Tagged: movie

Enter to Win The Dark Beauty, Stoker, on Blu-ray June 18th

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  • June 14, 2013

Stoker_Rental_BD_Spine_rgbAcademy Award Winner Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode star in this “darkly wicked, beautifully executed mystery” (Los Angeles Times) by critically acclaimed filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Oldboy).

Following the tragic death of her father on her eighteenth birthday, India Stoker (Wasikowska) meets Charlie (Goode), her charismatic uncle, whom she never knew existed. When Charlie moves in with India and her unstable mother (Kidman), both are drawn to his charming and calming demeanor. But it soon becomes clear that Charlie’s arrival was no coincidence, and that the shocking secrets of his past could affect India’s future…or shatter it completely.

To gear up for the upcoming release of Stoker on Blu-ray and DVD on June 18th – we’ve compiled some of the most iconic Lolita- esque characters in recent cinematic history.  Who’d be your top pick?

The Virgin Suicides – Kirsten Dunst

Part innocent teen, part mysterious seductress, Kirsten Dunst’s portrayal of Lux Lisbon is Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut is all Lolita. At one hand she does fragile teen in the movie so well, writing the name of ‘Trip’ onto her underwear, yet underneath her girly demeanour, a true female seductress lies. She wraps men around her finger, teases, seduces and finally fools her family and the rest of the neighborhood boys into realizing the true extent of their tragic plans.

American Beauty – Mena Suvari

American Beauty tells the story of a suburban father (Kevin Spacey) who snaps when he becomes disgusted with his stale, repetitive existence. He quits his job and begins a regression into young adulthood, lifting weights, smoking pot, doing nothing, and discovering the overflowing sexuality of his 16-year-old daughter’s best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). Like the film itself, Mena’s performance is at first dark, somewhat comic, clichéd yet intelligent, scandalous, emotional, and without question one of the most seductive teenage performances of all time.

Jodi Foster Taxi DriverTaxi Driver – Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster made a huge impact in her performance for Martin Scorsese’s iconic Taxi Driver (1976). Playing opposite the equally mesmerising Robert De Niro, the film really hit its stride when Foster’s 12-year-old child prostitute, Iris, steps into Bickle’s cab in an attempt to escape her pimp (Harvey Keitel).  It’s no real surprise that Foster was great, as this was already her 33rd role as an actress. At only age 14, she already had more performances than some have in their entire careers.

The astonishing thing at play in her scenes is not even that she holds her own with a titan like De Niro, but that she truly carries herself like a grown up, someone who has lived twice the life of any girl her age. This is not a child actress acting adult-like in an amusing way, but a child conveying the utter loss of childhood. A true Lolita.

Stoker – Mia Wasikowska

In Stoker, Mia Wasikowska plays India, an introspective, peculiar, solitary girl who mourns the recent death of her father whilst being constantly at odds with her mother. She finds herself attracted to her mysterious Uncle Charlie who comes to live with them, following the funeral.

Taking on the role of Lolita, the pair engages in a seductive piano-playing sequence alongside a shower scene that somewhat recalls that scene in Psycho, Wasikowska’s character discovers herself in the shower after witnessing her Uncle dispose of her lecherous classmate. The incestuous relationship between niece and uncle in the film provides much of the picture’s sense of unease, as India becomes more and more drawn to her charismatic relative.

Sue Lyon LolitaLolita – Sue Lyon

The film, that started it all. “How could they make a movie out of Lolita?” screamed the print ads to Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 movie. By changing the 12-year-old object of Humbert’s lust into a 15-year-old, that’s how. Selected to portray Vladimir Nabokov’s celebrated nymphet was Sue Lyon, who was 14 when she won the role. The original novel caused no end of scandal by detailing the romance between a middle-aged intellectual and a 12-year-old nymphet.

Lolita is the object of Humbert’s love, a young girl who epitomizes the seductive qualities of the nymphet. Though she seems to like Humbert at first, over time she grows irritated with him and defies his authority. Beautiful, she is also vulgar, crude, and attached to popular culture.

Kick Ass – Chloë Moretz

When Kick-Ass was released in April 2010, everybody left the theater thinking about Hit Girl. Maybe it is a testament to the character and not the performance, but the two should go hand-in-hand. The unbelievable charisma of Chloë Moretz was unmatched by any other actor in the film. And we’re talking about a girl who went toe-to-toe with Nicolas Cage and Mark Strong.

