomby Woof by Project/Object, with former Zappa employees Ike Willis (center, seated) Ray White (to the right, with guitar) and Ed Mann (left, at marimba):

With this performance by Zappa Plays Zappa, headed up by none other than his son, Dweezil, with Ruth Underwood at percussion, Napoleon Murphy-Brock with the two mics and Steve Vai on “stunt guitar”:

To be honest, I don’t think I’d go see either band — had an opportunity to see ZPZ a while back, but couldn’t get past the fact that I’d be seeing Frank Zappa music being performed without Frank Zappa. But I guess that’s left best to the many CDs and DVDs that cover his presence onstage for over 25 years. Super-cool to see Napoleon Murphy-Brock performing again, though.

All performance criticisms aside, I still feel that anyone’s music should be free to perform — I mean, even FZ himself did cover songs at his first gigs, and continued them throughout his career. I wonder what Richard Berry would think of the ways Frank perverted his golden oldie Louie Louie? I also feel that performances — “incorrect” or otherwise — would only serve to acquaint more people with FZ’s work, and at least eventually steer them in the right direction to the original stuff.

Bottom line here is that I think Mrs. Zappa is letting an exaggerated power of attorney go to work at garnering as much income from the performance of her late husband’s work as possible — and that ultimately this will harm his  legacy. But as Mary from  Joe’s Garage told us, “Music is THE BEST” — and the music of Frank Zappa at this time is an acquired taste not often acquired enough. Mind you I don’t want to ever hear the likes of Fall Out Boy performing Watermelon In Easter Hay, but there are plenty of hungry young musicians out there who would benefit from FZ’s influence.  Let’s hope the Zappa Family Trust isn’t Only In It For The Money.

The first time I heard about a possible Battlestar Galactica TV show was long, long ago and far, far away — lost  amid the America Online chatrooms. I was approached by someone who claimed to represent Richard Hatch, the actor who portrayed “Apollo” on the original 1978 show. This person said Hatch was interested in reviving the show, picking up where the previous series (the original Galactica and the low-budget Galactica 1980) had left off.

I don’t remember how I replied to this. It may have been pure platitude — something to get this person to leave me alone, seeing as how I really had no idea if this was any official representative or some whacko reading off a forum somewhere. But in any case, I don’t think I gave away my true feelings –  that such a thing would more than likely be a waste of time.

The original Galactica was a considerable hunk of my childhood. I immediately identified with Boxey, who had a daggit (robot dog). I had a real dog, but I wanted a daggit, daggit. I marvelled at the Star Wars-esque imagery (thank you, John Dykstra), the gleaming bad guys, those Cylon centurions — and gawked at Maren Jensen, who was the foxiest thing I had laid my 10-year-old eyes on. Well, at least until Erin Grey (or Lt. Wilma Deering) on Buck Rogers came along. It was a kid Nirvana.

And now someone (Richard Hatch or no) wanted to ressurrect it some 20-something years later? Please. No way it could touch the original — and not that anything relatively modern would. Galactica’s time had come and gone, even the 1980 show had proven that. And apparently Hatch’s vision of continuing the old Galactica never panned out, maybe due to the fact that too many people shared my opinion.

Next thing you know, someone else is talking up a new Battlestar — Ronald D. Moore, the guy behind Deep Space Nine (or at least, it’s creative verve). This was just confusing. I couldn’t put anything from Star Trek together with Galactica — they seemed too different. While one was talky and full of character development, the other was laserblasts and unending action. Certainly a combination of the two sounded hopeful, but like a show could ever be that good, right?

Needless to say, I’ve been wronged. From the miniseries onward, BSG has been non-stop, thought provoking, deeply drawn and constantly evolving drama. Amazing characters, dusturbing turns, deliciously dark humor — and kickass space battles. It’s an adult Nirvana.

But now, it’s over — or almost. While the main storyline itself has been revealed, another BSG film is on the way — one which promises to show the remaining angles of the show’s labyrinthine plotline. But the Truth Has Been Told, and the end on an era has come. But no spoilers here — at least not yet.

No other TV show has been as large an influence on me, at least not twice in the same way (and in so many different ways) as Galactica and BSG have. I will truly miss what was without a doubt the best show on television, and can only hope another will come along that could begin to take its place. Don’t think so, though. No frakkin’ way.

Was thrilled when I first heard about this movie, but rather intimidated as well. I’ve heard about Watchmen the graphic novel for many years, but had never tried to read it. Not that I wasn’t interested, not that I didn’t care for that sort of thing — because I do. I can’t honestly say why I never have read the book, which is still held in great esteem as one of the best of its form — just never got around to it. But the first appearance of the film intrigued me.

At this point I think not reading the graphic novel helped me appreciate the film even more. Not like the Lord of the Rings films, when I noticed the obvious mutations the story (and characters) had taken from the page to the screen — here I had nothing to anticipate, I simply kicked back and enjoyed the ride. And what a ride.

For those few not in the know, Watchmen is very basically a noir like detective story, but one involving “superheroes” — a term which is viciously dissected by its portrayal of these characters, and by their doings. The harbinger of this story is one Rorshach, an inkblot-masked fellow whose primary super powers seem to be an unalterable will and relentless rage. As played by Jackie Earle Haley, he is both Sam Spade and Dirty Harry, pursuing what appears to be an inevitable truth, regardless of the amount of blood shed to uncover it.

