Review: "Moon"

In Moon director Duncan Jones has created something I thought was long-gone; a thought-provoking, intelligent and entertaining Science Fiction film that doesn't rely on lasers, ridiculously loud explosions and millions of dollars worth of CGI to keep your attention. Starring Sam Rockwell (pictured) and the voice of Kevin Spacey, Moon hearkens back to movies like Silent Running and Alien, where the real bad guys were (prophetically) the giant corporations which run the world.

Rockwell is Sam Bell, an astronaut and sole human crew-member of a mining outpost on the far side of the moon, which has been found to contain a safe, cheap and limitless energy supply, solving all of Earth's ecological problems. Sam's three-year contract is coming to a close, and he's looking forward to going home to see his wife, Tess (Dominique McElligott) and their daughter, Eve. He sends recorded messages back and forth, which can take several days to reach home, because the satellite is broken and live-feed communications are down. The only other crew member is Gerty (Spacey), a multi-unit robotic computer that can perform every task from haircuts and meal prep to maintenance and medical procedures. Think HAL meets MOTHER meets The Holo-Doctor meets Flo-Bee.

Sam is completely over it and counting the days until he goes home. He spends his time sending payloads home, watching TV from the 60's and working on an elaborate and faithful wood carved model of his hometown. He has just two weeks left, when a problem arises with one of the mining robots and he has to go out and fix it. But Sam's begun to hallucinate. He thinks he sees someone standing beside the giant machine and has an accident, causing a complete shutdown and the practical destruction of his pressurized rover. As debris continues to fall on the vehicle, Sam manages to get on his helmet before blacking out. He awakens in sickbay with no memory of the accident (nor scars, bruises or the bandage that covered his recently scalded hand), which makes us suspicious when Sam asks "How long have I been out?" and Gerty answers "Not long." When a wobbly Sam gets out of bed against orders, he catches Gerty in what sounds like an impossible live feed conversation with the Company. Tricking Gerty into letting him outside, Sam goes to investigate the stalled robot and comes across the crushed vehicle with a badly injured man (who looks an awful lot like him), inside. Needless to say, he finds this a bit of a mind f**k. No spoilers here, but the real story is not in the reason why there are two Sams, but how they deal with it and the ethical implications of their simultaneous existences. And how they eventually conspire to fight back.

Rockwell, who is always so good in supporting roles (The Green Mile; Galaxy Quest) is revelatory as two versions of the same man, with most of the same memories. At first, they are violent and angry with one another, but as they both realize what has been perpetrated against them, their commonality takes over and they form an odd, brother-like bond. While spare and relatively action-free, Jones manages to keep the pace moving along nicely. We get a good sense of Sam's loneliness early on and exposition is handled in concisely brief images, short recorded messages and snatches of dream sequences. Nathan Parker's screenplay (from a story by Jones) is smart, funny, weird and touching, all while raising questions about everything from bio-ethics and artificial intelligence to the effects of long-term isolation and the need to validate one's own existence. Heady stuff, indeed. But well-handled and beautifully acted. So far, my pick for the best movie of 2009. Moon is almost certain to land on my Top Ten list in December. **** (Four Stars)

Oh - and on a completely unrelated note, I have finally named my parakeet: Skye.

More, anon.

Prospero

More Sci-Fi Silliness (or not)

I'm probably last to report that uber-hot Ryan Reynolds' amazing body has been cast as DC's newest Superhero, The Green Lantern. Personally, my choice has always been Nathan Fillion ("Firefly;" Slither; and "Castle"). But to be honest, I could easily spend two hours watching Ryan wear Spandex (honestly, who couldn't? - even str8 boys are like, "Damn! Ryan is hot!"). At least three of my friends (Nicole, Bruce and Laura) find him as hot as I do. Laura and I actually sat through the entire piece of crap that was The Amityville Horror remake, just to see how much time he would spend with his shirt off and his pants sagging. Of course, Laura and I find many of the same men attractive, tragically. I say 'tragically' because inevitably, the guy we both think is the cutest in a horror movie, is among the first (if not THE first) character killed (unless of course, he's the lead, which is rare).

