One Paragraph Review - 4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011)

The premise is good; what would happen if we knew that on certain day, at a certain time (in this case, 4:44 am EST) that the world was coming to an end? The problem is that the people the story follows, actor Cisco (Willem Dafoe) and artist Skye (Shanyn Leigh) are very boring people. I appreciate that writer-director Abel Ferrara doesn't depict the end of the world as some Mad Max-esque orgy of violence. Our protagonists are even able to get take-out Vietnamese. However, since we spend most of the movie with Dafoe and Leigh, it would be nice if they actually did something more than just call up friends and family, try to finish one last painting, and get into arguments about Dafoe's ex-wife. There are some stabs at philosophical depth, but they are either hammer you on the head (the human race is going to immediately die because of ozone depletion, so it's all the fault of rich people and politicians) or barely more than slogans. The film is also hurt by Shanyn Leigh, who turns in a dreadful performance. There are some good ideas here. Some of the glimpses we get of how other people are spending their final day look interesting. Unfortunately, the story we have to sit through isn't worth the time. Unless you are a Ferrara completest, give this one a pass.

Ridley Scott Will Not Direct Blade Runner 2

Ridley Scott confirmed he is not going to direct the sequel to Blade Runner, although he did help develop the screenplay and is also acting as producer. I'm fine with this, depending on who the new director is. Scott's work in Prometheus was not up to his usual standards. Although the film looked good, the script and acting were such a mess, that it ranks as one of the most disappointing films of 2012. Although he didn't write Prometheus, he should have realized just how poorly the story and characters were developed and done something to fix it.

A separate question is "do we even need a sequel to Blade Runner?" The answer to that will depend on the story. If it can match the thoughtfulness and depth of the original film, then why not? Questions of what makes us human are even more important now, as we get closer to an age in which AIs and constructed life forms will become a reality. Even without them, the problems we face today, in which some groups view others as less than human based on religion, politics, race, culture, gender identity, and so forth, make it more imperative that as a species we recognize our common humanity, before we wipe ourselves out.

Zombies With Jetpacks!

The latest installment in the Call of Duty game series, Advanced Warfare, features jet pack equipped exo-skeletons. Some of the earlier games featured zombies, where you could mow down hordes of the undead, before inevitably being torn apart. The design team for Advanced Warfare did what any self-respecting person would do; designed a DLC pack with zombies...who use jet packs.

And now I have a reason to buy the game.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Marathon Tomorrow

In honor of Thanksgiving, the fine folks at Shout! Factory are running a MST3K marathon tomorrow, starting at noon EST. Here's the link to the YouTube Channel. More details and viewing options can be found here. Watch some turkeys with your turkey!

Short Attention Span Review - Mr. Nobody (2009) - With Spoilers...At Least In Some Realities

The Singularity is a term coined by mathematician John von Neumann in 1958 to denote the moment when our technological change accelerates to the point that human civilization as we know it ends. Subsequent futurists have refined this term and it is generally understood to mean the moment that machine intelligence overtakes human intelligence and technological developments achieve a pace in which humanity radically alters (perhaps become a trans-human species) or goes away altogether, replaced by machines, biological constructs, or some other form of post-human intelligence. If we don't suffer a significant and permanent collapse of human civilization, this moment is almost certain to happen. At some point, things bioengineering, artificial intelligence, nano-technology and similar technologist will end existence as we know it. This does not mean some Terminator scenario where machines hunt down mankind. It does mean that our current, evolutionarily derived biology will be supplanted by some new mode of existence.

Mr. Nobody sets up a possible trans-human future, one where the Singularity has led to technology that allows for indefinite cellular regeneration -and practical immortality - for everyone. Or does it? After watching the film I'm not sure if we are to take anything we see as literally happening or to assume it all exists in some kid's imagination. I assume the former; but there is a good case - including statements by the protagonist - to be made for the latter.

After a series of distressing images, in which the titular character (Jared Leto) is repeatedly killed, the film shifts to the year 2092. Through the use of various technologies the human race has attained virtual immortality. Except for Mr. Nemo Nobody (FYI - Nemo is Latin for "no one"). Nemo is "The Last Mortal." He has just turned 118 years old and is chatting with Dr. Feldheim (Allan Corduner), a therapist. Nemo thinks he is only 34 and that it is the year 2009.

As the film goes on, Nemo experiences different past lives, all while being monitored in the future by the global media. A journalist (Daniel Mays) sneaks into Nobody's hospital room and starts to interview him about what it was like before "quasi-immortality." While we learn a little about the future world (no one has sex anymore; why?) the story is really about the different paths Nemo's life could have taken. As he talks to the journalist, he insists that every life is equally real and valuable (or valueless).

Each of his timelines is focused on his marrying - or not marrying - a different woman, Jean (Linh Dan Pham), Anna (Diane Kruger), and Elise (Sarah Polley). In all of his timelines, his parents split up. We then see how his life evolves based on which parent he goes with. The story bounces between 1989, 2009 and 2092, as well as a future timeline on Mars that is happening both in the imagination of one 15-year-old version of Nemo, as well as an actual future for another, apparently immortal Nemo. Finally, there is yet another world that resembles a movie set that appears to exist within 2092 Nemo's subconscious.

