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Punished DVD Review

Reed — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:00:30 +0000

Punished Directed by: Law Wing Cheong Written by: Chi Keung Fung Starring: Anthony Wong, Richie Jen, Janice Man, Maggie Cheung Ho Yee Punished is another entry in the revenge genre that continues in its ongoing popularity. A kidnapping occurs with the film non-linearly unraveling the mystery of who is involved. Although there are a few depictions of brutal violence, this film concerns itself mainly with the psychological toll on the perpetrator of revenge. An interesting change is that the physical revenge is performed by a hired-hand of the victim's father. Some people expecting an action film will likely find the character scenes rather bland, but I thought they were interesting in the context of the mystery of revealing who was involved in the kidnapping. The violence is not stylized at all. There are rough and tumble fights rather than wire-work martial arts. And the gunfights are straight ahead "keep shooting until you get shot" matches. No slow motion or doves here. A real estate tycoon Wong Ho-Chiu (Anthony Wong) lives with his rebellious daughter Daisy (Janice Man), dutiful son, and compassionate wife (Maggie Cheung), who is the mother-in-law of the children. He has two bodyguards. He browbeats a meek man in charge of a real-estate deal currently in trouble. When his daughter is kidnapped, he enlists one of his bodyguards Chor (Richie Jen), who has a previous criminal background, to find the perpetrators. What is interesting about the introduction of all these characters is that the audience can immediately suspect any one of them to be the mastermind of the kidnapping. Even the benign characters can be suspected of having a motive against the tycoon. There are various natural character pair interactions that keep you guessing which characters are being honest or deceptive. Chor is also dealing with his own disinterested son from a failed marriage. Depending on how you feel about the tycoon by the end of the film, you might have a problem with what happens near the ending. He did not show compassion towards the common people who were affected by his business deals, but was he really ruthless with people? Sympathies for the tycoon will no doubt vary. Did the tycoon deserve having to deal with this kidnapping ordeal? One aspect that is not explored in the tycoon's mental deterioration is paranoia although he does initially suspect his daughter arranged her own kidnapping. Some people will probably have a problem reconciling the brutal killer and tolerant father aspects of Chor. I think it acknowledges the idea that your nice neighbour next door could be a killer. Anthony Wong has a long and much rewarded career in Hong Kong cinema. I really enjoyed his performance in this film. (On a whim, I decided to check out the English dubbing on the DVD. As expected, the choice of voice actor for Anthony Wong was horrible.) It's interesting that his real-life son plays his son in this film. Although having directed seven films (one of them being 2 Become 1, a comedy/drama in 2007 for which he was nominated as Best New Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards), director Law Wing Cheong is probably best known for being an assistant director on popular Johnnie To films like Election and Exiled. I thought he did a nice job keeping the tension with subtle camera framing movements. One thing I like about foreign films is that they often show you cultural details that are different than what you are familiar with. In this film, there is an outdoor racing track for large remote-controlled cars. This was an interesting setting to use for an interaction between Chor and his son. The press release for the DVD of this film from Indomina Releasing contains a factual error with regards to the actress Maggie Cheung Ho Yee in this film. The press release confuses her with Maggie Cheung of Hero and In the Mood for Love fame. Also I don't think the plot synopsis is correct with regards to several details, but to point them out here would be providing spoilers. Don't expect an action-packed revenge film like Taken with Liam Neeson. This is a more contemplative take on the effects of taking revenge, with circumstances affecting decisions and determining outcomes. The title "Punished" can refer to both the external physical violence and internal mental disturbance that come with revenge. -- Reed