Case in point - Tuc Watson in The Mummy. Tuc plays an American adventurer simply named "Mr. Burns," according to IMDb. Except he's the first to encounter the resurrected Imhotep and he pays for it by having his eyes and tongued ripped out his head! No fair! Delectable Brendan Frasier may well be the star, and yummy mummy Arnold Vosloo the hot villain, but Tuc was the boy I wanted to cuddle up to at the end of a long day...

Anyway, with Ryan as both an Marvel Villain and a DC Hero he'll be providing plenty of eye-candy for many years to come...

And just for giggles, here is something I may have posted before; a meticulously well-done fan-made trailer for the Nathan Fillion version of The Green Lantern:

And since ComicCon is so very close, I had to post some geeky movie thing or other. Well, here is an exclusive sneak-peek at Tron2:

Ha-ha! Fooled you! Though, probably not. I just thought it was pretty funny. The thing I most remember about the original Tron, was that it gave me a headache.

Oh, well. Onward with my celebrating. My birthday week kicked off with D and I making our appointment for our new ink August 1st! Very excited!

Tomorrow afternoon, I am off to a matinee of Moon, the acclaimed film from director Duncan Jones, starring Zaphod Beeblebrox himself, Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey's voice. I will be joined by Janet and Dale and possibly D. Here's the trailer for Moon:

My full review, anon.

Prospero

Filipino Superheroes and Other Sublime Nonsense

This image is for my dear Stephen R. in Chicago, in thanks for the last video embedded in this post.

Now, no one has ever denied that Batman and Robin have always seemed a bit... well... (looking around to see if anyone is watching me type)... gay.

I think I must have stumbled across the first video below via the Sci-Fi nerds over at i09. They posted a scene which is featured in the trailer I am posting. Now I know I've blogged about Turkish rip-offs of Hollywood movies before, but Alyas Batman en Robin is just the tip of the iceberg when in comes to Filipino superhero movies.

First off, like most Bollywood films, it is a musical. Second, it is in a strange mixture of Tagalog and English. It's like watching European porn with only the important words dubbed in English. Third, it is obviously modeled on the campy 60's TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward (yikes), even down to the ridiculous onomatopoetic SFX title cards (Biff! Pow! Sock!). Still, I can't see Batman taking a reporter inside the (Batgarage?) while offering her 'Batmilk.' Eeewwww! And check out that bat-shiat crazy tranny Joker! Meanwhile, Penguin's just some fat, almost white guy with a tiny Pride umbrella.

So, while getting that embed code from YouTube, I stumbled across these next two trailers for two even more outrageous Filipino superhero movies.

This first one is just indescribably bizarre. ZsaZsa Zaturnnah concerns a hairdresser who attains superpowers after she eats a meteorite! In fact, she swallows the whole thing in two or three gulps, like a snake swallowing a guinea pig. I mean, honestly. Isn't that exactly what you would do if a fluorescent pink meteorite crashed into your beauty parlor? I prefer to remember the lesson imparted by Stephen King in Creepshow when it comes to handling meteorites.

And almost finally, the silliest trailer from our friends in the East yet: Super Noypi, a film I can only hope is the best X-Men ripoff ever made.

My favorite part of that clip has to be the actress named "Aubrey Miles." Seriously? Aubrey? Aubry Miles? You do know that you're Filipi... Well, of course I realize that... but... no, seriously? Aubrey Miles? Okay. Whatever you say... snicker, snicker, snicker...

As you can tell, nonsense has worked its magic on Uncle Prospero once again. And all thanks to this gem posted by the above-mentioned Stephen R on his hilarious blog Are You There Blog? It's Me, Stephen. I give you the modern Ernie Kovaks: Craig Fergusen and Company - "White Lines."

To quote a semi-insane candy-maker, "A little nonsense now and then/Is cherised by the wisest men."

More, anon, bitches.

Prospero

"Clive Barker's 'Book of Blood'"

Warning: This post and any embedded video may not be suitable for wimps or those easily scared by Hollywood trickery.