As the film draws to a conclusion, the universe either experiences the Big Crunch - in theory, the moment when reality collapses in on itself, represented here by time reversing - or Nemo's 9-year-old self (and his parents) make the choices that lead to him being with his true love, Anna. The end.

There are a lot of things to like about this movie. Much of the cinematography is beautiful. The acting is uniformly good. The future world is well-designed, a mix of Apple aesthetics and a "clean" Blade Runner urban sprawl. Elements of the plot, in particular, the branching narratives, are interesting. Finally, the film is a good example of how to create an unreliable narrator in film. We never know exactly what is or is not real, but this feeling is consistent with the structure of the story and is not presented in a way that feels unearned.

The world of 2092.

Unfortunately, the central story is banal. While the two central plot devices - Nemo's being interviewed about his life in a world where mankind has moved into a new kind of existence and his ability to experience alternate timelines - hold much promise, they're used in the service of a story that amounts to little. What exactly do we learn? One of the themes - that there are no good or bad choices, just a life to live - is undercut by the conclusion, which implies that there was an optimal set of choices that would lead to a happy life for Nemo and Anna. This is reinforced by the amount of narrative weight given to that subset of stories. Those featuring Elise and Jean occupy much less screen-time, with the latter being forgotten for long stretches. That's fine thematically, but then don't include some nonsense about all our choices bring equally valid; the story makes it clear this is not the case.

The future world was sketchily developed. It could be argued that this is unimportant since the 2092 setting was merely a framing device for the actual narrative. The problem is that, unlike, for example, Little Big Man which featured a similar idea - in that case, a 121-year-old man being interviewed in the late-1960s about the West - the world of Mr. Nobody is unfamiliar. I don't know what the "rules" (in a narrative sense) are. Why does the journalist use a vintage tape recorder to interview Nobody? Why hasn't Nemo used the anagathic technologies, since his goal is to live to the Big Crunch? Why is he the only one, in a world of immortals, who seems to be aware of the past? The reporter says that everyone wants to know about what it was like to be alive when he was younger; but wouldn't there be a lot of people who were around his age who lived to the time when the immortality technology was developed? We see that this is the case in the Mars timeline, since he meets Anna on a spacecraft, moments before it is destroyed by a cluster of asteroids. Is it tied into the notion that people no longer have sex? Has immortality led to some new form of consciousness? The 2092 setting raises a lot of questions that are never answered (assuming it exists at all).

There is also an overuse of narration, where the Nemo character hammers home the points of the film. If you can't show me what the story is about or use dialogue, but instead have to turn to fourth-wall-breaking monologues, then that is a problem. If the story were more interesting, this would be less of an issue; as it is, it becomes intrusive, ruining some well-construed images that were conveying the narrative far more elegantly than the voice-over. To be fair, there are times when the narration works. In one timeline, Nemo has a TV science show, which is used a device for conveying some of the headier concepts in the film, like String Theory. Here, the monologue is integrated into the story, not something hovering over it.

All of this may sound like I didn't like the film. That's not the case. I found many of the conepts interesting. I thought the cast was good, even when handling clunky dialogue. Visually, there are many strong images in the film, some of which move the narrative forward, others which are just well-shot and conceived. The problem is that the story and it's central message - that we have to make choices and accept that they aren't good or bad, they just are - is something you'd find in a Lifetime Channel movie. Stripped of it's veneer of bleeding edge physics, metaphysical musings and futuristic (and phantasmagorical) settings, this is really about a boy from a broken home, finding and losing women he loves and learning to cope with that. For all the evident thought that went into creating the narrative structure and the fascinating concepts introduced, the story they are used to tell is bland.

I still recommend seeing it. Just don't expect it to be anything more than a clever telling of a well-worn story.

Something New Published

I have a piece in the new issue of Far Horizons. Check it out here. My story is The Front Line.

Unnecessary Remake - Carrie (2013)

I was originally going to write a full length review of Carrie. After watching it, I decided, this movie isn't worth the effort. It is not a horrible movie, per se; it just offers nothing new, making it pointless.

The plot is very similar to the 1976 classic. The opening is new, showing the birth of Carrie (Chloë Grace Moretz). It is pretty intense with Margaret (Julianne Moore) apparently unaware that she is pregnant, giving birth at home. After that, the story sticks close to the original film. Carrie is an outcast at her school. She freaks out while having her first period and becomes the target for Chris (Portia Doubleday) and her friends, who are painted in a very Mean Girls mode; caricatures, who target Carrie for no particular reason. She also begins to display telekinetic abilities immediately upon having her period. Nicer girl Sue (Gabriella Wilde) convinces her boyfriend Tommy (Ansel Elgort) to take Carrie to prom to make up for her part in humiliating Carrie. At prom, Chris douses Carrie in pig's blood and accidentally kills Tommy. Carrie unleashes her telekinesis, killing many of the students, including all of her tormentors. She heads home and kills mom, but spares Sue when she realizes she is pregnant. Carrie apparently commits suicide, although the ending implies she may have survived.