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The Captains DVD Review

Reed — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:36:59 +0000

The Captains Written and Directed by: William Shatner Starring: William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, Chris Pine The Captains is a documentary made for fans of Star Trek. It features interviews with the actors who starred as starship captains in the Star Trek franchise. What makes this Star Trek documentary unique is that it was written and directed by William Shatner, the second actor to play a starship captain. (Shatner replaced the first actor as captain, Jeffrey Hunter, who starred in only the pilot episode of Star Trek. Hunter has gone on to the final frontier, and so was not contacted for an interview.) Also the interviews were conducted by Shatner, who appears on-screen with his interviewees. On viewing this documentary, it soon becomes apparent that its focus is not on Star Trek, but rather on Shatner himself. I confess. I am a lapsed Trekkie. I suppose my faith waivered because I was disappointed in Star Trek (2009). Perhaps I couldn't let go of the fact that William Shatner was no longer Captain Kirk. I grew up with the original series, and William Shatner will always be my favourite captain. For many males including myself, Shatner's Captain Kirk was the embodiment of masculinity: he commanded the respect of those being led by him; he fearlessly encountered the unknown; and he attracted females wherever he travelled. None of the later captains for whatever reasons were able to highlight these characteristics in the way Shatner did in my mind. Even when there was a conscious attempt to emulate these original characteristics in the last Star Trek series to date with Scott Bakula's Captain Archer, the general public did not seem to take notice. Every Star Trek fan has his own favourite captain, though, so interviewing all of them seems like the best way to appeal to as many people as possible. The documentary opens with Shatner being greeted on a runway tarmac by Steve Ridolfi who is the President of Bombardier Business Aircraft, Bombardier Aerospace Inc. (Note that in the "making of" documentary on the DVD, he is misidentified as Pierre Beaudoin who is President and Chief Executive Officer of Bombardier Inc. and also the Director of Bombardier Aerospace Inc.) Bombardier, not Priceline, provided a business Global aircraft for Shatner and the Canadian film crew to fly to the various cities in which the actors were situated at the time of filming. Coincidentally, Bombardier is based in Shatner's hometown of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Shatner is the guest speaker at Bombardier Aerospace's 15th Safety Standdown this year.) Ridolfi is filmed telling Shatner how Captain Kirk and Star Trek inspired him to get into aeronautical engineering. I'm sure Shatner hears this all the time, especially when he interviewed scientists for his book, "I'm Working on That," and in the documentary, "How William Shatner Changed the World." But conveniently, this incident will be referenced by Shatner at the end of the documentary when he discusses an epiphany with Patrick Stewart. There is an effort made to vary the settings in which the actors are interviewed, taking advantage of the various locales. An effort is also made to visually introduce each of the actors in a unique way depending on the location. The most inventive is probably the introduction of Kate Mulgrew in New York which is done by surprising her on the street with Shatner hidden inside a large cardboard box. Multiple HD cameras were used, and sometimes rapid editing is used. The background piano music lends an air of classiness to the interviews. People who have watched Shatner's Raw Nerve television interview series will be familiar with Shatner's interviewing style. It can be intimate at times, and occasionally, Shatner inadvertently interrupts someone's train of thought in an answer. Since this documentary edits the actors' answers together, the flow is rather smooth. Still, Shatner's interview with Avery Brooks is the most bizarre through no fault of Shatner's, I presume. To be fair, perhaps Brooks thought the questions were annoying. I think Shatner makes the interview work because he goes along with Brooks' antic of answering questions by playing jazz piano. I think this is the first time that I've ever seen Shatner actually try to sing. The improvised vocal duets that he does with Brooks are hypnotic. In Shatner's encounter with Chris Pine, Shatner mentions that he enjoyed Pine's performance in Unstoppable. I still don't know if Shatner has watched Chris Pine in Star Trek (2009). It's like Shatner is wearing a badge of honour in not having bothered to watch it. Shatner's interview with Kate Mulgrew is the most emotional with Shatner getting Mulgrew to admit that it's impossible for a woman to be successful at both motherhood in real-life and being a starship captain on television. Shatner has a friendly camaraderie with Scott Bakula, and is shown teaching him how to ride a horse. It is no surprise that Shatner seems most at ease with Patrick Stewart with whom he worked on a Star Trek movie. One thing I find annoying in all Star Trek documentaries is the use of clips from the Star Trek television series and movies. I suppose these might be helpful for people who haven't seen everything like I have, but to me, it's just filler. This documentary occasionally shows a clip here and there, and they're not overly intrusive. (There is a strange use of a clip run backwards of Voyager going into warp.) For Star Trek fans hoping to see other Star Trek actors, there are short interview segments with Jonathan Frakes, Robert Picardo, Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, Connor Trinneer, and Jeri Ryan. It's funny to see Shatner greet each woman who has been in Star Trek as "the most beautiful woman in Star Trek." So that's how Captain Kirk was able to land so many human and alien babes. In the past, Shatner has gone undercover at Star Trek conventions wearing a gorilla mask. In this documentary, he is filmed casually strolling through a Star Trek convention while the camera catches the surprised reactions of Trekkies. It's fun to see Shatner quietly sneak into a group of Trekkies in costume being photographed. I suppose that at his age, Shatner commands such respect that he doesn't need an entourage protecting him, but his bodyguards are undoubtedly off-screen and nearby. Although it's fun to see this convention footage including the requisite Trekkie interviews, one has to wonder if Shatner didn't think there was enough interest in the actor interviews to support the entire documentary. Or maybe he knows what Trekkies want to see. There is also a section where he interviews a fellow Canadian actor, Christopher Plummer, who did not portray a starship captain, but rather a Klingon general. Plummer's inclusion in this documentary has more to do with his time with Shatner at the Stratford Festival where they performed in Shakespeare's plays. The actor interviews are edited so all the actors are introduced within the first half an hour. Their responses are grouped around specific lines of questioning that reflect Shatner's life and concerns. For example, each actor in turn discusses how they got into acting and this leads to Shatner telling about his early experience of how he made audience members cry as a kid acting in a play about the Holocaust. So does interviewing the actors who have portrayed starship captains provide any enlightenment as to what it takes to be a starship captain in Star Trek? Stage experience is common to all the actors, but this isn't much of a revelation. There is also a discussion of how being the star of a television series affects family life due to the long hours. I don't think Shatner knows much about the other Star Trek series, and I don't think he spent much time reading about the actors he interviewed. He is shown reading a research folder on one of the jet trips, but I imagine he was hoping to find insight during the actual interviews. You might think to portray an effective leader that having experience as a leader in real life might help. But this is not addressed. Unfortunately, I don't think Shatner was successful at uncovering new ground. There is nary a mention of one French-Canadian actress, Genevieve Bujold, who was hired as the Star Trek captain on Star Trek Voyager, but who lasted only a week before she quit due to the long hours. It is doubtful she would have consented to be interviewed, but it would have been interesting to hear her speak as I don't believe she has ever talked publicly about her time with Star Trek. At this point in his life, Shatner confesses that he has been in denial about Star Trek and Captain Kirk's popularity and influence. He has been insecure all his life. Knowing that he had an authorized biography written in 1979 seems to confirm this. He probably thought that at age 48, he wouldn't accomplish much more in life. (On the contrary, Shatner detractors might see this as an act of hubris in thinking that he would have much to say at that point in his life.) I have read much about Shatner and the other actors, and there is not much revealed that I was not already aware of through other sources. But it is fun seeing the actors on screen and seemingly enjoying Shatner's company. There are a few short video clips of early Shatner that I've never seen before. As I mentioned earlier, Shatner does have an epiphany at the end of the documentary, and whether genuine or not (it's hard to tell when Shatner is being sincere), it is kind of heartwarming to hear, especially if Shatner as Captain Kirk is a "hero" of yours. Promotional materials have listed this documentary at 120 minutes, but my DVD version is 96 minutes. There is undoubtedly much unused footage, but the only extras on the DVD are the trailer and an 11 minute "making of" documentary. I doubt that someone not familiar with Star Trek would enjoy this documentary, although there is the interesting element of discovering what preoccupies the mind of someone famous in the twilight years of his life. If you're only a casual fan of Shatner, then you might be disappointed. It probably goes without saying, but if you're a fan of William Shatner, then you'll enjoy watching this documentary. And if you ever get a chance to audition for the role of a starship captain in a Star Trek television series, then I highly recommend you watch this documentary first. -- Reed

