As a person of mixed racial descent, I have this to say:  Don’t let ignorant race baiting prevent you from going to see The Last Airbender or overshadow your enjoyment of the film.  It’s a magical fable of balance and imbalance, harmony and disharmony, action and consequence, power and loss, innocence and character growth.  It transcends racial and gender stereotypes, but only if you let it.  If you can’t recapture your youth and suspend your disbelief, borrow a kid and see it through new eyes.

Opening Day

I recently did a review of the soundtrack for The Last Airbender.   I was inspired by it to attend the first opening day showing in my area on July 1st.  It was even too early to buy popcorn.  Our local multiplex was packed with little kids, parents, tweens and teens.

We were one almost 8 year-old boy, one each – middle aged man & woman, and one 20-something young woman.  I was concerned with how M. Knight Shyamalan would handle the transition from our beloved Nickelodeon animated series (Avatar, the Last Airbender) to live action.  Hands down, we all loved The Last Airbender film.  Theatergoers seemed happy as well.

The soundtrack did not disappoint.  It complemented the film’s evocative style.

There were movie moments where the dialogue felt stiff, and/or didn’t translate well from the cartoon.  Notably, “Is there a spiritual place where I can mediate?”  I’ve rolled that line around repeatedly since opening day, and eventually concluded that, considering the target audience of kids of all religious and ethnic persuasions, there weren’t many substitute lines that wouldn’t either a) assume knowledge of certain religious disciplines or b) require education in same.

It sometimes seemed they could have shown a little more and told a little less.  In fairness, the animated series does a lot of telling as well.  There were series characters missing from the film.  Some will make their appearance in subsequent trilogy film chapters.  Sadly, others may forever remain on the cutting room floor.  Aapa and Momo lacked some warmth, but were strikingly translated into the physical.

The film world was very blue in color, but beautiful; as seemed fitting with Book 1 in the series titled, “Water.”

Next: It’s a kid’s movie.  Let’s say that together.  It’s a kid’s movie.  This film is NOT for you if:

1. You want gratuitous gore; i.e., decapitating, blood spurting, disemboweling action.
2. You can’t be a kid again.
3. You are too cool (see 2.)
4. You are a reviewer who has never seen the original animated series, and thus are ignorant of the premise/storyline.
5. You go to films searching for racism, thus always finding it.
6. You want sex, drugs, and rock and roll on the screen.

We saw Airbender in 2-D, not 3-D. I’ve read that the 3-D appears darker and murkier than the 2-D, but then I’ve read a lot about The Last Airbender.  It’s not my normal practice when reviewing anything, but I was warned about the firestorm, so to speak.

Some reviews remind me of the old restaurant joke: “Waiter, the food is terrible, and there’s not enough of it.”

It’s Not Easy Being Green

This Avatar (The Last Airbender) has one thing in common with the OTHER Avatar, which commandeered the extant animated series name (legally, as there are no copyrights for titles that aren’t trademarked/brands).  There were accusations of racism.

The primary gripe in The Last Airbender is that Noah Ringer, Caucasian twelve year-old, plays Aang.  Ringer has a 1st degree black belt in Taekwondo.  He heard about Airbender auditions through his Taekwondo club and sent the casting folks a video.  It’s fortunate that the casting call sheet apparently welcomed “Caucasians and all other races” to apply.  Otherwise, we might have missed the debut of a most promising performer, as white actors would have been reluctant to try.  He does a great job.  I believe him as Aang.  More importantly, kids believe him as Aang.

Nicola Peltz plays Katara. She is apparently whitey whitersons as well.  She exuded Katara. Her performance was outstanding.




Monroe Jackson Rathbone, of Twilight fame, plays Sokka.  And yes (ba-da-dum), he’s Caucasian, and he’s reportedly not related to Basil Rathbone, but descended from a Standard Oil magnate.  I particularly liked his assumption of animated Sokka’s  crooked smile.  Well done.

The other principal in this film is not Caucasian, and is arguably the most important, pivotal character of the entire series.

Zuko:  Dev Patel, best known for Slumdog Millionaire, plays Zuko; Patel is also an amateur martial artist, with a black belt in Taekwondo, and a 2004 AIMAA World Champion bronze medalist.

Zuko’s plight with his father, Ozai is not so dissimilar from Arthur’s with (an albeit kinder) Uther in the SyFy channel series, Merlin.    This is where ignorance and willfully determined pissivity come into play.  To all of you who think that Zuko and the Fire Nation are cast as dark, swarthy skinned people because they are the villains: Hello, your own racial prejudices are showing.  Guess why?