There is a missed opportunity to explore cyber-bullying and, perhaps, take the story in a new direction. Instead of De Palma's fresh, masterful cinematography, director Kimberly Peirce tells the story in a visually bland fashion. There are more special effects, with Carrie displaying her telekinesis almost immediately. Instead of the spare, but effective use of practical effects in the original, we see a lot of mediocre CG. This is particularly bad during the prom massacre. What was a quick, horrify sequence in the original, suffers from showing too much and is topped off by a laughable sequence in which Carrie flies out of the prom, instead of Spacek's serene walk through the devastation she has caused. And what was a quick, brutal end for Chris in the original is dragged out to the point of inspiring derisive laughter.

Another problem with the film is with the casting. While the actors are fine, Chloë Grace Moretz is too cute to be believable as the outcast Carrie. The girl is supposed to look "peculiar" and embody the outsider. This is something Sissy Spacek was able to capture. Even after she gets made-up for the prom, she still looks odd. Moretz never embodies the physicality of the outsider and even before the prom, she looks way too cute. This gives the film the feel of one of those "ugly duckling turns into swan" movies. While a good actor can embody a variety of personalities, their looks do come into play in certain roles. When Carrie, the outsider, looks more attractive than the "in crowd" this becomes a problem. Unless, of course, this is made part of the story, that the other girls are propelled by jealously. This is not the case.

Ultimately, this is a competently made film with a pretty good cast that fails because it doesn't have anything new to say about the story, nor a new, unique visual style to tell it in. Do yourself a favor; watch the original and avoid this version of Carrie.

Short Attention Span Review - The Colony (2013) - With Ice-Cold Spoilers

I had my wisdom teeth removed yesterday, so I spent my recovery time sitting around watching TV, while whacked on on pain meds. Even they couldn't help me when it came to this movie.

The Colony, starring Laurence Fishburne, Kevin Zegers, Bill Paxton, and Charlotte Sullivan, takes place in the near future. In an attempt to combat global warming, massive weather control towers were built. Predictably, this fails spectacularly, pushing Earth into a new Ice Age. Fishburne leads a group of survivors, living in an underground bunker. If you think this is starting to sound like Snowpiercer, you're partially right. However, Snowpiercer for all its flaws, attempts to use a fairly straightforward story to examine interesting themes of class, politics and economics. The Colony, on the other hand, is a mishmash of characters and plots from dozens of other movies with nothing original to add.

It starts off promisingly enough as we learn about life in Colony 7. There is care taken to establish the world, enough so that it is believable. Unfortunately the same care was not taken with the characters or the plot. All of the characters are cliches with a single characteristic. We have the protagonist (Zegers) haunted by the death of mother and sister years before. Fishburne is the wise patriarch trying to enforce who lives by a code of honor. Paxton is his second-in-command who thinks Fishbrune is too soft and wants to execute sick people (sickness is an ever-present threat in the closed environment of the Colony). Sullivan is the love-interest and keeper of the supplies, although why it's her is never made clear. It's not that the acting is bad; it's just that these characters have all been seen before. They each have one defining characteristic and never develop beyond doing exactly what we expect of them the moment they show up on-screen.

One of the cool images from the film, a weather control tower.

When contact is lost with the nearby Colony 7, Fishburne, Zegers and a teenager with "expendable" written all over him head out to investigate. It is here that the plot collapses. A group of feral marauders has destroyed Colony 7. How these people survived in what we see is a frozen wasteland for years is unclear. And, since they do nothing but scream they are completely characterless. Even after Fishburne sacrifices himself to blow up the only bridge between the two colonies, the marauders somehow manage to follow Zeger back to Colony 5. This leads to an ending cribbed from the conclusion of Aliens (with some 28 Days Later thrown in) with cannibals substituting for xenomorphs as they attack through the Colony's air vents. It ends with the handful of survivors walking into the wasteland, toward what my be an area that has begun to thaw out. Actually, I like the ambiguous ending; this movie didn't descend into complete silliness with a happy conclusion.

The boring, generic leader of the boring, generic marauders.

It is clear that the creative team wanted to make a good movie. The problem is that they spent more effort on developing a world than they did the characters or the story. It appears they just regurgitated what they've seen in other, better films. This is getting the storytelling process backwards. An audience will accept a sketchy background if the characters are strong, the plot engaging, and an original story is told. If this is not done, as is the case with The Colony, no amount of background or world building will help.

It's a pity, really. The movie looks good, has a decent cast, and some thought was put into designing the world. However, the lazy characterization, the unfortunate decision to include generic marauders as the big threat and the hackneyed plot all conspire to make this film marginally entertaining at best. If you can catch it on Netflix (or a similar service) and have some time to kill, there are certainly worse movies to watch. That's the best recommendation I can give it.

From Hell Coming to FX - With Spoilers...From Hell!