I have been a long-time fan of Clive Barker's, the openly gay horror writer with a mind like no other's. My favorite Barker work is Weaveworld, a truly unfilmable novel about a race of magical beings who, to save themselves from destruction at the hands of man (not to mention an unspeakably evil witch who killed her triplet sisters in the womb), have literally woven themselves into a carpet to escape detection. It's one of the most original works of fantasy fiction of the 20th Century, and if you haven't read it, I urge you to do so.

Clive was quite young (and gorgeous) in this picture with one of his most memorable creations, Pinhead, from the Hellraiser films. The first Hellraiser was groundbreaking horror with then state-of-the-art FX. I distinctly remember when it came out on VHS, taking it to my friend Terry's house and telling him, "You wanna see a horror movie? This is a horror movie!" The scene where Frank reconstitutes himself using the blood his brother accidentally spilled on the spot where Frank died is just thrilling. And Christopher Young's soaring, evil carousel waltz of a score is so chilling. Sadly, the inevitable remake is in development. I just hope that they don't go CGI crazy and ruin it (of course they will).

Barker's last film adaptation, Midnight Meat Train was an under seen and underrated horror movie starring The Hangover's very hot Bradley Cooper as a photographer on the trail of a particularly nasty subway serial killer, played by soccer hooligan Vinnie Jones. Barker fans took distributor Lion's Gate to task for not properly promoting the film. Brooke Shields, Roger Bart and Ted Raimi had delicious cameos in this deliriously bloody and horrifying little gem.

Now comes the latest Barker adaptation, Book of Blood. Named for Barker's "Books of Blood" anthology, the plot apparently combines two of the stories in the book, in a tale about a man who is so haunted by the dead, that they literally write their stories on his skin (via).

Sadly, it is being released Direct-to-Video, which rarely bodes well (with a few exceptions - Boondock Saints, anyone?).

And of course, I have my own ideas as to whether Weaveworld is unfilmable, or not. Now if only someone would give me the money.. hahaha!

By the way - thanks to everyone who offered their good thoughts and encouragement over the last few weeks. I am feeling much better. Not 100% (do any of us, ever?), but better. If summer would ever actually arrive here in the Northeast, I am sure I'd feel even better, still.

More, anon.

Prospero

TV Review: "Warehouse 13"

I love my DVR. I just finished watching the pilot for SyFy's (I'm still not used to the change and think it's silly, but more on that, later) newest original series, the very Steampunky Warehouse 13 and I have to admit that I loved it. It's highly derivative of dozens of films and series that have come before, but it's just so much fun, you don't really care.

After a supernatural encounter at the opening an ancient art exhibit at the Smithsonian in which they save POTUS' life, two polar opposite Secret Service agents are recruited by the mysterious Mrs. Frederic, with orders to report to secret location, in an unnamed town in literally The Middle of Nowhere, South Dakota. There they find themselves assigned to gathering objects: relics, artifacts, historical documents, personal effects and exceptionally rare bits of oddness. Some display qualities that are quite dangerous, while others are merely amusing. The objects are then neutralized and stored in a cavernous, miles-long underground storage facility, the titular Warehouse 13. Among the warehouse's more interesting items are a stun-gun made by Tesla, a human-powered electric car made by Edison, Houdini's wallet and a wish-granting copper teakettle which produces a ferret whenever the wisher makes an impossible-to-grant wish (I must apologize to all the ferret lovers, out there for that last image. When I went to GoogleImages, I accidentally typed in "Evil Bitch from Uranus" and got that picture).