Chloe Moretz Hit Girl

Instead of resorting to the obvious and ultimately awkward sex appeal of a female hero, Moretz went with a mysterious badass persona. Hit Girl is the reason Kick-Ass lives up to its name. The other characters and the movie’s style are enjoyable on multiple levels, but without Moretz’s turn as Hit Girl the film just doesn’t have the electricity it needed. She left the humor up to her Big Daddy (Nic Cage) and kept a straight face the whole way.

Moretz is definitely a force to be reckoned with, reminding us of a young Jodie Foster without the overwhelming sexuality. Moretz was fun to watch in (500) Days of Summer and was even more graceful in Let Me In. However. Hit Girl was her coming-out character and the world will be able to recognize her because of an off-the-charts charisma that no other female youngster can match today.

Leon: The Professional – Natalie Portman

Most of the performances on this list excel because of the maturity of each youngster’s character. Sometimes a role is written that way, while others are the work of a dedicated child actor. Portman’s work in The Professional (a.k.a. Leon) is both.

As the film progresses, her balance of vengeance and progressive maturity is fascinating to watch. The fact she is now in the hands of a quasi-mentally-challenged hired assassin makes her resurgence as a lost soul even more powerful. It truly is all the work of Portman, though; she knew her character backwards and forwards, giving her a realistic quality that bleeds through the screen.

Natalie Portman The Professional

Her face contorts with every emotion, her lust for revenge comes through with an unsuspecting humor and her sex appeal is as uncomfortable as it is realistic. She just fits so snug into this character of Mathilda that it’s hard to tell if she is even acting at times – but there is no doubt she portrayed a character that has experienced something way beyond Portman’s real life.

In order to win your very own copy of Stoker on Blu-ray, simply answer the following question:

Director Park Chan-wook also directed which iconic cinematic tale of vengeance?

 

  • Old Boy
  • I Spit on Your Grave
  • Irreversible
  • Hard Candy

Post your response by 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, June 18 and the decision of ComicMix‘s judges will be final. Open only to residents of the United States and Canada.

REVIEW: Ring of Fire

cNv8E2kI never really noticed or paid attention to ReelzChannel, now just Reelz, an odd collection of off-network fare, cross-promoting what else is on cable and original programming. So, when Ring of Fire crossed my desk, I knew nothing about it. A miniseries that aired in the spring, it features a familiar cast headlined by Michael Vartan (Alias), Terry O’Quinn (Lost), and Lauren Lee Smith (The L Word). It’s a low budget disaster movie that traces how deep drilling for oil accidentally taps molten lava, triggering a chain reaction that brings the world close to an Extinction Level Event.

The small town is filled with the usual cookie-cutter assortment of characters with conflicts aplenty such as the oil rig worker who lost his son due to his brother’s carelessness and guess who’s out of jail in time to use his knowledge of the old mines? Or that the CEO behind the drilling is at odds with his daughter, whose son is trapped on a school bus when things go boom. It’s a finely stuffed recipe for disaster and it’s all competently assembled by writer Michael Vickerman. What’s missing is a shred of unique dialogue or interesting characterization. Under Paul Shapiro’s flat direction, the actors are surprisingly flat with the notable exception of Sanctuary’s Agam Darshi, who infuses her Audrey, a geologist, with some semblance of life.

Part one sets everything in motion and of course, those in control ignore the warnings from those who really know what’s going on under the ground. Then, when things go bad, they scramble to contain the damage until the entire world is threatened because a ring of volcanoes are all about to go kablooey. The catastrophe catches the town, the corporation and everyone but the federal government short.

In part two, we learn there’s a remote chance a sonic device can trigger a fault before the big eruption in just 24 hours. Surprisingly, the government can access the bomb and retrofit a test module for use on Venus in that narrow window so Vartan’s Dr. Michael Cooper can pilot it deep with and trigger the device. (In retrospect, this is more plausible than Spock going into a volcano to neutralize it using the cold generated by a cold fusion bomb.) The US Government is remarkably competent here so that’s something different for a change.