Dexter...Hannibal...um, From Hell is coming to FX as a series. This may be the worst idea ever.

I enjoyed Alan Moore's original graphic novel. It is a gloomy, highly layer story with super art from Eddie Campbell. The heavy black and white ink makes it look like illustrations from a period newspaper or the cover of a penny dreadful (that was something before Showtime used the title; read a book kids).

The movie version is pretty good as well. It is no where near the quality of the graphic novel; however, it is still more entertaining than not. Of course, you have Heather Graham as an improbably hot 19th streetwalker and Johnny Depp as...uh...johnny Depp. It's pre-Pirates so he's not in Jack Sparrow mode yet. But, he's not that good in the film. There are some odd visual choices made by the Hughes Brothers that seem to be showy than designed to reinforce a central visual tone. However, Ian Holm is amazing as the killer. There are many scenes that capture how shitty late-19th Century London was. Robbie Coltrane is good as Depp's partner. I appreciate that the writers kept pretty close to the overall themes of the source materiel. I see it as a better than average horror/crime/period piece, although if you want to see a great Jack the Ripper movie, watch Murder By Decree, starring Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes.

I don't see how a series works. Apparently, it will focus on Jack. So, does anyone think we're going to get the Jack from the book (and movie); the elderly, deranged, high-ranking member of the Masons who is also the Physician-to-the-Queen? Or, do you think we're going to get "young" Jack the Ripper?

If this is literally a series length adaption of the events of the book, then it might work. The movie had to jettison a lot of interesting bits to come in under two hours. I could see From Hell as a mini-series or as a series with a limited number of seasons. So, If FX announces that From Hell will run for a season or two and follow the events of the book and not try to do some "edgy" reinterpretation of the characters or try to make Jack anything other than than lunatic fanatic or make him "young" Jack the Ripper or whatever the gods of TV thinks we want to see, then this is going to be horrible. but, hey, the executive producer, Don Murphy, is the guy who gave us the Transformer movies. So, I feel much better...wait, what? We. Are. Fucked.

Anyway, this has all the earmarks of a bad idea. I may be wrong. I hope I am. But, I have my doubts that FX will create a series about an elderly nut job fanatic who is murdering hookers to protect the Royal Family and, incidentally, mystically set the tone for the 20th Century.

Sweet Art - Carlos Valenzuela

Carlos Valenzuela creates some pretty awesome art. I've included a few of my favorites below. You should also check out his portfolio at DeviantArt.

Poster of the Day - Insemnoid (1981)

First off, why do you call a movie by its porn parody name? I mean Insemnoid? Really? Well, whatever. Right now, the X-rated version of this film (starring Kay Parker and Seka, images of their late-Seventies/early-Eighties hotness below) is playing in my head, so I'm not complaining.

Second, this poster is AWESOME. I mean, how can you beat a screaming woman giving birth to a space monster while astronauts with comically shocked facial expressions look on. We know we're going to see something intense and violent. The tag-line is pretty good; although I'm not sure who's having the nightmare. Is it the chick giving birth? Is one of the guys with the extra-large anime eyes? Maybe the shadowy figure in the back? I can hear him saying, "Hey guys, what are you looking at? I can't see a thing. Bob, can you a move a little to left and stop gesticulate so much. Thanks, that's better...OH MY GOD, IT'S MY REOCCURRING NIGHTMARE!!!!" There are a few details I appreciate, like the time the artist took to include perspiration on the chick. In case her painfully looking face isn't enough, we know that this is not a happy birth because she's sweating. I was going to criticize the comically shocked faces of the astronauts, but, they are seeing a big, pink monster baby crawl of a woman's baby hole (actual medical term), so I'll give them a pass. Finally, the blue/pink color scheme is a subtle nod to traditional baby colors. Talk about sticking to a theme.

For what it is, this is a hard poster to find fault with. If you are looking for an alien monster birth movie, this poster does a good job of saying "I am that film."

It gives us a pretty good idea of the type of movie we're going to be seeing. It may having the trappings of science fiction; but, it really is a horror film. This movie was one of a number made in the wake of Alien that went for the same tone. Some were set on Earth, like Contamination, which has Martian monster eggs infesting New York City. Others are set on alien worlds; for example, Galaxy of Terror which is an awesome movie for numerous reasons, not the least of which is human-giant worm sex.

Hey, I have my standards.

Bonus One: The epic that is Insemnoid in full.

Bonus Two: After the break, Kay Parker (left) and Seka (right).

Current Events - Jonathan Gruber

I try to avoid politics on this site. However, the statements that one of the Affordable Care Act's architects made in 2012 and 2013 that are now coming out are so offensive, they can't be ignored. These remarks show just what kind of bottom-feeders run the government and make up the "elite" in this country.

Basically, Gruber confirms what many opponents of the the ACA have said for years; that the process of developing the law was focused on hiding the politically unpalatable parts (for example, taxing "evil insurance companies" knowing full-well that they would pass the costs on to consumers, but using this to "hide" the tax on the average citizen), saying that the lack of "transparency" was critical to the law's passage. He also displayed contempt not for the foes of the ACA, but for the Democrat Party's base. When Gruber talks about the "stupidity" of the voters, he's referring to people who support the law.