The first act chronicled in Rorschach’s journal is the death of the Comedian, played with manic zeal by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. In the alternate world of Watchmen, the Comedian was both the hero of a nation (he helped to bring an end to the Vietnam war) and a scourge to it as well. And before his death, he seemed to have uncovered some plot that even gave him reason to be afraid.

Helping Rorschach at different points along the way are Don Dreiberg, otherwise known as Nite Owl II (whose character’s background seems mostly lost to the story other than some scenes with the first Nite Owl, one Hollis Mason) and Laurie Jupiter (a.k.a. Silk Spectre II), played by Patrick Wilson and Malin Akerman. Laurie’s background is more filled in, with her being the daughter of Sally Jupiter (Carla Gugino), who was the first Silk Spectre, and apparently forced her daughter into the same line of work. They are both second generation heroes (one less directly than the other) from the Minutemen, the group of heroes that preceeded the Watchmen. The film actually does a nice job of cluing the audience in to their history, in numerous flashbacks and the excellent title sequence.

As Rorschach and his partners investigate they find themselves between the two pillars of Ozymandias (Matthew Goode) and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) — the first being a tower of ultimate intellect, and the other of ultimate power. While Ozymandias — otherwise known as Adrian Veidt — seems devoted to the world in which he lives, Manhattan — who is now barely human and growing less so with every hour — finds himself less and less able to relate to it.  These polar-ended supermen round out the cast of characters, and lead the way to that inevitable truth I mentioned above. But no spoilers, here.

I found most of the criticisms thrown at this movie to be baseless. There was suprising depth to the characters, even though so much plot was being whipped about constantly. The pace of the film kept to an even keel, despite its length and shifting from action to background histories. And, for the most part, the actors were solid and fulfilled their roles well, with some (like Haley) being the very personification of their characters. Yes, the violence is over the top, but I felt it added to the fact that these people are not heroes by any measure, and anyone given such a title is usually done more out of fear than respect. If this was one of the points of Moore’s original story, then kudos to Zack Snyder and his screenwriters, since it is echoed clearly here.

What I did find annoying were the songs Snyder kept sticking into the film — from Dylan to Hendrix, to Nena (??) — it could’ve done better without them, at least not so blatantly in the foreground. There was a bit of CGI in the film too that I found amazingly bad, in light of all the solid work done otherwise — Veidt’s pet Bubastis. Why Snyder didn’t simply tweak an existing cat I’ll never know, since the animated one onscreen  looked like it belonged in a SciFi Channel production. Yuuck.

But these are small nigglings in light of a massive work. And at nearly three hours, it was massive — but I barely noticed, and wanted more. So now the wait for the Director’s Cut Blu-Ray begins…

Bottom Line: No, I haven’t read the novel yet — and maybe that’s why I liked it so much.

9/10

First heard news of this one online, then came the period where I wasn’t sure if it would even get to play here (Tennessee), but after a bit it did indeed come. Needless to say, I was thrilled, seeing as how the inevitable Americanized remake is already on the way. The film is a fresh take on the vampire genre, one that effortlessly combines the fears of childhood with adult mortal terror - - and begs the viewer for choosing which is the lesser.

Låt den rätte komma in concerns itself mainly with Oskar, a boy bullied and ignored, and Eli, a strange girl whose recent arrival coincides with several unexplained deaths. I will say no more, but their relationship is at the heart of this very dark (but often very humorous) tale. The black and white world (which the film punctuates with white snowscapes and black nights) is wonderfully blurred as the film plays out, again leaving the viewer to decide which is victor– good or evil — and what defines either. See, I love movies like this.

Please also note that the film is in its native Swedish with subtitles, but honestly it’s not like these people talk that much. The film is intensely visual, and does a fine job of showing the story as much as telling it. Another hallmark of a great movie.

Bottom Line: Get it now, while it lasts.

9.5/10

Henry Selick, and Neil Gaiman? In 3D? I’m there. Needless to say, it was a sound investment.

Coraline is the story of a young girl (marvelously voiced by Dakota Fanning), who moves into a rental house with her boring parents (John Hodgman and a suprising Teri Hatcher), and weird neighbors (including AbFab’s Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French, and Ian McShane) — with the only promise coming from a secret doorway, which reveals a version of her world that pleases her beyond all expectations.

Of course, you know where this is going. It’s the old “grass is greener” story — where what seems to be so wonderful on the other side of the fence turns out to be worse than what we thought and we thus learn to appreciate out lives for what they are. It’s not spoiling, really — you can see it coming a mile away. No, that’s not where the fun is — but rather in the execution.

From the subtle but special 3D technology, to the beautifully crafted “sets” and models (everything from Coraline’s coat to the neighbor ladies’ sofa are wonderfully realized with vibrant texture), to the amazing stop-motion animation itself is delicious in its thoroughness and loving care. The voices add another layer to the already sharply drawn characters (with KEITH DAVID voicing the Cat! That alone warrants a viewing, or listening), and the magical score of Bruno Corlais is the icing on this exquisitely crafted cake. Anxiously awaiting the DVD (or Blu-Ray, please pleeease Blu-Ray).

Bottom Line: They rarely if ever make them like this anymore, and Selick is a master. Go see it.

9/10