Little bitty spoiler for one of the later series films, but only if you never watched the animated series:

Because ZUKO is not only a reluctant villain early on in the series, but becomes a big HERO in the series storyline.  In fact, he could arguably be the biggest actual hero in the story, leaving all the white folks in his dust!  This is where many reviewers ignorance shows.  Patel does a fine job as the (ahem) fiery  Zuko.

Shaun Toub, an Iranian-American actor, best known for his roles in Crash, and Iron Man, plays a svelte  Uncle Iroh.   He is the voice of reason, the traveling Wiseman.

Cliff Curtis, Ozai, Zuko’s dad, is of Maori descent, and best known for Whale Rider.

Aasif Mandvi, an Indian-born actor and comedian seen on the Daily Show, plays Commander Zhao.

Suzanne Gabriel, who is of Mexican descent, plays Princess Yue.

Keong Sim, the Earthbender Father, is Korean American (signaling the Earthbending Tribe will be Asian people. Damon Gupton, who is African American, plays Monk Gyatso, Aang’s mentor and father figure.

One last thought on race:  The Waterbenders could just as easily be based on Sami people as Inuit people.  Their physical appearances are quite diverse.  Just sayin’…

Dam*ed if you Do, So to Speak

Some of the Airbender backlash is obviously personal, and it’s perceived as a great time to sharpen your knives for Shyamalan:

There also seem to be a few who haven’t forgiven Shyamalan for not being the “next Spielberg,” as declared on the cover of Newsweek in 2000.

Click here for Shyamalan’s interview regarding of the cast of characters and The Last Airbender world.

Finally, let’s have a word from our target audience:   7-¾ year old boy quote: “My favorite part was when Aang told the Earthbenders to have courage.  I’ts awesome. It’s a great movie, and everyone in the world should go to see it.  I would give it 5 stars.”

Notable:

USA Today reviewer who may be a lone voice crying in the proverbial wilderness:

What explains the ticket sales? from the Washington Post

(Answer?  It’s a good family movie. )

Related posts:

1. Sounds of The Last Airbender
   Unlike many movie soundtracks, James Newton Howard’s, The Last Airbender soundtrack stands alone. Just because the guy has scored a few films (well, a few more than 100, and all...
2. Trailers are better than movies.
   I really need to stop reading RevolutionSF. I’m sure it’s a contributing factor for geeks with high blood pressure. Ah, who am I kidding? That wouldn’t help. It’s not RevSF’s...
3. Halloween (2007) DVD Review
         I was looking forward to seeing Rob Zombie’s version of Halloween. I even wrote a post about how excited I was.  I thought Rob Zombie was good...

FanaticSpace - Everyone loves something.

Unlike many movie soundtracks, James Newton Howard’s, The Last Airbender soundtrack stands alone.

Just because the guy has scored a few films (well, a few more than 100, and all of M. Night Shyamalan’s   films), has a few Oscar nominations (okay, he has eight of them),  is classically trained as well as pop & rock n’ roll credentialed…well just because of all of that, doesn’t mean that I would like this soundtrack!  Yeah, who does this guy think he is, anyway?  Time for a close encounter with a potential audience member:

My almost eight-year-old grandson, who is a serious fan of the animated series , donned his warrior pretend stuff and whirled around two rooms while I played the soundtrack.  Doing his best “bending” moves, he was completely caught up in the music.  Every now and again he would identify what he considered an element in the music and speak it, then act it out.  I asked him if he would listen to these tracks if they were on his mp3 player, and he said, “YES!”   Test Passed.

To me, the soundtrack has both the individual properties of the four elements (earth, air, fire, water), as well as a unifying uber-thematic quality that transcends each of those elements.  Okay, that’s about as geekorific as I am going to get.

The sound is BIG.  That’s the technical term for it.  Here are a few of the 12 tracks that were most notable to me.

Newton’s Airbender Suite with tribal drums and choral overlays was reminiscent of  Howard Shore’s, The Lord of the Rings, without being derivative.  (Rumor has it that more choral overlays from the Airbender film are missing from this soundtrack.)

Landing in the Earthbenders track, I could feel the music pounding from the feet of said Earthbenders, then smoothly moved into a quiet finish.

The Avatar Has Returned:   I’m assuming this corresponds to the Boy in the Iceberg animated episode, but who knows?  It gets a little creepy and Zelda-ish in tone in the beginning, but musically the effect works to make you apprehensive.  Then we moved into some pastoral orchestral and flute measures.

