The Strangest Opera, Best Sci-Fi and Worst Superhero You'll See this Week

Oh, Hell No!

So, Uncle P has an honest to goodness date tomorrow night - my first in more than ten years! Yikes! I met T on "Compatible Partners," the site E-Harmony was compelled by the courts to create. T seems likes a nice, normal guy from our emails, texts and phone conversations. Of course, my breakup with Ric was rather devastating as I thought I had found the person with whom I was going to spend the rest of my life. Looking back, I'm actually glad that didn't work out as my life would have been very different had we stayed together.   

But that has little to do with tonight's post.

First up (via) comes this bizarre and rather entertaining video from tenor August Schram,who mixes realism, surrealism and kink to create this possibly NSFW video for the aria "Habanero" from Bizet's classic opera "Carmen:"

Of course, regular readers know how much of a geek I am when it comes to Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy. And as much as I really loved JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot, I'm really looking forward to it's sequel: Star Trek: Into the Darkness. Here's a little "behind the scenes" video to whet our geeky appetites:

Last, but not least, new photos of wackadoo Nicholas Cage in test footage for Tim Burton's proposed (and happily aborted) "Superman Lives!" movie have surfaced, featuring Cage wearing a 'muscularly enhanced' Superman costume (see above photo via) Personally, I can't get past Cage's receding hairline. Superman should have super hair, no? Henry Cavill may not have been my first choice for the iconic American superhero, but Cage would certainly be my last. Thank goodness this film was never made. Poor little Cal-El Cage might never have lived down the embarrassment.

More, anon.
Prospero

"The Fly" at 25

Back to fictional Horrors then, eh?

Most of director David Cronenberg's films have dealt with horrors of the flesh. Whether it's parasitic worms; the physical manifestations of hatred; gynecological torture; living video; talking insect typewriters or bio-electric implants, he seems fascinated by the horror of corrupted flesh.

And in almost no other film is that so clearly demonstrated than his 1986 remake of the 50's Sci-Fi classic, The Fly. In the original 1958 movie, David Hedison plays a scientist intent on creating a teleportation device. On his first trip through, a common housefly is trapped in the machine with him, turning him into a fly-headed monster. Cronenberg takes that premise and elevates into something else, entirely. And today marks the 25th Anniversary of its release.

 

For those of you who've never seen it (and shame on you, if not), Jeff Goldblum plays Seth Brundle, a scientist whose severe travel sickness drives him invent a teleportation device and Geena Davis is Veronica Quaife, a reporter for a science magazine who thinks Brundle's crazy, until he demonstrates the machine for her. What starts as a professional relationship soon turns romantic and after a night of lovemaking, Seth realizes he needs to teach his machine about flesh. After successfully transporting a baboon, Seth decides to take the trip himself. As in the original, a fly is trapped in the telepod with him. But instead of creating a man with a fly's head and arm, the machine combines their DNA and creates something very different. Suddenly stronger and more aggressive (and craving sugar), Seth begins to mutate. As his "disease" progresses, his mind devolves and his relationship with Veronica deteriorates. In the film's most heartbreaking scene, Veronica visits Seth one last time, where his ramblings and appearance are too much and she flees. 

Soon, Veronica discovers she is pregnant with Seth's baby and decides to have an abortion. But Seth kidnaps her before she can and as the last vestiges of his humanity slip away, he attempts to combine the DNA of Ronnie, their baby and himself in order to effect a cure. Ronnie's douche bag boss (John Getz) comes in at the last minute to save her, and the resulting Brundlefly/Telepod monstrosity begs her to kill him in one of the most intensely emotional endings of any Science Fiction film ever made.

Goldberg and Davis both give astonishing performances in The Fly, adding to the tragedy unfolding as the movie progresses (and it helps that Goldberg was at the height of his physical prowess). The fact that they were both overlooked come awards season is criminal and evidence of the various Academies general indifference to Horror and Sci-Fi. Howard Shore's score is the perfect compliment to the tragic horror and the supporting cast (which includes a cameo by Cronenberg as an OBGYN in a dream sequence) is terrific. The Oscar and Saturn award winning effects by Chris Walas are intense and gross and wonderful. 

The movie has struck such a chord in popular culture, that Shore wrote an opera along with playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly - which Cronenberg also adapted into a film). It premiered in Paris in July 2008 and was subsequently performed by the Los Angeles Opera in September of the same year.

Even with today's CGI and 3D technologies, I dare you to find a more effective, disturbing and heart-wrenching Sci-Fi/Horror movie. 25 years later and the movie still holds up, evoking both emotional responses to its tragic romance and visceral responses to its gross-out special effects.

Cronenberg has recently talked about remaking the movie again, using modern SFX technology, though I doubt he'd be able to recreate the emotional intensity of his 1986 masterpiece.

More, anon.

Prospero

Asian Influences & Sci-Fi Movies

First, I want to talk about the newest London stage sensation, "Monkey: Journey to the West." The show's creators took an ancient Chinese folk tale, infused it with a bit of Opera, a bit of Circus and a bit of multi-media to create what is undoubtedly a unique performance experience. As you can see from teh video below, the show looks absolutely dazzling. And if you are the kind of Cirque du Soleil fan that I am, you're going nuts watching it:

You can also see a CNN report on the show, here. Boy, I hope it plays in the U.S. I'll be first in line for tickets.

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As child in the late 60's and early 70's, one of my favorite cartoon shows was the Japanese Sci-Fi Anime, "Astro Boy," the story of a flying robot boy who fought danger and saved Tokyo from all sorts of monsters. The show was apparently revived in the '80's, though I never saw that version. Now a CGI movie version is due for next year, featuring Britain's version of Haley Joel Osment, Freddy Highmore, voicing the title role. I can't say I'm exactly excited for this movie, especially after the disastrous Wachowski Brothers version of another iconic childhood Anime show, Speed Racer, though it certainly has the potential to be as much fun as I remember. As long they include Doctor Elephant...

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As a last thought....

"Michael Rennie was ill, the Day the Earth Stood Still..." Or so goes the song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (I have to a cult movie entry, soon). The original 1951 version of the Sci-Fi classic was a cold-war anti-nuclear warning movie about the dangers of the then escalating nuclear weapons race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. It starred the aforementioned Rennie as Klaatu, an alien sent to earth withh is robot Gort, in an attempt to warn against teh evils of war, and Patricia Neil as scientist who got to utter the now classic line "Klaatu, barada nikto." The new version stars (God help us) Keanu Reeves, Kathy Bates, John Cleese and (thank God) Jennifer Connelly in the Neil role. Apparently, this version takes on global warming and the ecology. I'll cheerfully withhold judgment until I see it for myself. meanwhile, here's the latest trailer:

As always, more of this, anon.

Prospero