My review of Quantum of Solace

My take on the latest Bond film:

Craig returns for his second go, sans Campbell, as the world's most famous spy in Quantum of Solace, a direct sequel to the previous movie. Sadly, like his predecessors, Craig failed to shake the sophomore doldrums.

In the midst of careening cars on the streets of Siena, Italy, Quantum picks up soon after the conclusion of Royale as Bond begins his quest to avenge Vesper's death. Following the opening credits, director Marc Forester attempts to recapture the excitement of the previous film's frenetic, parkour chase, but fails miserably. This sequence typifies a flaw throughout. By using too many closeups and jerky camera angles, the scenes become murky and indecipherable.

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Twice the Indy...

My review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is now available at Revolution SF.

As in the seminal Raiders of the Lost Ark, the relationship between Indy and Marion drives the story. Their ceaseless bickering never tires, though disappointingly often interrupted by the abundance of action. The absence of this interaction weakened both the dreadful Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and the excellent Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This latest adventure all but destroys George Lucas's contention that featuring a different leading lady in each Indy story strengthened the series. Any Indiana Jones project without Marion Ravenwood immediately begins with a handicap.

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Also in the current Austin Chronicle is my review of Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection.

By way of 1930s movie serials, exotic locales, and witty scripts, the Indiana Jones films introduced one of the most popular and exciting action heroes of the 20th century. The whip-wielding archaeologist Indiana Jones, portrayed by the rakish Harrison Ford, challenged world-dominating Nazis and power-hungry Kali worshippers through three highly successful, rousing adventures: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). In anticipation of the fourth installment, Paramount has reissued the three movies as Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection, available separately or as a set.

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The New Wolfman

Entertainment Weekly offers up the first images from the Benicio Del Toro-starring, Joe Johnston-helmed The Wolfman remake. Pretty impressive, but with Rick Baker behind the makeup, I wasn't too concerned. With the under appreciated Johnston directing and the perfect Del Toro casting, this might actually be pretty good. Course, I thought the same of the disastrous Van Helsing, so initial looks can be deceiving.




(Tip of the hat to Arth.)

My Golden Compass review

My Golden Compass review (co-written with Brandy) is available at RevolutionSF.

The Golden Compass moves at a snail's pace. Director/screenwriter Chris Weitz has filled the lumbering scenes with unnecessary and cumbersome exposition that results in a dumbed-down film apparently made for just children. Weitz's film inspires absolutely no emotional investment as it is stripped of the complexity and subtext of Pullman's original story.
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Radio Free Albemuth movie?!?!?

This little gem comes from via David Gill and his Total Dick-Head blog:

In a sudden and exciting twist, John Alan Simon announced last night on the PKD litserv, that production had wrapped on a new cinematic adaptation of Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth. WOW!
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The Mist trailer

When I first read The Mist, perhaps Stephen King's finest short tale, some twenty years ago, I found it eerie and horrific. The trailer to the film version looks creepy, exciting, and therefore very promising.

King Kung Fu Trailer

He came from China! He knew karate!

A Chinese gorilla who knew karate? 70s cinema at its finest!

Not surprisingly, I was sent a review copy of the recently released DVD. As soon as I get around to more than chuckling at the trailer, I'll write a full review. In the mean time, enjoy!

Movie Call

My friend Tom is having a movie call at his house this Saturday night at 8:00. How is works is thus: we turn on a really *bad* science fiction movie (this weekend's will be ZOMBIES OF MARA TAU; previous entries include QUATERMASS AND THE PIT and HOMICIDAL) and make like Joel, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, yelling sarcastic comments at the screen and, in addition, looking for the Five Things Every Cheesy 1950s Sci-Fi Movie Must Have (TM). There will also be drinks and snack food aplenty.

Let me know if you're interested, and I'll provide the where.

Another Shameless Plug

From my review of the surprisingly good The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters:

Like many born in the late 60s and early 70s, my childhood was shaped by arcade games. Pac-Man, Asteroids, Centipede, and especially Donkey Kong occupied the vast majority of my non-school pre-pubescent time. I wasted far too many hours feeding the quarter-eaters. After discovering girls, science fiction, and movies, my interested waned and by the end of 1980s, like most of my generation, the classic video game joined the Betamax, blow-dried hair, and Night Ranger as relics of the past. In his documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, director Seth Gordon skillfully explores the lives of contemporary die hard classic arcade game fans, a group for whom time stopped in 1982.