In the wake of the election drubbing, one of the memes pushed was how dumb Americans who failed to support the Democrats are, that everyone should realize that the President and his agenda are the best thing to ever happen to America. Now, we see that the people who designed the ACA were counting on their own base being made up of morons, in order to gain support for the law. So, apparently, if you oppose the President/Democrat Party you're an idiot and if you support them, you're an idiot.

Well, Obama did promise to bring Americans together. In his own mind, he apparently has; he thinks we are all equally dumb.

Leftist groups like ThinkProgress are trying to discredit Gruber, although if you run a search on that site, you see they had no problem citing his research in years past as being favorable to their pro-Obamacare position. I guess they were stupid then, but not now? Wait, they still support Obamacare. So, are they just stupid in another way? I'm so confused....

Here are some of the statements that have led to this kerfuffle.

Sources:

• Snopes
• Breitbart
• National Review
• New York Times
• Washington Post

New Fantastic Four Movie Getting Worse Every Day

Everything I've heard about the new Fantstic Four movie makes it sound like the a terrible movie. The latest news only confirms that the creative team has no idea what they are doing. In a recent interview, Tobby Kebbell reveals what Doctor Doom - who he is playing - will be like.

KEBBELL: He’s Victor Domashev, not Victor Von Doom in our story. And I’m sure I’ll be sent to jail for telling you that. The Doom in ours—I’m a programmer. Very anti-social programmer. And on blogging sites I’m “Doom”.

Uh, what? So, he's Richard Pryor's "Gus" character from Superman III? That'll work out well.

Take an iconic villain and turn him into something infinitely lame. Great idea. Why even bother having a Doom-character? Why not just use some other Fantastic Four villain?

The last two Fantastic Four movies were terrible. This promises to be the worst one yet. Someday, hopefully, Marvel will get the rights back and integrate the FF into the MCU. Until that time, Fox won't be getting any of my money for these pathetic adaptations of a great comic book series.

Short Attention Span Review - The Last Days On Mars (2013)

In the near future, a team of scientists and engineers discovers bacterial life on Mars. When exposed, the bacteria kills the infected person and reanimates them as violent, slowly disintegrating zombies who try to infect others. Things don't turn out well for our heroes.

Basically, this is Night of the Living Dead on Mars. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The film does have some strong points. The effects work is top-notch and the exteriors (with Jordan filling in for Mars) is sufficiently desolate. The cast is good and no one puts in a bad performance. The film ends on an acceptably bleak note, not unlike a john Carpenter film. And there are a lot of nice little touches, like the mission being partially sponsored by private industry (there are are corporate logos on the various pieces of equipment that seem to be there for advertising purposes) or the lack of a clear view of what the subterranean fungus forest looks like. I also think the decision to make the bacteria like the zombie fungus was a nice one.

However, all is not perfect on the Red Planet.

Space zombie seems sad. Poor space zombie.

The characters are poorly motivated and behave in unbelievable ways. In a traditional zombie/survival horror film, where disparate people are thrown together, you can accept in-fighting, secretiveness, and people basically, behaving in dumb ways that propel the plot. This same behavior on the part of a team of professionals on one of the first Mars missions is silly. And yet, we have a scientist who discovers the bacteria but doesn't tell anyone (he then is the first person infected), another character who has no problem leaving a college to die, for no reason, and the protagonist, engineer Vincent (Liev Schreiber), who apparently suffer from a bout of space madness on the way to Mars and almost killed himself. They are all a huge bundle of cliches and poorly thought out motivations that detract from the film. The life cycle of the bacteria is mostly well thought out, except for a scene near the end where one zombie is eating a victim. That makes no sense given everything we've seen in the film, although it does fit the "zombies need to eat people" trope. Finally, the story really offers nothing new to the zombie genre, except for the setting.

The film is still worth watching. It is an entertaining science-fiction/horror hybrid that looks nice, a good cast - albeit one that is hampered by poorly conceived characters - and a story that breaks no new ground, but also isn't offensively bad. So make some popcorn, grab a beer and check it out.

Short Attention Span Review - FrackNation (2013)

FrackNation is a documentary looking at the fracking industry in America. Specifically, it was made in answer to Gasland, a 2010 anti-fracking documentary made by Josh Fox. The film's genesis seems to be a confrontation between Fox and the man who would eventually make FrankNation, Irish journalist Phelim McAleer. This is the confrontation, about one of Gasland's most arresting images, a man igniting the water coming out of his kitchen faucet, allegedly because of fracking.

FrackNation does a great job of deploying facts. In the former category, the filmmakers show how fracking works, how it is regulated, and debunk some of the misinformation that has sprung up around the industry. We see examples of how corrupt the media coverage has been. We get some useful info about how exaggerated the claims of seismic activity caused by fracking are. Most importantly, the film provides significant evidence that fracking does not containment groundwater.