The Four Elements Test: This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road in my book.  Nuanced, suspenseful, and evocative, this was one of my favorites!

Journey to the Northern Water Tribe: Big sound again.  This music makes me cold just listening to it!  It’s a tune for a swift, cold journey that morphs into a majestic march and fade (where is my sweater?).

The Blue Spirit: A track that combines the sense of impending threat with the mystical to produce a powerful backdrop for visuals, either cinematic or imaginary. (If you follow the animated series, you may have an idea of what’s coming in the film here).

We Could be Friends: This track dances perilously close to Star Wars and Darth Vader,  but pulls out of it and moves on to weave back into itself and the clash of cymbals (and symbols, no doubt) hurls us into another quiet, somber space.

Flow Like Water is a grand finish to this soundtrack of the first film book of the trilogy.  It is to this soundtrack what the finale for John Barry’s Dances with Wolves was…layered and rich in sound (yes, big), but personal and tugging at heart-strings.

Avatar, the Last Airbender soundtrack is definitely worth hearing.  I don’t generally go to films when they first arrive in theaters.  Yet the Last Airbender soundtrack inspired me to buy tickets to the very first showing here, at 10:30 AM on Thursday, July 1st.  Mr. Howard, my virtual hat is tipped to you for that first.  I’ll let you know if the first movie lives up to the soundtrack!

Please note that all copyrighted media content in this post was provided by Cinemedia specifically for the purpose of this review.

Some Movie Links:

Official Film Site

Northern Water nation clips (not soundtrack music)

Aang training with Pakku

Appa!

Momo!
(also, supposition about where the soundtrack fits into the movie.)

Clips of the film

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G.I. Joe, a highly trained elite combat force takes on a well armed and well funded terrorist organization bent on ruling the world. Two soldiers who were transporting a new weapon prototype get caught up in the action.

The Good

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra had some pleasant surprises waiting for me. There were quite a few things I liked about the movie. I’ll go over one of those before moving on to things that turned out less than perfect.

Casting

There were some excellent casting choices made for this movie. At least 2 of them I scoffed at when I’d heard about them. I was wrong. Casting was one of the strong points of this movie.

Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) served as excellent comic relief, but he also carried a few of the scenes he appeared in. Even the budding romance had some nice moments. I was skeptical when I heard he was in the movie, but he did a good job. I’m glad he was chosen.

The character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt doesn’t really come into his own until well into the movie. I’d say that every scene he’s in is an important one though. So pay attention.

The Doctor. Even with heavy make-up obscuring all but one of his eyes, he managed to be creepy and intimidating. I don’t want to say much more than that, but that had to be said. Kudos on the performance.

Backstory

The main cast of the characters all seem to have a decent history. While those histories might not match what long time Joe fans remember, but most of them suit the characters. There’s one major exception that I’ll get to later on.

The best personal story in the movie has to be the one between Snake Eyes (played by Ray Park) and Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee). The defining moment in their relationship happens when they’re very young. I guess they saved money by not hiring another set of actors to play them as young adults. I wonder what they spent it on?

That’s about it for the good stuff.

The Bad

This is the one thing that, in my opinion, did the most to ruin the movie.

The Baroness

The Baraoness herself (Sienna Miller) was ok. Not great, but not terrible either. The problem with The Baroness is the fault of the writers. The core of the character was gutted to make her sympathetic.

That is a damn shame.

The Baroness is as much of a villain as Cobra Commander or Destro. To portray her as a victim that needs to be saved is sickening. This is one of the points about the movie that I have to avoid dwelling on. They’ve taken a character beloved by millions and turned her into something that fans try to avoid thinking about because she’s so pathetic.

The Ugly

Costumes and CGI

Why does Snake Eyes need lips on his ninja costume?

Do they work? Why? He doesn’t talk.

Storm Shadow doesn’t have lips on his ninja suit. They turn what was a costume of legendary coolness into some sort of creepy fetish nightmare. You can ignore them most of the time, but the closeups make it impossible to forget about them completely.

The CGI is inconsistent. Some of it looks ok, but some of it looks like it was done on some production assistant’s iMac iPhone iPod. Nano. That’s bad, but it gets even worse. One of the most pivotal effects in the movie looks the crappiest and would have been better off if it were done with make-up.

Cobra Commander’s mask just looks stupid. Yeah, I’m nit picking now, but it’s tough to let this one pass when I’ve seen better renditions of Cobra Commander at Dragon*Con.