Still, Vickerman slows things down enough so Vartan and Smith can flirt and stare deeply into one another’s eyes, which feels out of left field. Similarly, he massages his temples to deal with the growing aneurysm that requires surgery, a plot point that comes up repeatedly but is never paid off making one wonder why it’s here at all.

There’s plenty of sermonizing and speech making and people running around but it’s passionless despite the pacing, which Shapiro handles nicely.

The miniseries is being released un Gaiam Vivendi’s Doomsday Series umbrella and is presented as it aired rather than be edited into a seamless home video experience. There are no extras to speak of, just a preview of their next entry Eve of Destruction (which I bet is a better song than movie).

REVIEW: Cleopatra

CleopatraThere is a sumptuousness and exotic look and feel to the Ancient Egyptian culture that I have always been drawn to. The clothing, décor, architecture – it has always been utterly fascinating and their monarchies and dynasties are as rich as any in Europe. One of the best biographies I read in the last few years was Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra, which mined all known existing records about the Queen and attempts to weave together the most likely version of her storied life and death.

On the other hand, the 1963 spectacle of the same name merely adapted Plutarch’s version of events. Today, Cleopatra has become shorthand for a bloated misfire of a film and is always cited as the one that nearly caused 20th Century-Fox to crumble. The studio survived and has had the last laugh, making a fortune off the film ever since. Out now is the overdue Blu-ray edition and they have lavished much attention on the production so it’s the best version you will find for home viewing.

Starring Elizabeth Taylor, she was in her thirties and at her optimal beauty, making her the ideal lead for the movie. Her stardom was such that the studio was willing to plunk a cool million for her services, setting a new record for actors. They budgeted $2 million for the film but the costly production swelled to a then-record $44 million (over $325 million today) until the next $44-million record film budget, which was, of course, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

The film was a labor of love for Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who codirected, cowrote, and coproduced the film. While it made headlines for Taylor’s salary and affair with costar Richard Burton, it also brought home four Oscar Awards, including Best Cinematography and Best Effects, Special Visual Effects so it couldn’t have been all bad. And it’s not.

1963_cleo_rex_harrisonWe start in 48 B.C. and end with her death in 30 B.C. and during that time Cleopatra VII rose to rule then oversaw her country’s absorption into the Roman Empire, loving Julius Caesar while using that relationship to protect her people. Gaius Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) chases Pompey to lush Egypt, just in time for a civil conflict as Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII (Richard O’Sullivan) has sent his sister Cleopatra out of the capital city of Alexandria. Caesar and Cleopatra meet, scheme together, and in the process, fall in love, changing the fate of two governments.

They produce just one son, Caesarion, a living symbol of the two countries’ enduring unity but he is so besotted with the Queen, he neglects his duties back home long enough to stir talk of rebellion. In time, he goes home and soon after she comes to visit, he is named dictator for life and subsequently assassinated. Mark Anthony (Richard Burton), the new ruler, eventually follows Cleopatra back to Egypt where they start their own torrid affair, allowing Caesar’s nephew Octavian (Roddy McDowall) to plot his own overthrow.

Taylor 2 Cleopatra

This is a long film, with a lot of lingering views of temples, pyramids, courts, and costumes. Taylor had a record-setting 62 costume changes in this production and we must pause to notice every bangle. The pacing, thanks to two editors, is a little uneven and 20th balked at the length, trimming after its premiere and destroying much of the cut footage. What we get is the 151 minute New York premiere edition, complete with Overture, Entr’acte and Exit Music.

Thankfully, the restoration is brilliant and gorgeous to watch. The colors are vibrant and the action a pleasure to watch. Similarly, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is a match so you can hear the sand crushed beneath the sandals.

Given the film’s running time, it is split over two discs but comes with a ton of extras starting with an examination of  Cleopatra’s Missing Footage (9:00), wherein film historian Brad Geagley and 20th Century Fox film archivist Schawn Belston take you through the history.

In Fox Legacy with Tom Rothman, the studio CEO reviews the tortured production, trying to separate truth from myth (30). Cleopatra Through the Ages: A Cultural History offers us Professor and Chair of Anthropology at UC Santa Barbara Stuart Tyson Smith as he talks about the historic personage (8:00).