There are also more emotional moments, the most poignant of which are a series of interviews with farmers who see fracking as a way to save their farms. And, the film ends with a dramatic - if generally accurate - look at how critical energy production is to modern civilization.

There are some surprising moments, like the interview with Carol Collier, former executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission. She comes across as a stereotype of a civil servant serving a narrow interest group instead of the poeple; in her case, Josh Fox and the anti-fracking movement. She makes herself look even worse by sending her department's lawyer to try and confiscate the interview footage because it makes her look bad.

There are some items that are less well-supported, such as allegations that anti-fracking groups in the West are being funded by the Russians to ensure Russia's domination of Europe's natural gas market. While this may be true, there is no evidence presented of this, although there is a lot of good info about how vulnerable Europe is to Russian manipulation due to its dependence on them for natural gas.

To be clear, this is as much an advocacy piece as Gasland. It is one that I happen to think is better researched and does a much better job of presenting a fact-based argument; but, I am biased since I am pro-fracking, as well as pro-solar, pro-wind, pro-nuclear...I'm for anything that increases the amount of the primary limiting resource for modern civilization, power. However, as with any work that advocates a certain position, you need to keep in mind that information will be presented that supports whatever the thesis is.

Fracking is one of the most important issues of our day. It holds great promise for the long-term health of the both the US economy and for global civilization; but, like any technology, it has problems that need to be addressed. You need to do more than watch just Gasland or FrackNation. However, these are not bad places to start. Check out Gasland, then check out FrackNation. See these as the start of your education.

Although, I think you'll find that FrackNation is closer to the truth.

A Little Short Fiction

So, I run a writing group. Every 6 - 8 weeks, I send out writing prompts and we all write something. Then we get together, read and critique what we've written, get drunk and pass out in a pool of our own awesomeness. This time around, a friend of mine came up with the following prompt, in honor of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (9Nov89).

"And there you have it, a historical day for Germany and for Europe as the Berlin Wall has been opened."

Helmut muted the triumphant voice of the television. He turned to his guest with a somewhat quizzical expression and a simple question.

"What now?”

And here's what I came up with. It's short (329 words) so I thought "Hey, put it out there; someone might like it." Enjoy.

---

9 November 1989, East Berlin.

"And there you have it, a historical day for Germany and for Europe as the Berlin Wall has been opened."

Helmut muted the triumphant voice of the television. He turned to his guest with a somewhat quizzical expression and a simple question.

"What now?”

The man that Helmut knew only as Dimitri was all smiles. “This is a great moment, comrade. I never thought I’d live to see the day that the West would surrender.”

Helmut understood Dimitri’s feelings. The divide between East and West had seemed permanent. Helmut assumed that future historians would find those moments when the fall of the capitalists was decided. Would it be American defeats in Vietnam, Central America, and Mexico? The failure of the West to recover from the economic collapse in the wake of Israel nuking Syria and Egypt? President Mondale’s decision to unilaterally disarm? The Soviet victory in Afghanistan and the subsequent liberation of the Persian Gulf states? The collapse of NATO following the Green Revolution in West Germany?

Helmut caught himself and smiled. Now just Germany, he thought.

For now, it really didn’t matter. Europe had come to its senses and joined their socialist comrades. America would have to follow suit or disintegrate. Helmut had read reports of socialist movements in New York, California and Michigan that were preparing for secession. The course charted by Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Beria, and Andropov had led to the dawn of a socialist future, he thought. Still, there was one nagging, more personal concern.

“Well, what about us?”

Although it seemed unlikely, Dimitri’s smile actually widened. “They’ll always be work for men like us. As long as there are enemies of the People, the state will need the KGB,” he clapped his hand on Helmut’s shoulder, “and the Stasi. Now, let’s get that bottle of Stolichnaya I know you have in the freezer and go celebrate. It looks like one hell of a party out there.”

Helmut grinned. It sure does, he thought.

Happy Trailers - Chappie (2015)

Neill Blomkamp has made two feature-length movies. Movie one District 9 is a great sci-fi alt-history, one I never tire of watching. Movie two is Elysium which has some nice moments and visuals, but a terrible story, boring characters and far too many plot-holes to overlook.

Next year, we get movie three, Chappie. From the trailer, it appears that Chappie is a damaged police robot, recovered, repaired and somehow given artificial intelligence. The movie seems to follow the emerging AI as it tries to create an identity, while being hunted by people who see it as a threat.

Visually, the movie looks good. Blomkamp is good at creating immersive worlds, places you want to see more of, that seem realistic enough that you can speculate about what is happening around the corner without seeing it. From the trailer, you can't get a sense of the acting, although there are some heavy hitters in the cast (Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver). The blonde chick is South African rapper Anri du Toit; we'll see how that casting decision goes.

One problem I have with the story as presented is the resemblance to Short Circuit. While there are a lot of movies (not to mention books, comics, etc) about emerging AIs, these two films seem to track pretty closely. In Short Circuit, Number Five is a combat robot who suffers damages from a lightening strike that damages his software, allowing him to become self-aware. After meeting Ally Sheedy (one of my childhood cinema crushes), he eventually decides that he does not want to go back to the military, because they will "kill" him.