The Verdict

Rent it.

Unless you’re a huge G.I. Joe fan that’s been waiting to see this movie, like me, just wait for the Blu-Ray/DVD. It’s not worth spending the money to see it at the movies. Especially not when you’re gonna wish you’d watched it on a small screen that might hide those creepy lips on Snake Eyes’ mask.

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I’ve wanted to see The Host from the first time I saw the trailer. I was finally able to get hold of it recently. Could it really live up to that kind of promise? I was kind of skeptical, because that trailer is awesome. This had to be an example of the ads being better that the movie. Right?

Wrong.

This movie, though different from the trailer, is much better. There may be less humor than I expected, but it’s far from humorless.  This movie can be very intense at times and the tension has to be broken up. What better way to do that than with a laugh?

Family Life

Family plays a very important role in The Host. What could goad someone to rush heedlessly into life threatening situations faster than a family member in danger?

The Park family own and operate a food stall on the banks of the Han river. Three generations work, and apparently live, in this cozy little shop.

Gang-du has just been scolded by his father for eating the customer’s food when his daughter Hyun-seo arrives home from school. We find out that her uncle is a drunk and we see her aunt compete in an archery competition on TV. A quick and elegant way to set up the family dynamic that drives the movie.

Did you see that?

It isn’t long before the real fun begins. While delivering an order Gang-du notices a crowd and goes to find out what they’re looking at.

This scene does a great job in transitioning between the relaxing family life and the chaos that’s about to take place.  The tension quickly builds as we get a peek at something very strange. We know this isn’t going to turn out well, but unfortunately I believe the reactions of the crowd are far too realistic.

“Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming.”– Dr. Ian Malcolm from The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Running and Screaming

When all hell does break loose we’re treated to a well planned and amazingly executed scene of pandemonium. All the games of hide and seek with the monster are over. The creature comes out to play and it is amazing. I can’t imagine what this scene cost to make. It would probably be cheaper to genetically engineer a monster and turn it loose.

(FanaticSpace does not condone the genetic engineering of monsters, Fem-Bots are a different matter.)

It all leads to this. We know from the trailer that this is going to happen, but it’s still difficult to watch. As cool as the monster is, the performances by Ah-sung Ko as Hyun-seo and Kang-ho Song as Gang-du are heartbreaking. 

That’s just the beginning… 

 

Verdict

The entire cast is rock solid. The characters are believable, if a bit quirky, and the performances were great. They’ll have you laughing and crying and, at least once, you might wind up doing both.

The effects were unbelievable, in the good way. The monster looked like real flesh and blood. It even looked real in scenes that you know it couldn’t have been in, scenes that had to be CGI.

If you have any interest at all in monster movies then you have to see The Host.

Rent it, borrow it or buy it. Just see see The Host.

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Story

The town of Barrow Alaska goes without sunlight for 30 days every year. This natural phenomena is caused by living inside the arctic circle, a tough and unforgiving place. In an environment that harsh 30 days without sunlight is bad enough, but things are about to get worse.

A lot of people leave town during this dark time, but not everyone. If anyone stays behind then the law has to stay with ‘em. Sheriff Eben Oleson, played by Josh Hartnett, is settling in and getting ready to wait out the darkness. He’s been through this before and he knows what’s in store for him, or he thinks he knows. Things will be different this time when the sun goes down.

As the town is preparing to survive a month of darkness, other preparations are being made. Creatures of darkness are getting ready to lay siege to this town trapped by a night that lasts for 30 days. The Stranger in town, played by Ben Foster (pictured left), has come to make sure the town is ready. He paves the way and acts as the harbinger of doom.

My Opinion

30 Days of Night is one of the better vampire movies to come along in the last 10 to 15 years. The vampires are scary, the situation is creepy and the blood is plentiful. Almost everything about the movie was done right. On top of that, the DVD has some great features.

The Vampires

The vampires in 30 Days of Night are truly frightening. No opera capes or frilly shirts here. You can forget about the whiny French bloodsuckers. These are the real deal. These are monsters.

A lot is different about these vampires. From thier teeth to the way they act, they seem more like predators than the parasitic vampires we’re used to. They don’t bite, they shred. These aren’t bats, they’re sharks.

Special Features

Most of the extras on the DVD are the basics. There are previews for other movies and the normal stuff. There are a couple of things that I thought was worth the name Special Feature.