The Cleopatra Papers: A Private Correspondence lets us glimpse at the work retinaed by publicists Jack Brodsky, based in Rome, and Nathan Weiss, in New York until they swapped places. were the publicists for 20th Century Fox during the epic production of Cleopatra. One was stationed in Rome, the other in New York – then they switched places.

cleopatra-1963-300x199You also get the 2001 Commentary track with  Chris Mankiewicz, Tom Mankiewicz, costar Martin Landau and publicist Jack Brodsky.

The second disc offers up Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood, a two-hour film about the making of Cleopatra, which explains that the blockbuster was competing with television, keeping the studios relevant to audiences. As narrated by the great Robert Culp, this makes compelling viewing.

The Fourth Star of Cleopatra is a ten minute short showing some behind the scenes footage of the massive set constructions.

Hard to believe they still had Fox Movietone News in the 1960s, but the disc has footage from the  New York and Hollywood Premieres. (7:00 min).  Finally, all three movie trailers are included.

Dennis O’Neil: Villains

O'Neil Art 130530Social commentary is pretty old news in science fiction, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that it figures prominently in what will probably turn out to be the summer’s sci-fi biggie, Star Trek Into Darkness.

Of course, if we wanted to be picky, or display our erudition, or be just a bit passive aggressive, we could point out that superheroes are science fiction, and there’s already one of those, a mighty successful one, on our local screens and another, cape furled, is waiting in the wings. But we’re not picky, show-offy or, heaven forfend, passive aggressive, so we’ll just elide past everything in the previous sentence and soldier on to the Trek flick.

I’m not a trekker, not by a stretch, but I have seen all the theatrical movies and a (pretty paltry) sampling of the video iterations. And one element has always bothered me – not a big bother, certainly not a pleasure slayer, just a nag somewhere in the far regions of whatever it is that passes for my social conscience.To wit: the implicit militarism in the Star Trek mythos.

I saw my first television Star Trek in the mid-sixties, when I was hanging with peaceniks and was recently freed from two absolutely humiliating years aboard a warship – pity me, but also pity the poor bastards whose hopeless task it was to cram me into regulations – and I was pretty sensitive to military stuff. And here came Star Trek, which, being science fiction, I was predisposed to like, but they were all wearing uniforms, the crew of the Enterprise, and they often carried sidearms and the ship itself was equipped with a futuristic version of heavy artillery and they had ranks and those ranks had a familiar sound to them: lieutenant, commander, captain, admiral…yeah, I’d met guys who carried those designations. They generally hadn’t been my pals.

Maybe back when Star Trek was but a blip on the zeitgeist, whoever was running the show did have the military in mind. But the current movie makes a point of letting us know that Star Fleet is not a military command. The ranks? Civilian vessels are run by captains and are manned by guys in uniforms.Rank does not necessarily equal warrior: duh.

(Squeaky little spoiler alert.)

What most pleases me is that the villains are not, in the final reckoning, demonized – that is they’re not portrayed as aliens.No, the chief evil-doer is your ol’ buddy the authority figure. And this is where the movie accepts the burden of social commentary: I am not the first to observe that the plot of the story is a reflection of the past decade of our history. And allow me the amusement of imagining that one character’s name on the first draft of the script might have been Cheney.

Because I’m writing these words on Memorial Day, and I have no wish to disrespect either the holiday or those it commemorates, let’s be clear: we should support our troops by giving them the equipment they need and by properly tending to their wounds and by granting them the benefits they’ve earned,and mostly by not sending them to be slaughtered in useless wars.

Now go see Star Trek Into Darkness.

FRIDAY: Martha Thomases

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

 

Mindy Newell: Filling The Captain’s Chair

Newell Art 130529I loved Star Trek: Into Darkness.

I was riveted from the moment I planted my butt in the seat. All the major actors have made their iconic characters their own – Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin all turn in stand-out performances – and the script is full of the quips, banter, arguments, and heart-to-hearts that have made the interactions and relationships between the Enterprise crew a cultural treasure.

But Star Trek: Into Darkness also disappointed me.

Huh?

I suppose that from Paramount’s view – after all, Paramount had to green-light the storyline – it was smart to pick a villain out of the Star Trek archives who would be familiar to both the “Trekker” and a wider audience; but all in all, I think that this particular villain was just too easy to choose.