Given what we see in the trailer, this film seems a lot like that. There's nothing inherently wrong with telling the same basic story; however, it does make me wonder if Blomkamp is the best choice as a writer (I have no doubts about his abilities as a visual director). I'm encouraged by the fact that his District 9 co-writer Terri Tatchell is on this project, whereas Blomkamp was solely responsible for Elysium's terrible story. Hopefully, the resemblance to Short Circuit is superficial and that Chappie has something new and interesting to say about mankind's relationship to technology and how we treat the other. If not...well, at least it'll look nice.

Star Wars VII Gets A Title

"The Force Awakens." Why was it napping? Is it because the average age of the cast is 87?

I was excited back in the Nineties when Lucas announced The Phantom Menace. I really was. After the story-telling abortion of the prequels, I have a hard time getting excited about even more Star Wars movies. And, having it directed by J.J. Abrams is not a draw for me. I'm expecting another Pepsi-and-Pop-Rocks fueled festival of lens flare, swooping cameras, and a disregard for telling any kind of interesting or engrossing story.

I'm sure the effects will be fine. They'll probably be some exciting action sequences. But after films like Super-8 and Star Trek: Into Darkness I have little confidence in Abrams delivering a film with anything other than the most cursory and cookie-cutter story and characters needed to justify a two-hour-long orgy of people running around and space-ships exploding. And I want more than that.

Free Games!!!!!

How did I miss that the Internet Archive has a browser based emulator for some sweet coin-ops from the 1980s? It must be all the paint I've been huffing lately.

Anyway, there are some great titles here - Bosconian, Star Trek, Discs of Tron, Timepilot, Galaga and Galaxian....I'm having a flashback to my childhood and the hundreds of hours spent in arcades. The keyboard controls aren't the greatest; but, we're talking about hundreds of free games. do you really want to be the guy who looks a gift horse in the mouth?

Actually, I don't want to look at any horse's mouth. Childhood horse trauma.

Grab a roll of quarters, slip on your Walkman headphones and start playing.

Bonus: There was a time when coin-op video games inspired sings. My favorite - "Froggy's Lament" from the album Pac Man Fever. Enjoy.

Short Attention Span Review - Snowpiercer (2013)

Set on a perpetual motion train in the frozen future of 2031, Snowpiercer is not a movie to examine logically. Really, the premise is pretty silly and there are a lot of questions that the story raises that go unanswered. However, if you approach the movie as a fable, a story with moral messages, then it holds together pretty well. It helps that some of the leads (Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton) turn in solid performances, the action scenes are intense and the set and costume design is believable.

After a hair-brained attempt to stop global warming goes awry and causes a new ice age, a tiny segment of humanity exists on a train, one that navigates path across every continent (except Antarctica). The passengers exist in a strict class system with those farthest from the engine live in squalor, the middle classes occupying the "working cars" (food production, water purification, train systems) in the middle and the decadent upper class living in drug dens and sauna cars in the front. This is not a subtle story.

Curtis (Chris Evans), one of those dwelling in the rear, organizes a revolution and manages to fight his way to the engine, losing most of his followers along the way. He confronts the train designer, Wilford (Ed Harris). Wilford explains that the entire revolt had been planned by himself and Curtis' mentor, Gilliam (John Hurt) as a way to cut down on excess population and maintain equilibrium on the train. Wilford offers Curtis the job of being the new engineer, keeping the train running and humanity alive. For a moment, he almost agrees. Then he finds out that children from the tail of the train are being used to replace worn out parts of the engine. He helps drug addict/train security system developer Namgoong (Song Kang-ho) and his stoner/possibly psychic daughter Yona (Go Ah-sung) blow a hole in the side of the train. Curtis also damages the engine by jamming his arm into the mechanism. The explosion causes an avalanche, destroying the train. Yona and five-year-old Timmy (Marcanthonee Reis) are the only survivors. As they emerge from the wreckage, they spot a polar bear in the distance. The End.

The end of the movie...and of the human race. This is a pretty bleak film. Starting with the attempt to manipulate the environment (something some people actually want to do; read more about climate engineering) everyone makes bad decisions, often for good reasons. In the context of the train, the first mistake was letting people like Curtis on in the first place. The train was set up as a closed system, but, for some reason, Wilford let one thousand extra people on-board. Wilford's overseers, led by Mason (the incredible Tilda Swinton) think they are doing what is necessary to ensure the survival of the human race. If that means taking children and using them as slave labor, so be it. Curtis and his followers think they are going to win a better life for themselves; but given the conditions on the train, it is hard to see how that would work. Even if successful, they would just become another ruling class (the end result of most proletarian revolutions). The final result of all these choices; the extinction of humanity.