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Reed’s Bargain Bin: Dark Assassin / The Fifth Commandment

Reed — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:36:12 +0000

Reed's Bargain Bin is a recurring column where Reed Farrington tells us about a movie he bought for under $5, and whether or not he regrets the purchase. For those who think that the best martial arts films are the ones that star actual martial artists, I present to you two films that defy this categorization: Dark Assassin (2006) and The Fifth Commandment (2008). I wasn't even going to bother reviewing these two films, but after watching the behind-the-scenes documentaries on each DVD, I found out that much effort and perseverance were involved in getting these films made. So I thought I would at least offer these films some recognition even though I won't have many good things to say about them. However, discussing these films might be of some interest. And with the recent release of Ninja Assassin, I thought there might be an interest in assassin movies. These two films actually have much in common both in the films themselves and in the behind-the-scenes details. Each film is set in a contemporary urban locale with hip hop music associated with it. Each film attempts to create an emotionally involving assassin redemption story to accompany the displays of martial arts. Each film got made through the vision of an Asian American martial artist who took it upon himself to make a film and took the roles of various creative positions in the film including writer and producer besides being the star. Each low-budget film raised funding independently. Each film has the hero in the story partnered with an African American. Each film has a strong African American actor attached to the film. And each film takes as its inspiration early action films from the '70s. Dark Assassin is set in Boston where Derek Wu (Jason Yee) has just been released from prison after having taken the fall for the local crime boss, Buddha. He wants to start a new life with his girlfriend and with the help of his best friend, Ray (Thomas Braxton Jr.). Meanwhile, Buddha's men are systematically being killed by an assassin using an MO suspiciously similar to Wu's previous MO. Both Buddha and a city detective suspect Wu is the killer. The Fifth Commandment is set mainly in Bangkok where hired assassin Chance Templeton (Rick Yune) reconnects with an adopted brother, Miles (Bokeem Woodbine), who leads a team of bodyguards protecting a pop star, Angel (Dania Ramirez). Through a course of events, Chance finds himself protecting Angel, who was originally assigned to Chance as an intended target. Chance's mentor and father-figure, Max Templeton (Keith David), who had rescued Chance after Chance's parents were killed by another assassin, Z (Roger Yuan), must be called in to clean up the mess. Z is the replacement assassin sent in to kill Angel! (The story is more straightforward in the film. I tried to make it more exciting in my summary, but if you're confused, I don't blame you.) (Note that the tagline of The Fifth Commandment is â€œThou Shalt Notâ€¦.â€ This is of course a reference to the Bible's Ten Commandments, but if you're not Catholic or Lutheran, then you might think that the title of the movie is wrong since in other religions, the Fifth Commandment is Honor Thy Father, not Thou Shalt Not Kill. Actually, honoring your father is a theme in the movie. I don't know if the double meaning in the choice of title was intentional, but it's a nice coincidence.) Jason Yee is a producer, writer, director and star of Dark Assassin. According to his web-site, he is an â€œALL-AROUND CHAMPION â€“ The only athlete to ever win major titles in forms, weapons & full-contact fighting.â€ He is a â€œpioneer of San-Shou Kick-boxing in the US.â€ Through his initiative and martial arts connections, he was able to assemble a film-making team and obtain martial artist Cung Le as a villain in the film. He managed to make the film with a budget of 80 grand. In the Making Of documentary, he credits his mother, or maybe it was his aunt, with cooking food for the entire production. Yee's real-life grandfather plays a Hong Kong crime boss in the film. Yee humbly acknowledges that the film won't be winning any awards soon, yet the DVD cover indicates that the film won the Best Action Feature award at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival. (I should note that Yee bears a passing resemblance to Bruce Lee. Some of his facial expressions are Lee-like.) Rick Yune is an executive producer, producer, writer and star of The Fifth Commandment. He was a competitive martial artist in Taekwondo and was a serious contender for the US Olympics team as a student. He is most familiar to movie-going audiences as the villain Zao in the James Bond film, Die Another Day. He also plays Takeshi in the recent Ninja Assassin. Yune had his own trading firm and with his partners, decided to manage Hedge Row funds in order to finance The Fifth Commandment. Since he already had some contacts in the movie industry through his acting roles, he was put in touch with Jesse Johnson, the director. (I don't recognize the other action/martial arts B-movies that Johnson has directed. From a featurette on the DVD, Johnson comes across as highly knowledgeable about films.) The fighting in the film is based on the 52 blocks fighting system, which was developed in American prison systems. I don't know where the strong relationship in martial arts between Asians and African Americans came from, but I always admired the bond between Bruce Lee and the African American community. (Or is this strong relationship only my perception?) Bruce Lee was color blind when it came to the students he taught, and he freely acknowledged the influence of boxers like Muhammad Ali on his fighting style. In Dark Assassin, Derek's best friend is an African American. I'm not sure if it's Yee's inexperience in acting, but when Derek communicates homie style with Ray, it seems strange to me. In The Fifth Commandment, Chance's relationships with his African American adopted brother and father seem rather stilted, and I'm sure the failure is totally with Yune unless he was trying to create a detached character on purpose. Maybe this is going to sound racist, but perhaps the use of African American characters in both films was an excuse to use hip hop music in the films. Of course, maybe it's just coincidence. I do think Jet Li's roles in Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 the Grave were conscious attempts to meld the martial arts with the popularity of hip hop. As a character that appears in Derek's dreams in Dark Assassin, Tony Todd doesn't have much to do except act menacing. You might know Todd as the Candyman. Of course, I know Todd from his role as Worf's younger brother, Kurn, in Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the Star Trek universe, he is also widely admired for his sensitive portrayal of an older Jake in the Deep Space Nine episode, "The Visitor," an episode that the readers of TV Guide once voted as the best ever episode of any Star Trek series! At the beginning of The Fifth Commandment, Keith David's screen presence is palpable, and I thought the film would be great. As an unexpected lesson in the requisite master/pupil teaching scenes in this type of story, Max Templeton tells Chance that it is inevitable as an assassin that he will be shot. And then he shoots him. Unfortunately, the film loses its intensity once it focuses on Chance. I consider Keith David to be the poor man's Samuel L. Jackson. And Keith David even has a longer list of acting credits. I don't know what role most people would know him by. I don't even know if he's been given star billing in any role. With the popularity of Wuxia films in the past decade, there has been a backlash against the fanciful wire-fu display of martial artists flying through the air. Many people including Yee and Yune have a yearning for the more earthbound action/martial arts films with a lone character meting out punishment. Yee has mentioned films from the '70s like Shaft as an influence. Yune has mentioned films like The Professional, Rambo, and Star Wars where Han Solo redeems himself by flying in to the rescue. In Dark Assassin, Yee does an homage to a short sequence from Enter the Dragon and he is quite impressive. The rest of the fighting and weapon handling is competent, but there's nothing that I haven't seen before. Unfortunately, there's some noticeably sped up action that ruins the earned credibility. With The Fifth Commandment, Yune's fighting skills are also not impressive to watch. This film also includes a car chase, explosions, and stunts like parachuting off a building, but it's all stuff I've seen elsewhere. Neither film manages to generate much emotional response from me although I can see they're trying. The writing is rather pedestrian, and the inexperience of the acting leads probably doesn't help. Credit must be given to Yee and Yune for getting their films completed and then for getting major DVD distribution. Dark Assassin is distributed by Alliance Atlantis in Canada. The Fifth Commandment is distributed by Sony Pictures in both the US and Canada. Although neither film has garnered much critic or fan appreciation, it's good to see that neither Yee nor Yune have been deterred from their efforts to bring martial arts to the screen. Jason Yee has a new film set for release next year called The Girl from the Naked Eye. He has relinquished the directorial duty, but he stars as Jake, who goes on a manhunt when his friend, the titular girl from The Naked Eye, ends up dead. I guess revenge will be a mainstay for martial arts films. And although it looks like Yune has decided to stay out of the pressure ridden production side, he continues to act and has a role in the recent Ninja Assassin. I doubt if Dark Assassin will be remembered in the future unless Yee manages to attain stardom. But I suspect The Fifth Commandment will at least be known temporarily as the film that introduced Boo Boo Stewart, who briefly plays the young Chance. Did his performance manage to impress me? Not really. But he has a role as Seth Clearwater in next year's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Dark Assassin