Yep, that’s right. The rumors were true. The villain of Star Trek: Into Darkness is…

RED ALERT!!!! SHIELDS UP!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Khan Noonian Singh.

*sigh* I so wanted it to be Gary Mitchell.

But it’s Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

Or… is it?

If you’ve already seen the movie and walked out thinking “we wuz robbed!” because there was no need to retell what was one of the most brilliant Trek stories ever, no need to reboot the movie that was really responsible for reenergizing Star Trek, you’ve missed the real villain of Into Darkness, for Abrams pulled a magnificent MacGuffin on all of us by twisting The Wrath Of Khan into something else, a trek into an “undiscovered country” – the ego of James Tiberius Kirk.

The opening scenario is not just a teaser; it’s the hinge on which the whole plot rests. You’ve seen it in ads and websites – Jim and Bones running for their lives through a red-leafed forest and jumping off a cliff into the ocean, and Spock somewhere where there’s lots of molten lava.

Returning to Earth, instead of being ballyhooed and decorated, we discover that Jim has botched a benign observation mission of an alien primitive society, totally disregarding Starfleet’s Prime Directive (“As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Star Fleet personnel may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes introducing superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Star Fleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship, unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral obligation”) by (1) allowing Spock to stop a mega-volcano from erupting; and (2) revealing the Enterprise, in the course of saving Spock’s life, to the natives, who then start to worship Enterprise as some kind of “Chariot of the Gods.”

Admiral Christopher Pike tells Jim “You don’t respect the chair because you’re not ready for it, and that Starfleet had decided that Jim is to be removed from the captain’s seat and sent back to the academy.

Jim is drowning his sorrow and shame in a bar (where else?) when Pike shows up. Pike has been returned command of the Enterprise and talked Starfleet into allowing him to have Jim as his First Officer because Pike still believes in him. Jim accepts.

After a Section 31 installation is blown to bits in London (Section 31 is the Star Trek equivalent of the CIA – and it’s a cool callout to Deep Space Nine, in which Section 31 was established), Pike and Jim, along with other available starship captains and first officers, are called to a meeting at Starfleet Command, where it is revealed that the perpetrator is a former Starfleet operative named John Harrison. A gunship (which looks like a 23rd century version of a Black Hawk helicopter), strafes the meeting, killing most of the Starfleet officers, including Christopher Pike (I didn’t want him to die).  Jim not only survives the attack, but also brings down the gunship – flown by Harrison, who escapes.

Jim wants to avenge Pike’s death, and challenges Admiral Alexander Marcus (yeah, he’s Carol’s father, no duh) to reinstate him as the captain of the Enterprise, with the rest of his senior officers joining him. Marcus agrees, and orders the Enterprise to hunt down and kill Harrison, who has fled to Kronos, home to the Klingon civilization. To do this Marcus supplies the Enterprise with 72 (pay attention to that number, boys and girls) prototype photon torpedoes, which can pinpoint Harrison’s exact location on the Klingon home world, though firing on Kronos could, and probably will, start a war between the Federation and Starfleet.

Jim, hungry for payback for the death of his quasi-father (Pike) could give a shit about starting a war. All he wants is Harrison’s proverbial head on the proverbial platter. His bridge officers object to the mission; in fact, Scotty is so strongly against it he resigns from Starfleet, saying, “This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? ‘Cause I thought we were explorers.” Jim promotes Chekhov to replace Scotty; though the young Ensign is not ready for the position, Jim in his bloodlust cannot see this.

And that’s the magnificent twist that Abrams pulls in rebooting TWOK. The journey Star Trek: Into Darkness isn’t really about Khan, or terrorism, or the militarization of Starfleet. It’s really the journey of James Tiberius Kirk into manhood and the right to sit in the captain’s chair.

Because, you see, Jim Kirk really is still the cocky young kid who stole and drove his uncle’s antique C2 Corvette over a cliff, even if he did defeat Nero and save Earth from that red stuff. Jim Kirk has gotten where he is, as Pike told him after he’s “crashed” the observation mission (just as he crashed his father’s car) by his “audacity, by his being in the right place at the right time, by just “plain old dumb luck and having me behind you.”

Jim’s mission, you see, is to see beyond himself, to grow up. We’ve all been on that particular mission, and let’s face it, there are times when it isn’t a very pleasant trip; it can be a journey Into Darkness, when you have to come to terms not being the king of your universe; that you are, in fact, quite expendable.