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A Shameless Plug

My The Simpsons Movie review is up at RevSF. This one is a little different since I actually co-wrote the piece with Brandy. I believe this is her first review credit.

One of the things we failed to mention in the review is that it's best to see the movie in the theater with a group of Simpsons fans. The communal atmosphere enhances the experience.

Watchmen casting announced

Watchmen Powering Up With Castings
by Borys Kit

"Watchmen," the long-gestating big-screen adaptation of the seminal DC Comics limited series, has finally found its superheroes.

Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Billy Crudup, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Malin Akerman have been cast in the Warner Bros. movie, which Zack Snyder is directing. Larry Gordon, Lloyd Levin and Deborah Snyder are producing.

Set in an alternate America, "Watchmen" follows costumed hero Rorschach, who is living a vigilante lifestyle because most masked heroes have retired or been outlawed. While investigating a murder, Rorschach learns that a former masked-hero colleague has been killed, prompting him to begin investigating a possible conspiracy.

Haley will play Walter Kovacs, aka Rorschach, who ignores the ban on costumed vigilantes. Crudup will play Dr. Manhattan, a superpowered being with godlike powers and temperament.

Akerman will play Laurie Juspeczyk/the Silk Spectre, who is involved with Dr. Manhattan -- but that relationship begins to fall apart as he becomes more disconnected from humanity.

Goode will play Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, a costume adventurer who retired voluntarily, disclosed his identity and built a large fortune. He hatches a plot to avert a global catastrophe he believes will be caused by Dr. Manhattan.

Wilson will play the Nite-Owl, a crime-figher who uses technical wizardry and has an owl-shaped flying vehicle.

Morgan will play the Comedian, a cigar-chomping, gun-toting vigilante-turned-paramilitary agent.

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Sunshine

I'm sure Rick is going to do a full bore review of Danny Boyle's (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) new film Sunshine, but since I saw it with him, I figured I'd jot down some thoughts about the movie.

Sunshine starts out as pure hard science fiction--a diverse group of astronauts on a mission to deliver a bomb to reignite our dying sun. The effects and production design are wonderful throughout--all red, green, and gold; I think the film is worth seeing just for this. In fact, I might recommend trying to see it in digital projection (heresy!) like at the Highland 10.

As I said, Sunshine starts out as hard sf. It stays that way through the first two-thirds of the picture. Then it veers madly into cheapjack horror and freshman college dorm metaphysics for the final third. The ship diverts to rendezvous with its failed predecessor. As they are docked, the first captain---somehow not only still alive but transformed into a living god---slips onto their ship and goes a little knife happy, all while spouting stuff about Man's place in the universe.

This, by the way, is the point in the movie at which Rick started muttering to himself, twitching, and rocking back and forth in his seat. I guess you have to respect a man who is physically distressed by bad (or just unfortunate) film making. It raised some deep questions for me to ponder in the dark. Like, shouldn't there be tasers hidden underneath movie theater seats? Or if someone gets you into a movie for free, is it bad form to call an usher and have them tossed out?

Back to the picture. What annoyed me most about the ending was the statement it made that a simple film about the mission would not have been enough. Saving the sun struck me as a sufficient good old school sf type of quest. I was compelled by whether they would succeed before the film swerved. I think this is an sf film thing. In mysteries, for example, filmmakers seem to have enough trust in the basic sturdiness of the genre to not cop out and start telling a different type of story towards the end.

Another problem (and it might be me more than the movie) is that I just didn't buy
Cillian Murphy as the hero physicist. As we drove home, we discussed who'd made a less believable scientist and the only one we could come up with was Denise Richards' turn as Dr. Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough. I wonder if this is a generational thing--maybe I feel the same way about actors like Murphy that others felt about Redford and Newman as they supplanted John Wayne and Gary Cooper. All I know is that my movie physicists wear ties and have crewcuts, not pouty lips, stringy hair and deep blue soulful eyes. . . .

Anyway, long winded, but even with all of its flaws, I'd recommend Sunshine. It's 2/3ds of a real sf movie, which is closer than most other films get. Besides, I told a guy at work Transformers wasn't all that bad, so I can't pan this with a straight face.