Amount I paid: $2.00. Bargain bin rating: $1.00.

The Fifth Commandment

Amount I paid: $1.66. Bargain bin rating: $1.10.

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Killer Imports: Kung Fu Cyborg

Reed — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:54:27 +0000

Killer Imports is a regular feature on Film Junk where we explore foreign-language films from around the world that haven't yet had their chance to shine. Kung Fu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction opens with a promising title sequence. On a plain white background befitting a technologically sterile environment, a headless robotic body performs various human movements like training on a Wing Chun dummy and playing an erhu, a Chinese musical instrument. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie was rather disappointing although it does have a certain amount of charm. I had not heard or seen anything about this movie when I noticed its clunky title on the DVD cover. Since the images on the cover were rather indistinct, I imagined either a martial arts Terminator wreaking havoc or an Ultraman-like hero dispatching evil-doers. What I got instead were Transformers in a meandering mess of a plot meant to please everyone. For the action fans, there are Transformer-capable cyborgs that use kung fu. For the comedy fans, there are some genuinely goofy, slap-stick comedic bits that kids might laugh at. For the intellectual fans, there are philosophical implications to contemplate. And for the sentimental fans, there is a love quadrilateral to be resolved. Before I go any further, I should explain that I think this movie incorrectly uses the term â€œcyborg.â€ A cyborg is a human enhanced with robotic elements. The cyborgs in this film are more like androids. That is, completely mechanical beings that resemble humans. However, in some cases, it appears that the cyborgs in this film may actually incorporate human DNA. Anyway, the film doesn't pay much attention to scientific plausibility, so I guess it's pointless to debate terminology. An incorruptible supervisor, Dachun (Hu Jun), of a team of cops is assigned to monitor a cyborg cop, K-1 (Alex Fong), by its creator, Lin Xiang (Eric Tsang). Sumei (Betty Sun Li) is a competent, nerdy team member who becomes the focal point of a love quadrilateral between K-1, Dachun, and a computer expert, Xiao Jiang (Ronald Cheng). Dachun's animosity towards K-1 intensifies when he suspects that there is an attraction forming between K-1 and Sumei. Added to this mix is a rogue cyborg, K-88 (Jacky Wu Jing), who thankfully doesn't involve himself in a love pentagon with Sumei, but rather is experiencing an existential crisis and must be dealt with. The denouement will determine the fate of cyborg-kind. Sumei's intelligence and self-assuredness comes across when she gives a police briefing. She sports a no-nonsense hair-do and unattractive eyeglasses. I bring these points up because it's somewhat enlightening that the three male characters of the love quadrilateral have fallen for her without her having to go through some transformation. She does eventually dispense with the eyeglasses, but I won't say anything more about this. I found Betty Sun Li's facial expressiveness very attractive, and she was able to draw me in to her emotional states. Her acting at the end of the movie really touched me. I even watched the ending twice and she touched me both times. K-1's physical appearance reminded me of Jude Law's Gigolo Joe android in A.I.. I don't know if there is significance to the name. Could it possibly be a reference to the combat sport K-1? Maybe in Chinese, K-1 sounds like something that has some relevance. You know like how Dr. Who had a robotic dog named K-9. (Canine. Get it?) Jacky Wu Jing is sort of wasted as the formidable K-88. Since K-88 more often than not transforms himself during battle, we hardly get to see Wu Jing's martial arts skills. We do see him perform a fluid kata. For those unaware, Wu Jing is being groomed as the next Jet Li. He seems to get cast a lot as a villain. (This might not be so bad, since Jet Li did make an impact on American audiences with his role as a villain in â€œLethal Weapon 4.â€) K-88 somewhat parallels the Roy Batty character from Blade Runner. He has a desire to commune with his creator, and also extend his own life. Some comedy relief is provided by Ronald Cheng's character. I've seen Ronald Cheng in some other films and he reminds me of an Asian Pauly Shore. And as with Pauly Shore, I don't understand his appeal. Interestingly, he's also the co-composer of the film score. I like his music scoring better than his goofy comedic acting. But I suppose his goofiness appropriately matches the tone of the film. Eric Tsang is the Asian equivalent to Samuel L. Jackson. That is, he's an actor who seems to appear in many movies. And looking at the acting credits provided by IMDb, Tsang beats Jackson with 179 credits versus 127! Unusually, he wears a pained expression whenever he appears in his small role in this film. But who am I to question this actor's acting choices considering the