When Jim tells Spock “you are way, way better at commanding a starship,” you know he has made a giant leap forward into maturity. He has gone through the darkness, and he has accepted that, of all his command staff, he is the one who has gotten there because, well, he’s just been the guy who has been in the right place at the right time.

I won’t spoil the climax for you. Let me just say that when Jim sits in the captain’s chair in the final moments, and orders the ship to embark on Starfleet’s first five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before, Jim Kirk has become, truly, Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, NCC-1701.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

FRIDAY: Martha Thomases

 

Martha Thomases Boldly Goes…

Thomases Art 120524Some random thoughts about Star Trek: Into Darkness.

I loved the original series when it started on NBC in 1966. It was around the time I started to read science fiction, so it felt incredibly reinforcing to see my newly beloved genre on a screen in my home. I thrilled to the smart plots, and didn’t care about the cheesy special effects. There weren’t any other kind on television at the time. I loved the banter among the leads, especially from my favorite character, “Bones” McCoy. I complained as loudly as a teenage girl can complain when it was cancelled. That said, I only watched it in syndication sporadically, and I never got into any of the sequels.

Not even the one with Scott Bakula, whom I adore.

So when J. J. Abrams was tasked with reinventing the franchise, I wasn’t too upset. If he took liberties, he took liberties. Either the movies would be good, or they wouldn’t. As someone who read all the Ian Fleming Bond books and has seen every James Bond movie, even the terrible later Roger Moore ones, I have a pretty strong stomach for filmmakers who take liberties with their source material.

Kirk is really a macho asshole, isn’t he? I mean, you could tell from the original series, but it was the 1960s, and macho assholes were all the rage. It was really obvious in this movie. Yeah, he learned a lesson, and grew as a human being, but I suspect he would still be really annoying to sit next to on an airplane.

Bones may still be my favorite. In this particular movie, he was stuck regurgitating all the catch phrases, and yet Karl Urban still manages to maintain his poise. Not easy. Just ask Joe Biden.

A few female characters were actually allowed to have story lines, or at least the inference that, if we looked at the story from another viewpoint, they would be the heroic characters. Zoe Saldana as Uhura is especially brave. It’s as if her life is about more than just being in a relationship with Spock.

I would hope this is an indication of the film makers’ perspectives. Fringe had a female protagonist, as do many other 21st century entertainments.

Certainly, the women on Game of Thrones are the most compelling characters, and that’s one of the top-ten highest rated programs on television. There is money to be made with giving women in the audience someone to admire. Yay, capitalism!

A lot of the reason I went to see this movie in the theater, instead of waiting for it to show up on cable, was Benedict Cumberbatch. He is a wonderful villain, just as he is a fantastic protagonist. And he’s a commanding presence on screen, except sometimes I get distracted because he reminds me of Neil Gaiman .

I am not the only person distracted, although not everyone thinks he looks like Neil. Some are reminded of others.

As the summer goes on, and more blockbuster movies open, you could do worse than spend a couple of hours on the Enterprise. Live long and prosper, my friends.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

Mike Gold: Superman’s Two Fathers

Gold Art 130522They still haven’t made me all excited about The Man of Steel, but at least by now we’ve been given the opportunity to see where it’s going. It’s the human story about a guy who isn’t human, superior stranger in a strange land, trapped in a world he could easily remake and he’s as humble as he is confused as he is powerful.

O.K., fine. That doesn’t compensate for the repetitive redundancy and duplicative dynamic of their restarting the franchise and retelling the origin and screwing around with something that’s been around 22 years longer than the 50-star American flag.

Not that I have an attitude about it. Honest, I hope The Man of Steel is thrilling and successful. The word out of Hollywood – a bitchy and petty place on its best day – is that if MOS fails, say bye-bye to the Justice League movie. They’ll just continue to grind out teeny-bopper versions of their characters for The CW, or whatever they’re calling their teevee network this year.