I've read some analyses of the film claiming it is anti-capitalist; maybe that's what the filmmakers intended. But, it seems much more pro-middle class than anything else. The poor - those in the rear - produce nothing. They are not proles in the sense of laborers; they are an indigent class, on the dole. They are the restless hordes of the welfare state, something that is a hallmark of the social welfare state. The rich are shown to be equally worthless. It is the middle class - the farmers, repairmen, security personnel and the like - who actually do the things necessary to keep everyone alive. In addition, it is a productive capitalist, Wilford, who develops the means for survival, the Engine. The film makes it clear that the only government program mentioned - the attempt at climate engineering - is a disaster. It is also clear that the system in place on the train is not a liberal, free-market democracy; it has more in common with a tyrannical prison-state like North Korea (no surprise since director Bong Joon-Ho is from South Korea).

In this sense, the movie is actually pretty pro-free market, at least as far as it deals with functional economics, class mobility and political freedom. It is an alliance between the productive capitalist and the middle class that keeps the train functioning. It eventually falls apart when the rich (who produce nothing) and poor (who have nothing) clash. It also shows what happens when the productive capitalist becomes enamored with the product of the free-market system (represented by the Engine), but allows the actual system, and the inherent risks to power and wealth necessitated by social-ecnomic mobility and dispersed political power, to atrophy.

To enjoy the film, you have to accept the premise and not nit-pick the film; this is not hard science fiction. What it is, is a thought provoking mediation on political and economic philosophy, punctuated by ax fights, wrapped up in the trappings of sci-fi. Anyway, check the film out.

Dawn of the Dead Opening Sequence, Fan Edit

And that fan is me. This shows you what you can do with Final Cut, access to riot videos on YouTube, and way too much free time. Oh, and a love for one of the best opening credit sequences ever made.

So, I stuck with the original length and soundtrack. I originally thought about using the full version of Johnny Cashes "The Man Comes Around" but thought four-and-a-half minutes might be a bit much. I also kept some of the original footage. Hope you enjoy it. It was fun to make and I did learn about some of the neat features that FCPX offers.

Halloween Moviefest 2014 - Trick R Treat

I just did a review of this film so there is not much more to say. Expect I never get tired of watching it. And it is awesome. And, if you don't like it, the terrorists win.

One thing that I don't think I mentioned was the opening credits. They are done in comic book style and set the while Creepy/Eerie/Tales From The Crypt tone of the film.

Update: Forgot the part where the kid barfs right into the camera. Yuck.

Update: Also, there's a great scene where Sam, the Halloween demon, is walking down some stairs, dragging a sack and you can hear cats meowing with each thump.

Update: If someone says something "stinks like a dead whore"is he being colorful...or is he speaking from experience? Hmmm....

Update: I love the horrified looks on the kids faces when they come across the adult costume party/orgy.

Update: Halloween School Bus Massacre sounds like it should be a movie title. Or the name of a death metal band.

Update: Foreshadowing through wheezing. Nice touch.

Update: Uggh....nasty compound fracture make-up. Grossest part of the film.

Halloween Moviefest 2014

Every year, right around Halloween, I have a marathon movie session. People come over, we eat, drink and watch lots of sci-fi and horror. This year, today is that day. Here's the line-up:

• Trick R Treat
• The Exorcism of Emily Rose
• Edge of Tomorrow
• American Mary
• Black Swan
• Prince of Darkness
• The Last Exorcism
• The Exorcist

Plus trailers, shorts, and other Halloween related stuff. I'll be posting as I go, so, check back and see what you are all missing.

Potentially Disappointing News About American Horror Story

Series creator Ryan Murphy, during an interview with Entertainment Weekly revealed that all of the season of American Horror Story are interconnected.

Ugh.

I liked having each season as an independent entity, an examination of different themes and tropes in the horror genre. With Murphy's statement, does that mean there is one big universe with aliens, ghosts, witches, evil clowns and demons? does that mean we have multiple Jessica Lange's running around? Are all the Dylan McDermott's connected?

I hope this is more of a thematic statement or that there are little Easter Eggs in each season. But, that does not seem to be the case. Here's the question and answer;

So you’re saying that season four is connected to season one?
They’re all connected. We’re just beginning to tell you how they’re connected. They’re all very separate but there’s clues every season that we’re now telling you how the different worlds are intertwined.

"[A]ll very separate but...the different worlds are intertwined." What does that mean, exactly?

Oh, wait, I know what it means; it means I have to re-watch every episode and figure out how they all are inter-related. Thanks a lot, Mr. Murphy, for forcing me to watch this awesome series once again.

Seriously, I have my doubts about this. I also wonder if his statement will lead to some retconning. Did the show's creative team really think "hey, every season is interconnected" before they even knew there would be multiple seasons? Are we going to get something like the collapse of Chris Carter's X-Files "alien mythology" when it became clear that he had never fully thought out that plot-line? Not everything needs a huge meta-story; I thought the initial concept of American Horror Story was brilliant. It may turn out that the season interconnections are subtle and unimportant. It may also turn out that the ties are deep, important and well-developed, in which case, I'll be writing an article saying "Ryan Murphy is a frickin' genius!"

Right now, I'll just adopt a wary stance and see what happens.