experience he has? Although the film is set in 2046, everything in the film seems rather contemporary, beyond the existence of cyborgs and their technology. I don't think there's even an attempt to explain this. The year 2046 is significant in that Hong Kong's independent capitalist system will end, but I'm inclined to think that the year 2046 was chosen as homage to Wong Kar-wai's film, 2046, in which the film's science fiction writer imagines a future in 2046 when a woman cyborg has conflicted feelings of love for a human. Everything associated with the cyborgs is not treated in any realistic manner. The cyborgs are able to transform themselves into any type of machinery including large Transformer-like humanoids. In one instance, K-1 creates rosebuds in the palms of his hand, seemingly out of nothing. The abilities of the cyborgs seem to arise out of nowhere to service plot points or to set up humorous gags. It becomes apparent that there's no use in trying to apply logic in following the plot, but I guess most movies fail in this department. As an example of sacrificing realism for weirdness, K-1 transforms his hand to be able to shoot motion depressant drug darts from his fingers during one scene. When the drug dart hits a human, the human begins to move in slow motion, so you might think that the drug somehow affects the muscles. But then the human jumps off a ledge and falls in slow motion which makes you wonder how the drug is able to affect gravity. It is sort of cool to see this visual effect as an opponent takes advantage by beating the slow falling drug-induced victim to the ground level and delivering an uppercut as the victim lands at ground level. With all of its storytelling flaws, this film partially redeems itself through its undeniably beautiful look. I've seen director Jeff Lau's A Chinese Tall Story which didn't seem overly beautiful, so I'm going to have to guess that the cinematographer Fung Yuen Man is responsible for the great look. Fung Yuen Man was the cinematographer most famously on Infernal Affairs. The lighting and frame composition during K-1's pensive moments make up for the stillness in action. The visual effects are done by Centro Digital Pictures Limited, which I believe is China's equivalent to Lucas' ILM. They did the visual effects for Kung Fu Hustle, and even did some work on Tarantino's Kill Bill films. There is a major battle sequence between K-1 and K-88 that isn't photorealistic like Michael Bay's Transformer films are. There are some cool elements like seeing a nunchaku with metallic rods linked with electrical energy, but I wasn't totally awed by the kung fu fighting cyborgs. There is an interesting notion raised by this film concerning cyborgs that not even Isaac Asimov considered in his Laws of Robotics. I know that Asimov refined his ideas in further robot adventures, but I'm not sure if he ever dealt with â€œlove.â€ The ramifications of having a robot â€œloveâ€ a human, another robot, a thing, or even an idea can be dangerous. Consider the conflicts that arise when humans fall in love. Now I'm a computer programmer and I'm not even sure how I would go about detecting if a robot was in love, but it seems that this movie's cyborgs have a built in fail-safe to handle this contingency. Cyborgs have programming that detects when they are falling in love and causes them to self-destruct! Now as a human, you would have to make sure that you don't fall in love with a cyborg. Think about it. By falling in love with a cyborg, you risk the cyborg falling in love with you. And taking what I said in the last sentence of the last paragraph, then you'd end up in a doomed relationship. Would you (I'm assuming you're human if you're reading this) be able to fall in love with a cyborg? I think I would be able to. I mean, if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, then I'dâ€¦ (Well, I was about to use a crude fornication term that rhymes with duck, but I'll dispense with the cheap laugh.) I think the much-maligned Chris Columbus film Bicentennial Man based on Isaac Asimov's writings dealt with this issue nicely. Not since Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn have I heard of a strange title for a film that was such a mouthful. And I believe if you go searching for this film, you'll end up finding this movie under variations of the title I used, which came from the movie's actual title splash frames. For example, â€œKungFuâ€ is shown as one word, but you might be more successful in your search if you add a space between â€œKungâ€ and â€œFu.â€ I thought the images on the cover of the DVD that I bought had sort of a spoiler in regards to showing how Sumei's love for K-1 would resolve itself, but it turned out that the image on the cover is misleading as is the title of the film. I think many of you would consider this to be a â€œbadâ€ film, so I won't recommend it. But I enjoyed it. As a last note, K-1 whispers something into Sumei's ear at a crucial moment in the film. If anyone who sees this film knows what he whispers, please send me an e-mail through Film Junk and let me know what he says.