Superman deserves better than the dark self-obsessed trailers we’ve been seeing and, again, I hope the movie transcends their promotion. Back in 1978, before today’s latest Warner Bros. executives could walk (yeah, there was another upheaval in the corporate order last week), Richard Donner did something nobody had ever done before: he treated a major superhero seriously and respectfully as a cultural icon. In the process, he created a whole new genre of motion picture and he wound up making a massive fortune – for Marvel Comics, who, unlike Warner Bros., got the point.

When it comes right down to it, the origin is irrelevant. It’s a macguffin, an excuse upon which to hang a story. Iron Man built himself. Incredible. Spider-Man got bit by a spider. Amazing. The X-Men got themselves born. Uncanny. Now tell us a story worthy of our massive financial investment in your picture because, outside of idle gossip, we don’t truly care how much money you spent on your financial investment. Movie-goers just want to have fun.

This advice comes way too late, but that’s okay. They wouldn’t have listened to me earlier (although the last time they did we saved The Flash’s superhero costume in the teevee series). If Warners wants to reboot the Superman franchise and create a successful DC Comics superhero movie sub-genre, they should follow Donner’s lead and treat their characters seriously and respectfully as cultural icons. Give us a great story and make us care about the characters as they exist today. Keep Kal-El’s backhand off of his forehead.

In other words, get on with it. Stop trying to imitate Star Wars – that’s the wrong genre. Stop imitating Greek tragedy before somebody remembers Lysistrata was a satire. Stop pissing on the past just because you’ve got a big… budget.

Or, failing that, get Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr. to drive a Hummer full of money onto Joss Whedon’s lawn and ring the doorbell. In Hollywood, imitation is the sincerest form of co-optation.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Mindy Newell (what?)

THURSDAY MORNING: Dennis O’Neil

 

Paramount Unveils Star Trek Into Darkness SmartGlass Function

1. home screenJust in time for the theatrical debut of the highly-anticipated STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, Xbox 360 owners can experience director J.J. Abrams’ original STAR TREK like never before with Xbox SmartGlass.

Using a SmartGlass-enabled tablet or phone, the STAR TREK SmartGlass experience delivers behind-the-scenes content, deleted scenes, concept art of the U.S.S. Enterprise and more, all time-synched with the film.  The second screen intelligently interacts with the Xbox 360 to elevate the entertainment experience, allowing viewers to boldly go inside the phenomenal reimagining.  Plus, the STAR TREK SmartGlass application even includes a sneak peek at one of the biggest movie events of the summer: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS.

The STAR TREK SmartGlass experience is available now on Xbox 360.

Mindy Newell: KISS*

Mindy Newell: KISS*

Before you read this column today, go watch Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride or A Guy Named Joe, or Thirty Seconds Over Toyko, or Bad Day At Black Rock, or Adam’s Rib or Judgment At Nuremberg  or Inherit The Wind.

Katherine Hepburn said to Spencer Tracy “you were, really, the greatest movie actor. I say this because I believe it and I’ve heard so many people of standing in our business say, it from Olivier to Lee Strasberg, David Lean, you name it. You could do it, and you could do it with that glorious simplicity, that directness.” Elizabeth Taylor said, “His acting seemed almost effortless, it seemed almost as if he wasn’t doing anything, and yet he was doing everything. It came so subtly out of his eyes, every muscle in his face…” Richard Widmark said “”It’s what every actor tries to strive for – to make it so simple, so real that anybody in the audience can say, ‘Oh, I could do that’.”

And this is Tracy himself giving advice to young actors on how to achieve success. “Come to work on time, know your lines, and don’t bump into the other actors.”

It’s advice that has come to mean more and more to me as I’ve matured as a writer. Tracy’s acting was the epitome of simplicity, of naturalness, of easy reality, and that what I try to do in my writing.

I’m not Spencer Tracy, though. It’s not easy for me to find my mark and remember my lines. Mostly I sweat like Jake LaMotta in the 13th round, bobbing and weaving and dodging the weedy dialogue, the pusillanimous paragraphs, and the purple prose screaming for attention. I’m not that quick on my feet; they deliver their fair share of jabs, upper cuts, and low blows to my brain and end up on my computer screen. And yeah, sometimes I want to throw up my hands, cry uncle and give in to the exhaustion, just go down for the count and let the fight be over.

But I don’t.  I delete, and delete, and delete, and write again, and struggle to find the right words, because words are important, and good stories are made up of words that don’t obfuscate or complicate the story, but reveal the truth of it.