First Episode of Blood+

The first episode of Blood+ is included as an extra. I love anime and this is a good one. Like the creatures in 30 Days of Night, the Chiropterans are a different sort of bloodsucker.

This is a really good anime. I think the anime movie that the show is based on is a better match for 30 Days of Night though. The movie, Blood: The Last Vampire, has a much darker story than the series.

Featurettes

The featurettes on the DVD are great. They’re kinda short, running between 5 to 10 minutes each, but they’re extremely entertaining. It is kind of weird to see what some of the actors are really like, especially the vampires, but it just makes you appreciate their acting talents all the more.

Verdict

30 Days of Night is a great vampire movie. With wonderful performances by the entire cast, solid writing and direction, 30 Days of Night will not disappoint. I’d highly recommend this movie to anyone that likes their vampires scary.

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Warning: Disjointed Spoilers ahead!

It’s time for another fannish sci-fi movie review. We went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull . It was part of my birthday celebration. We arrived in time for the late show on Saturday night. This was a deliberate move on our part, to have a better choice of seats. I am 6 feet tall with big hair (naturally big hair, no matter what I do…like Monica hair. No, not that Monica, sheesh, the Friends’ Monica). I mean, really, like um all seats are bad for me in the megaplex movie theaters, ya know? But some are worse than others. We obtained good seats…near the middle, in front of the low balcony-ish rail, meaning I could stretch my long legs out a bit. No one behind me suffered. No one in front of me, either. My husband is long suffering, but that’s another story for another time.

So there we were. It’s possible that we weren’t disappointed because we had few expectations. I was one of the naysayers who thought it was perhaps a tad late to have Harrison Ford reprise his role as Indiana Jones. I even wrote a snarky filk song about it. I was wrong (but I won’t stop singing the filk cuz it’s funny). Let’s be real, folks. Indiana Jones flicks are like the quintessential pulp fiction genre books brought to the screen. Spare me your disappointments because Indy was your hero when you were a kid, and now you’re a grown up, and the magic is not as magical, etc., etc., ad nauseum. Spare me the reality that Harrison Ford is not a spring chicken, and wasn’t even one during the the golden old days of Indiana Jones. I thought Ford played the role both appropriately and with surly humor. Perhaps the juxtaposition of the DVD promotions and the flicks being shown on TV created a disconnect for some of you. Get over it!

It didn’t (nor was it supposed to) take a rocket scientist to figure out that Mutt would be revealed as Indy’s love child with the prodigal Marion Ravenwood. The interplay between Indy and Mutt was sardonic and amusing. The rekindled romance between Indy and Marion was kitschy, sappy, and fun. “It’s not the years, honey, it’s the mileage.” Yes, (gasp), it’s true. We had a crankier, older Indiana Jones on the screen. Get over it!

Favorite Moments:

“I Have a Bad Feeling About This”
The above line should require no explanation for the true fan. That’s all I’m saying about it.

One of my favorite moments was “the dry quicksand scene.” As they are sinking, Indy is holding forth about the difference between wet and dry quicksand. Mutt brings a huge snake back to rescue Mom and Indy from said dry quicksand. Mom grabs hold of the snake quickly and is pulled to safety. Indy’s snake phobia, as explained in The Last Crusade, nearly won out. But hey, He Got Over It long enough to move on.

Other Favorite Things:

Like most who grew up in the “Duck and Cover” era of the 50s-60sr, I adored the lead-lined refrigerator scene in the Nevada Nuclear Testing Town.

Cate Blanchett: Putting her own spin on Rosa Klebb, in From Russia With Love, with more than a dash of Natasha Fatale from Bullwinkle, she plays Agent Irina Spalko. Blanchett is apparently suing her dialog coach
for teaching her to speak like a caricature. Pssst! Cate, come here. If you hadn’t filed a lawsuit, everyone would have thought you did your performance that way on purpose…as part of the campy atmosphere of Indiana Jones! You were funny! This is not “Elizabeth.”

Another scene I loved was when Marion (Karen Allen) advised Mutt, during a chase and fight scene, “Riposte!” Her facial expressions were priceless throughout the film, much like her lovely knitting creations.
Note: Mutt’s self-chosen name in the film is less interesting than the actor’s name, which apparently translates to “Praise God” (Shia, pronounce Shyuh) [for] “Beef” (LaBoef)

Overall…

Too much CGI? I’m not sure, but the last time I checked, the actual destruction of ancient ruins to make a film is forbidden (though damage often occurs, but I digress). The ants were computer generated? I don’t care. I had my eyes closed. Every Indiana Jones movie has a gross, violent, death to bad guy scene in it. I can’t compare this one to the others, because I had my eyes closed then, too!