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Killer Imports: Coweb

Reed — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:03:02 +0000

Killer Imports is a regular feature on Film Junk where we explore foreign-language films from around the world that haven't yet had their chance to shine. Whenever I appear on the Film Junk podcast and review a film, I invariably have a negative opinion. And when I write film reviews for the Film Junk web site, I invariably have a positive opinion, even for films that many Film Junk readers would consider bad. The discrepancy has to do with the fact that I don't get to choose which films to review on the podcast. I find it easier to give reasons on why I like something rather than why I don't like something. So for me, writing a positive review is easier to write and seems more worthwhile since someone may be influenced by a positive review to watch a film that I feel deserves attention. No one in a right state of mind sets out to make a â€œbadâ€ film, and I know the task of actually getting a film made is not easy. I prefer not to say anything bad about the result of someone's efforts. But I thought I should correct the discrepancy between having all my podcast reviews being negative and all my written reviews being positive. So it is with a heavy heart that I must say how much I disliked Coweb. To be fair and in the effort of full disclosure, the DVD I have of the film had the audio slightly out of sync with the video. This is really bad for fight scenes when you see someone getting hit and a slight moment later, you hear the sound of the impact. (Have you ever noticed in horror movies with lightning and thunder that you always hear the thunder at the same time you see the lightning? For anyone who has taken a basic science class or who has paid any attention as to what happens during an actual thunderstorm, the sound of thunder can occur after you see the lightning with the duration depending on how far away you are from the lightning. I wonder if any filmmaker has tried to subliminally influence an audience by shortening the duration as a movie progresses in order to build tension. It may seem like that I'm digressing from actually talking about Coweb, but like I said, if I don't have anything good to say about something, then â€¦) Oh, I should mention that I couldn't understand the plot of the film because there were no English subtitles, but I think I understood enough of what was going on. However, I don't understand the significance of the title, Coweb. Maybe it refers to the corporation that is filming fights that are staged, unbeknownst to the fighters, in various locations for the purposes of illegal online gambling. Basically, the film involves a former woman cop (Jiang Lu-xia) who is hired as a bodyguard, fails to protect her client, and sets out to resolve the situation that culminates in infiltrating the corporation. The makers of Coweb did try to make the fight set pieces interesting. There are fights that take place in a kitchen, on a water covered arena, on bamboo scaffolding, and on a street with rapper-type, free-style, break-dancing fighters. The editing and the framing of the shots allow you to see the full motions of the fighters, but I didn't find the fighting to be all that exciting. Maybe the camera angles and movement were lacking. Maybe the fight choreography wasn't varied or different enough. Maybe the fights lacked pacing with their unrelenting activity. To me, many of the fight scenes seemed obviously blocked out. The music was uninspired as well. I've seen Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies with kitchen fight scenes before, and the kitchen fight scene in Coweb didn't add anything new. She fights a much larger Caucasian guy (Wanja GÃ¶tz) for the whole kitchen fight, and the fight seems like it goes on forever. Maybe some of you can appreciate the fights in Coweb more than I can. To put things in perspective, I'm not a fan of old-style martial arts movies where the fights seem to go on forever. I'll make an exception for Jackie Chan films only because Jackie is so creative. Perhaps I should also mention for all you purists that besides during the bamboo scaffolding fight, I don't think much wire-work is used as the acrobatics are somewhat subdued. But I could be wrong. When she infiltrates the corporation, she fights a mass of men and pulls out a nunchaku! Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed by the whole sequence. There is a climactic duel between her and a martial arts expert (Kane Kosugi) in a fighting ring. (I don't think this is spoiling anything, because many martial arts movies adhere to the Enter the Dragon template. And I suspect Enter the Dragon wasn't the first movie that had a climactic duel.) Yawn. For those who have been following my written reviews of films, I have a soft spot for films involving women as the main protagonists who have no problem dealing out punishment. As I've mentioned in other reviews, I tend to develop infatuations with these women. I didn't find Zhang Ziyi particularly attractive at the beginning of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but by the end of the film, I was smitten. With Coweb, I didn't find myself physically attracted to the star, Jiang Lu-xia, at the beginning, and unfortunately, she still didn't do anything for me by the end of the film. Her characterization was no different from Zhang Ziyi's character either. She seemed to have a blank face with occasional moments of scowling. There was no attempt to feminize her and her clothing was rather drab. Her tomboy-ish haircut didn't help. There is one interesting aspect about Jiang Lu-xia that deserves mentioning. She was a finalist in a Hong Kong reality-type television show hosted by Jackie Chan. I don't know what the name of the show was, but its title probably translated to something like, â€œSo You Think You Can Kung Fu?â€ (Okay, the show was actually called, The Disciple, but I bet if the show came over to North America, the producers would use my title.) She had actually gained some notoriety by posting on the Internet short films of herself displaying her martial arts skills. I think you can find some of these films interspersed with some making-of shorts for Coweb. To promote herself, she used the name â€œKitty Darling,â€ but if you try searching the Internet for that name, you'll probably find yourself looking at some risquÃ© stuff. She has studied martial arts since the age of 6 and I don't believe she has ever acted before. The director is a first time director, Xiong Xin-xin. There was no major sponsor financing this film, so much hardship was endured in order to complete this film. Before becoming a full director, Xiong was a wushu martial artist and stunt performer (sometimes doubling for Jet Li) who eventually became an action director. His Hollywood credits include action choreography for The Musketeer and Steven Seagal's Half Past Dead. He did win a Hong Kong action choreography award for Tsui Hark's Seven Swords. Apparently, the feeling in Hong Kong is that there have been no fresh martial arts actors being given a chance to take over from the aging stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the international market. Studios in Hong Kong and China won't finance movies with complete unknowns and the actors who can cause movies to be financed have not been able to penetrate international markets. Years ago, even Donnie Yen failed to succeed with a push from Quentin Tarantino in marketing Iron Monkey. And I'm wondering how many of you reading this know who Jacky Wu Jing is. Xiong has taken upon himself the task of trying to introduce some fresh talent. And so we have Jiang Lu-xia in Coweb. As I said earlier, I hate writing negative reviews, but another reason why I hesitated posting this review earlier was that I thought I should wait for this film to become widely available and to see if a buzz developed over this film. (I had seen â€œCowebâ€ back in the summer.) I was afraid that if I wrote a review too early, then many of you would simply ignore the review. But I have yet to see this movie available anywhere with English subtitles. Perhaps you'll never get a chance to see this film for you to make up your own mind. The main advertising image is sort of abstract with yellow lettering on top of Jiang Lu-xia in a red hoodie, her hair covering most of her face, with a background of red splattered on black. It's not obvious to me that this is a martial arts film. Maybe the producers should be commended as well for choosing a non-traditional title for this martial arts film. But choosing an action film based on its title given the choice of Coweb or Ninja Assassin, which would you choose?