The 2 hour pilot gave us plenty of time to get to know the almost stock characters, but the cast is quite good (all long-time TV vets) and the chemistry between the two leads is excellent. Handsome Eddie McClintock (the poor man's David Boreanaz ) plays Agent Pete Lattimer, an impulsive, reformed alcoholic who boinks babes in meaningless one-nighters and gets "vibes" on which he always acts. Joanne Kelly ("Slings and Arrows;" "The Dresden Files") is Agent Myka Bering, a no-nonsense, by-the-book agent with an exceptional eye for detail who is still in mourning and suffering guilt over the death of her lover/partner. Veteran character actor Saul Rubinek ("Frasier") is Artie, the semi-mad scientist curator (and comic relief) of Warehouse 13. The always wonderful CCH Pounder is Mrs. Frederic, the mysterious ageless director of the project whose arrivals and departures are as silent as they are surprising. When asked by Bering and Lattimer's boss about how she got into his office, she deadpans "Through a door" with just enough irony to make sure we knew she didn't mean a physical one. There's an Indiana Jones/X-Files/Fringe/The Prisoner/Lost/Weird Science kind of thing going on that simply shouldn't work, but somehow does. It's certainly not as good as "Fringe," (how can it be? It doesn't have the astounding John Noble playing its madman), but it's certainly loads of fun. I hope they can keep it going. *** 1/2 (Three and a half Stars).

And now back to my SyFy comment, earlier. I may think the new name is stupid and indicative of the laziness of the texting generation, but I am glad to see the channel trying to improve its programming quality. I do hope that includes original movies, because they had some of the worst I've ever seen in my life (Mansquito, anyone?). I just hope they get as good as this giddy promotion clip promises:

More, anon.

Prospero

Playing for Change

Playing for Change is a global project which promotes peace and cooperation through the common experience of music. I first blogged about the group here , in April, after a co-worker sent me a link in an email.

Playing for Change's first music video was for the old Ben E. King standard, 'Stand by Me.' Using street musicians (hence the name: Playing for Change), from all over the world, they created an astoundingly poignant and uplifting music video with an imporatnt point to make.

If you're a regular reader, you know my mood of late has been less than ecstatic. In an effort to combat my blue mood, I've deliberately been looking for things I found uplifting in the past, hoping I will find them so again. When I went back to watch the amazing "Stand by Me" video, I found several others on YouTube which were eqaully impressive.

I beleive in what Playing for Change is trying to do. I've always said that Art can change the world. Music is something that is part of all cultures. The instruments, styles and sounds may vary, but the notes are always the same. Scientists claim that Mathematics is the Universal Science. I think Music must be the Universal Art. I am embedding the Playing for Change Song Around the World 'Stand by Me' video again, along with a few others you might enjoy.

I urge you to check out their site and learn more about what they do.

And the one that started it all:

More, anon.

Prospero

Name the Budgie

The picture above is very similar to my newest house guest. My mother was so upset by what happened to my poor finches, that she insisted on getting me a new bird as an early birthday present. "One you can teach to talk and sit on your shoulder and have fun with."

"Okay, Mom. Whatever you say."

"And it has to be a male. Only the males talk" (which I have since learned is not true; males are simply better talkers).

So, off we go to buy me a new bird. The first place was the least expensive, but the birds there were too young to tell their sexes (males. like the one above, have a bright blue stripe across the top of their beaks). At the next store, the birds were more expensive, but the only males they had were rather unattractive green and yellow mottled things. I guess that makes me a speciest. Onto the the third and final place. Here (a chain pet-store, albeit one with a good reputation) they are the most expensive, but they have a beautiful blue and white male. Perfect. As the clerk is catching the budgie (with a rather clever folding net), I go and get all the items needed to retrofit the newly cleaned and repaired cage so it is appropriate for its new occupant: bedding, food, grit, grit cup, wooden perch and assorted toys (I had to talk my mother out of buying the embarrassingly tacky parakeet Ferris wheel - I couldn't find an image of it to share with you, but trust me, it was awful).

So, my question to you is: What should I name my new pet? This is the second time I'm asking you all for your opinions. Not something I do lightly or often. I have some ideas, but the websites all say to keep it simple, so the bird can learn its name. I'm inclined to go Shakespearean (big surprise there, eh?) but am open to any number of creative and appropriate names.

Please leave your suggestion in the comments section (and not on Facebook, FB friends). As with my tattoo request, I can't promise I will go with anything you might suggest. But I will take all serious suggestions seriously.

More very anon.

Prospero