After the de rigueur preliminaries, there was non-stop action. The plot was not heavy, thank ye gods. What a disappointment that would have been! Yet, the myth of the Crystal Skulls was credibly fictionally interpreted…yes there really are bizarre crystal skulls with a myth. The fact that this myth is more obscure than either The Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail shouldn’t lessen the moviegoer’s pleasure. It’s not like you can’t look it up online if you haven’t heard of it, or if you missed the Sci-Fi channel’s nearly laughable regurgitation of it. You don’t even have to go to a library (I know, I know, what’s a library?).

My single whine is that there wasn’t as much of the trademark bullwhip cracking as in days of yore. Maybe Harrison Ford has arthritis in his shoulder. It’s a small gripe, and one I only thought of post-movie viewing. But then, I was not among the myriad boys-to-men who went to see the current film and their boyhood idol, Indiana Jones, with their adult brains full of mortgages and gas prices. You wanted Indiana Jones to take you back to the proverbial bygone era of your childhood, but you forgot to check your disbelief (and your Blackberry) at the door. Yes, I am going to say it again. Get over it!

I have read complaints about: aliens, unlikely scenarios, weird natives, spaceships, and obscure references. Think about this. You take a combination of George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg and get aforementioned aliens, unlikely scenarios, spaceships, and obscure references…and you were surprised? What’s wrong with you people?

There’s a comprehensive goofs page at IMDB. How can anyone with any sort of intellectual capacity still like Indy IV after they have read all the “goofs”? I dunno. Oh wait, perhaps it’s because Indiana Jones movies are fiction and not documentaries!

If you want to go see your own personal schizophrenic ideal of the perfect Indiana Jones flick (whatever that is) because the voices in your head have been telling you for years what it should be, then don’t go see this film. If on the other hand, you are ready to suspend your disbelief and have a good time with a rollicking story, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is an excellent way to do it.

Shiny1 is sometimes known as Patricia deVarennes

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You might be familiar with the AFI Top 100 list. Every year they publish a top 100 list of movies as well as produce a TV show that goes over the list. The best thing about it though is that it can be a great way to get arguments started among movie fans. This year, there will be more arguments then ever.

The List Gets Broken

There are a couple of downsides to a list like that. The list can be skewed. Skewed in favor of older movies because people think they have to be on the list, newer movies that may not age well or any number of ways. That’s a problem with any big list like a top 100. The biggest problem in my view is popularity over quality. Big movies can take up more of the list than they really deserve, simply because more people have seen them. Movies from lesser known categories can be overlooked altogether, no matter how good they are.

Not this year.

AFI is changing things up. Instead of one big list of movies they’re releasing 10 lists of 10 movies. The 10 lists will be the best 10 movies in 10 different categories. If my math isn’t mistaken that’s 1,000,000 10,000 1,000 100 movies. (I forgot to carry the 1)

You can check out the full list of nominees at the 10 Top 10 page of the American Film Instituteweb site. It does require a registration, but I think the AFI has bigger plans than spamming or phishing.

To find out if your favorite movie, or even category, made the cut check out the TV show this June. It airs Tuesday, June 17 at 8:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT on the CBS.

*coughcoughJerichocoughcough*

I’d like to thank Hannah Kang for pointing this out to me. Thanks Hannah.

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Thanks to a Christmas stocking full of horror DVDs I began thinking about public domain movies. If I can get copies of public domain movies, I could offer ‘em up on FanaticSpace. Yeah, a lot of public domain movies are crappy, but there are some that are great. Even a few genre classics like Night of the Living Dead have fallen into the public domain.

While looking into finding some decent movies in the public domain I found at least 4 of the movies that were in my stocking on Christmas morning. No wonder they can sell 16 movies for $15, they’re using movies they don’t need to pay for. I’m not complaining, there are some good movies there. Which makes me think that offering movies on FanaticSpace could work.

The movies I’d prefer to feature would be in the vien of the classic drive-in B movies. Cheesy sci-fi and horror movies would take a prominent place in the selection. You know the kind of movies you used to be able to find on TV late on a weekend night. The kinds of movies that would have a host making fun of them between commercial breaks.

Sadly it seems that the era of Elvira – Mistress of the Dark may have faded. The days of Joe Bob Briggs might be a part of the past. I truly hope that’s not the case. I wouldn’t want to imagine a world so bereft of joy and wonder.