There’s a story from the Talmud, the written scholarship of Jewish law. A gentile went to the rabbis of his city, saying to each that he would become a Jew if the rabbi could teach the whole Torah while standing on one foot. Every rabbi chased him away, saying that it took years of study; what he asked was impossible. Finally this gentile met with Rabbi Hillel, and, standing one foot, repeated his request. “Teach me the whole Torah while I stand here like this and I will become a Jew.” Rabbi Hillel said “What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbor. All the rest is commentary.”

Amen, Rabbi!

And I’ll try not to bump into the other actors, Spence!

*Keep It Simple, Stupid.

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis

“It’s like my mum said.  The souffle isn’t the souffle.  The souffle is the recipe.”

Luc Besson’s Animated The Extraordinary Adventures of ADÈLE BLANC-SEC

ABSKidsBRPS300dpiThis summer, let your imagination run free. Journey into an awe-inspiring world of action fantasy and visual wonder with popular French comics heroine Adèle Blanc-Sec as she leaps from the pages to the screen! On August 13, 2013, Shout! Factory, in collaboration with EuropaCorp, invite families and the young-at-heart across America to be captivated by one of the most highly anticipated international motion pictures of all time when Luc Besson’s THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADÈLE BLANC-SEC unleashes on DVD and on two-disc BLU-RAY COMBO PACK. The Blu-ray combo pack allows viewers to enjoy THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADÈLE BLANC-SEC on the platform of their choice and includes spectacular movie presentation on Blu-ray, DVD and a digital copy of the movie compatible with PC, MAC, iTunes, iPhone and AppleTV.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAhmCHnNcWs[/youtube]

Brimming with heart-pounding action, breathtaking cinematography and visceral special effects, this acclaimed feature illustrates the magical power of moviemaking, and delivers wildly entertaining cinematic adventure filled with humor, incredible action, mystery and lush Parisian period details that the whole family will enjoy! Both Blu-ray combo pack and DVD editions offer English and French audio tracks, English subtitles. Insightful bonus features take viewers behind- the-scenes as director Luc Besson and the cast share their passion in bringing this timeless tale to the screen. Available in stores nationwide, THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADÈLE BLANC-SEC Blu-ray combo pack is priced to own with a suggested retail price of $24.97, and $14.97 for the DVD. THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADÈLE BLANC-SEC The Director’s Cut Edition Two-Disc Blu-ray+DVD Combo Pack will arrive in stores this Fall 2013.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec Two-Disc Blu-ray™ Combo Pack (BLU-RAY + DVD + DIGITAL COPY)

Directed and produced by world renowned filmmaker Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) and adapted from Eisner Award winner Jacques Tardi’s celebrated French classic comic book series, this movie features a stellar cast of Louise Bourgoin (Anne Fontaine’s The Girl From Monaco), Mathieu Amalric (Quantum of Solace, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gilles Lellouche (Love Me If You Dare), Jean-Paul Rouve (La Vie En Rose), Jacky Nercessian (Le Grand Voyage), and  Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly).

SYNOPSIS

The year is 1912. This is the story of an intrepid young reporter Adèle Blanc-Sec and her quest for the power of life over death. Her journey would take her to distant lands to face many dangers beneath the sands. She will go to any lengths to achieve her aims, including sailing to Egypt to tackle mummies of all shapes and sizes. Meanwhile in Paris, a 136 million-year old pterodactyl egg on display in the natural history museum has mysteriously hatched, and the creature subjects the city to a reign of terror from the skies. But nothing fazes Adele Blanc-Sec, whose adventures include many more extraordinary surprises…

BONUS FEATURES

  • Making-of featurette
  • Music featurette
  • Deleted Scenes

EXCLUSIVE TO TWO-DISC BLU-RAY COMBO PACK

Movie presentation on Blu-ray, DVD and a Digital Copy of the film

Technical Information – BLU-RAY Combo Pack

Street Date: August 13, 2013

Running Time: 107 minutes

Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1080p 2.35

Language: English, French

Subtitles: English

Sound: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0

ON DVD

Technical Information – DVD

Street Date: August 13, 2013

Running Time: 107 minutes

Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35

Language: English; French

Subtitles: English

Sound: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital

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