Do not go quietly into that dark night of stale television programming. If you must watch something titled Two and a Half Men then please make sure there is a severed torso involved.

Not the dead hooker in the trunk of Charlie Sheen’s car, that doesn’t count.

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A Fannish First Look

Stargate, the Ark of Truth, a Stargate SG1 feature-length adventure, was released March 11, 2008. It should not disappoint die-hard Stargate fans. While it’s definitely not a stand-alone movie…most viewers will not care. Writer-Producer-Director Robert Cooper and the cast made this one for the fans. The Ark completes the Ori story arc, leaving few threads unraveled. There are several Bonus Features.

Before watching the movie, I started with The Road Taken: Prelude to The Ark of Truth. Its nine-minute capsule of brain jogging scenes begins with Cam Mitchell joining the team, and continues with a few germane Vala snippets, such as her spawning of the Orici, Adria. Moving into the Merlin story line, and Adria’s ascension; it concludes with the shared Asgard upgrades, and Cam Mitchell stating that they need a new plan, “a damn good one.” If, as you’re reading this, you say, “what is she talking about,” then don’t bother to watch The Ark of Truth until you’ve seen at least some of the Season 9 & 10 SG1 episodes. This Prelude reminds us how we (SG1 & fans) got here, but certainly won’t do much to enlighten non-series fans. Pardon me if this doesn’t bother me too much. I’ve been waiting for this DVD, and pre-ordered my copy from Amazon. Short and sweet, the Prelude sets the tone for The Ark feature.

Slight Spoilers

Spoilers may be contained from here on: Proceed at your own peril. However, if you want extensive spoilers, go here.

The Ark of Truth opens in an Alteran (aka Ancients) underground meeting long ago, with scientists arguing about, and ultimately deciding not to use, the Ark of Truth. This Ancient device can apparently cause people to believe whatever is programmed into it. The Alterans are considering utilizing it to disabuse the regular folk into believing that the Ori are gods. In the latter part of the movie, Vala seems to reveal that the device can only brainwash people into believing that which is true.

We skip on into present day Dakara, with Michael Shanks returning as Daniel Jackson, Christopher Judge as the inimitable Teal’c, and Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran, searching for the Ark of Truth. Daniel has been experiencing visions of Merlin, whose non-corporeal appearance is believed to be caused by Daniel-Merlin’s residual memories. Those grail-ish visions provide clues to the Ark’s location. Daniel and Vala are bickering about how to open a chest believed to contain it. Sam and Cam are guarding the perimeter with an SG contingent. Teal’c says, “Quiet! As Daniel and Vala turn to him in surprise, Tomin and an army of soldiers for the Ori overtake them. With the aid of the Ori dampening device, SG1 prevails, and gains a convert in Tomin. This sets the proverbial stage for the quest for The Ark of Truth.

Beau Bridges smoothly reprises his gruff but lovable SG1 series character, Major General Landry.

Tom Guinee, who portrays Ori commander Tomin as well as Vala’s nearly ex-husband in the series, is key in two intense scenes. The first is an interrogation scene between Tomin and Marrick, Woolsey’s IOA replacement. Marrick is played with fanatic intensity by first-timer Currie Graham. Marrick starts out with an ultra-soft query about Tomin’s position…and ratchets it up to hysterical emotions when he asks Tomin how many innocent people he has been responsible for slaughtering. It’s a little over the top, but without this hysteria, we might not find Marrick’s continued prominent and nefarious role as believable. This scene, in turn, sets up the second emotional scene with Tomin and Teal’c, who, for the first time, tersely addresses living with his own blood-soaked history as Apophis’ First Prime.

The physical quest for The Ark involves taking the Odyssey, souped up with Asgard technology, through the SuperGate to Ortus Mallum, with Marrick in tow. When Cam reluctantly takes the Captain’s chair after a verbal altercation with Marrick, a momentary nod is given to their own SG1 200th episode and to Star Trek Next Gen when Cam says, “Weapons to maximum” and “Make it go.”

Sam (the irreplaceable Amanda Tapping) and Cam (the irrepressible Ben Browder) must leave Daniel, Teal’c, Vala, and Tomin on Ortus Mallum (Place of Origin), while they return to the Odyssey. Marrick has activated the Asgard core, creating a signature the Ori can use to locate them.

Our old friends, the Replicators are back, courtesy of the IOA.

Meanwhile, back on the planet, Teal’c is shot, and the others captured by the Ori and taken to Celestis, creating a two-front crisis for the split team of SG-1. Teal’c has some incredible scenes crossing snowy mountains and arriving at Celestis. Robert Cooper credits Teal’c as being the hero of the story. He does INDEED have a very significant role to play. He also has some interesting assistance from an Ancient.

Julian Sands cameo as the Ori chief Prior Doci in Celestis is small, but Sands is a past master at portraying wickedness in all its varied forms.

“Merlin’s ghost” (ably reprised by Matthew Walker ), Morgan Le Fay (Sarah Strange), and Adria (Morena Baccarin, a favorite Firefly alum) all return in the direct Ark story arc [sic].

IOA idiocy nearly scuttles the quest/mission in a spectacular manner. There are a few surprises here and there in this epic, but IOA’s misjudgement is just business as usual!

A Terminator homage is included, and it’s all really good fun.

More BonusFeatures
The “Uncovering the Ark of Truth” making-of-the-movie video segment is worth the watch. I didn’t get through the additional entire blow-by-blow audio commentary with Robert Cooper, but I will at some point. I know audio commentary has become a staple, but I wish they had compressed it a bit, as there are long moments as each scene comes along and sometimes; there just isn’t a lot to say. The information, when it does come, is fascinating.

We learn that Christopher Judge did his helicopter-shot mountain vista scenes in person, with no stunt double. We hear Cooper talking about the danger they unwittingly created for Judge in their ignorance of the helicopter’s maneuvering to accomplish long camera shots. Ben Browder apparently takes a punch so much better than most, that they structured scenes to cameo it in conjunction with their Terminator moment.

The Ark of Truth, Stargate at Comic-Con is highly amusing, especially for someone like me, who has yet to be able to get into an actual convention panel at DragonCon to see them. (okay, so I don’t like to get up before dawn to stand in line for a panel, my bad). They take questions, and answer them with humor and aplomb.

The soundtrack was impressive. Composer, Joel Goldsmith uses the original Stargate movie theme, by David Arnold, as a familiar springboard into a new epic movie score.

Overall, I thought The Ark of Truth was well done. It was shot in 35 mm, instead of HD, to give a more cinematic feel and texture to the story. It works for me. I can’t be entirely objective, because I have always been a fan of Stargate SG1.

I followed the transition from “old school” with Richard Dean Anderson to “New School” with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, and Beau Bridges. One of the highlights of The Ark of Truth for me: The “new” characters that struggled a bit during SG1 season 9, and who were just getting comfortable in Season 10, were fully realized in this feature. There wasn’t a single moment of “Cam-Crichton” in the entire epic, cross my heart. I say that as a certifiable Farscape fan.

The characters have always been the magic in SG1 for me. I’m glad I stuck it out. In the next feature, “Continuum,” Jack O’Neill returns to rescue his former team. I look forward to his return even more than I would have, now that the “New School” characters are comfy in their universe.

Shiny1 is often known as Patricia deVarennes.

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FanaticSpace - Everyone loves something.

I’m not a sports fan. That’s why I didn’t bother to watch the Super Bowl. I knew that I could see the cool commercials today. I kinda wish I’d watched it after seeing a couple of ‘em. Here are the ones I liked.

Iron Man

Iron Man – Paramount Pictures

I’m starting to change my mind about the Iron Man movie. I looks like it might actually be good. If he spends more time in the suit than he does as Tony Stark it could be great.

Leatherheads

Leatherheads – Universal Pictures

Looks like George Clooney is finally getting back to what he does best, comedy. Not just that, but period comedy like the best movie he ever made O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Guess who else is going back to comedy after making some depressing crap…

You Don’t Mess With the Zohan

You Don’t Mess With the Zohan – Sony Pictures

Adam Sandler! Woooo! Goofy characters with weird accents. This could be the character he was born to play, or it could be crap. You can never tell with an Adam Sandler movie.

Oh, and speaking of movies you can’t tell about…

Jumper

Jumper – 20th Century Fox

Looks like they took Nightcrawler, from the X-Men, and made him less blue and fuzzy. Probably a lot less interesting too.

Other Commercials

If you want to see the rest of the commercials, including a couple more movies that look kinda crappy, then head over to the 2008 Commercial Bowl powered by Spike and iFilm.

: Super Bowl Commercials, Movies, Iron Man, Leatherheads, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Jumper, Video, George Clooney, Adam Sandler

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FanaticSpace - Everyone loves something.