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Reed’s Bargain Bin: Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

Reed — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:39:47 +0000

Reed's Bargain Bin is a recurring column where Reed Farrington tells us about a movie he bought for under $5, and whether or not he regrets the purchase. â€œBlowed 'em up good, blowed 'em up real good!â€ If Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok from SCTV's Farm Film Report had been on Rotten Tomatoes' (RT) staff, then there's no way that Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (BEVS) would ever be in the list of RT's worst movies of the past decade. So, in the opinion of Reed Farrington, does this movie deserve to be at the top of that list? Well, that â€œworst ofâ€ list was the impetus I needed to finish watching this film that had been sitting in my stockpile for the past three years. I hadn't realized that I had watched all of it up to the last ten minutes. Perhaps this is indicative of how bad BEVS is, but I also have movies like The Lord of the Rings that I haven't finished watching either. And some people seem to think LOTR is good. I get the impression that the title of BEVS is the main reason why this movie got placed at the top of the list. People seem to think it's a silly title. I think the title gives some indication that the tone of the movie is comic book-like. And the word â€œballisticâ€ in the title is really appropriate given the amount of artillery that we see used in the movie. The plot is not terribly original. Basically, a woman secret agent named Sever (Lucy Liu) seeks revenge against a former boss, Robert Gant (Gregg Henry), gone bad. An FBI agent named Ecks (Antonio Banderas) is brought in to investigate Gant's involvement with the destruction of a research facility creating assassin nanobots. As you might have guessed from the title of this movie, Ecks has some confrontations with Sever. The movie does avoid some clichÃ©s. I thought for sure that the Asian buddy cop with a young daughter was going to bite the bullet, so to speak. However, this movie does have Ecks walking towards the camera slowly from an explosion in the background. I thought Banderas does a nice job with his character. His use of a shotgun is pretty cool. The movie is somewhat lacking in humor, but there's an amusing scene that Banderas pulls off really well. He's sitting in a room with a cop's young daughter who shyly doesn't say anything. I'll leave it at that. During the development of this movie, Sever was going to be male. When it was decided that making her female might be more interesting, it was actually Banderas who suggested Lucy Liu for the part. I like that these two agents have a respect for each other that doesn't result in them ending up in bed with one another. You might know the bad guy, Gregg Henry. He's a character actor who has worked steadily since the mid '70s to the present. Looking at his list of credits, I'm not sure which role he's the best known for. I happen to have his autograph. Why, you might ask? Because I know him from his role as Gallatin, a member of the Son'a race from Star Trek: Insurrection. (I got his autograph from a box of collecting cards for Insurrection.) He plays a typical bad guy in this movie. The movie is directed by Kaos (short for Kaosayananda). Given the pretentiousness of his name, I think this is another reason why people would tend to dislike this film. From the â€œmaking ofâ€ documentary, Kaos appeared to be a young Asian guy. By young, I mean early 20s. (I did some research. Turns out he was 28 when he made BEVS.) It seems he got the job directing BEVS based on a heist film, Fah, that he had made in Thailand. Fah may have been popular in Thailand, but it has a low rating on IMDb. Interestingly, IMDb doesn't list any directing credits for Kaos after BEVS. Maybe I should feature Kaos in a new installment of my series on why Asian directors fail in Hollywood. The movie was written by Alan McElroy who wrote Spawn. I admit Spawn was pretty terrible. McElroy is still writing movies like Wrong Turn and its sequel. To the filmmakers' credit, the city of Vancouver is actually used as the city of Vancouver rather than an American city. The movie does make good use of locations. Aerial views of the city streets and panoramic shots of the surrounding mountains highlight the beauty of the area. There are some nicely photographed scenes. There's a slow-motion scene of Ecks smoking and walking in the rain. The scenes at Vancouver Aquarium where Ecks rendezvous with his wife were beautifully done. The action is competently choreographed and shot. The fighting doesn't get too boring and Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu handle the fight scenes well. Banderas and Liu tried to handle as much of the stunt work as possible. I could not tell when a stunt double was used. During a motorcycle and car chase, Banderas can be definitely recognized riding the motorcycle. In another sequence, Banderas runs through a bunch of explosions with shrapnel clearly being blown into his face. I don't see how this could be safe to do. There is a climactic battle between Sever and a henchman played by Ray Park. Since Ray Park has a background in fighting skills (he played Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace), then I'm guessing he didn't need a fight double. The stunts are nicely done with nothing fake looking. There's a nice stunt scene with the camera looking down and following a guy as he falls from several stories up onto the top of a cop car. We actually see the impact of the guy with the car as its roof caves in and the windows blow out. Later on, there's a nice double car twist in the air with the cars flying over a stunt person. No one reading this probably knows who an actress named Sandrine Holt is. She was a lead character on a John Woo television series back in the late '90s called Once a Thief. Anyway, she appears in a non-speaking role for less than thirty seconds in the movie, and yet, she managed to get an actor credit in the opening movie titles. Her agent deserves to get some credit for arranging that. Unfortunately, I doubt she would want this notorious movie in her acting credits. So what are some reasons for why this movie is considered to be so bad? The movie's duration is under an hour and a half, so it moves along at an adequate pace. There are some plot developments that may seem outlandish. Some might question how Sever is able to defeat armies of people with weapons. Some might also question why she does certain things in the movie if her sole motive is to get revenge on Gant. But I think the ending is appropriate and explains why she did the things she did. I admit that the dialog is less than sparkling, but this is the case for most movies, I think. There are occasional exchanges and lines that I guess are so â€œbadâ€ that they're â€œgoodâ€:

Ecks: Where did you get all the ordnance from? Sever: Some women like to collect shoes.

Cop: Where's the mysterious killer? Ecks: She's not a killer. Cop: Then what is she. Ecks: She's a mother.

Cop (speaking to Ecks): My daughter asked me why you look so sad. I told her that you got beaten up by a girl.

I think there are many films that are pretty bland and that would not generate a single RT fresh review. For BEVS, I can sort of believe that out of 107 reviews on RT, none were fresh. Richard Reid of the Northwest Cable News is obviously not included among the 107 reviewers because he is quoted on the BEVS's DVD cover as saying, â€œSmart, lethal and sexy. One hell of a wild ride!â€ (Yeah, I know. Sometimes these blurbs are made up.) I did read over some of the reviews and I did think the criticisms were exaggeratedly harsh. The Critics Consensus summary for the film is undeserved. â€œA startlingly inept filmâ€? I don't think so. I wouldn't recommend BEVS to anyone, but I enjoyed watching it. Based on the ending of the movie, I'm going to advance a theory that I'm going to claim credit for and that answers why Sever is so hard to kill. Sever is a replicant. Amount I paid: $1.99. Bargain bin rating: $2.50.

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Reed’s Bargain Bin: Babylon A.D.

Reed — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:20:43 +0000

Reed's Bargain Bin is a recurring column where Reed Farrington tells us about a movie he bought for under $5, and whether or not he regrets the purchase. Even though Film Junk followers would probably prefer to read current TIFF film reviews than a review of an older science fiction film, I have decided to submit this review of â€œBabylon A.D.â€ And at the risk of further enforcing the view that I have a poor taste in films, my review is generally a favorable one in contrast to popular opinion. I was aware that this film did poorly at the box office, but I didn't realize how many bad reviews this film received until after I had watched the film and checked out the reviews on the Internet. The reason why I watched this film is that I try to watch all the high profile science fiction movies regardless of audience reception. Given that this movie was not screened for critics and that advertising was minimal, I wonder why this movie did not get a straight-to-DVD release instead. Perhaps Vin Diesel's name attached to an action movie was seen as critic-proof. I admit that I was curious why the director, Mathieu Kassovitz, had said negative things about the movie prior to its theatrical release. I had never heard a director be so negative about his own movie during pre-release publicity. Kassovitz disparaged his producers for not being supportive of his vision for the film. One would think that saying negative things about people in the industry would be career suicide. Kassovitz does have his own production company and despite his honesty, he seems to be still active in film production since having made Babylon A.D. Earlier, he had shown his talent by winning the Best Director award at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival for a race relations film called La Haine (which translates to â€œThe Hatredâ€). The American release of Babylon A.D. was edited to be 10 minutes shorter than the European version. The version on DVD is labeled as â€œRaw and Uncutâ€ with â€œover 10 minutes of additional explosive action!â€ I wonder if this unrated extended cut is the European version. The theatrical cut is also provided on the DVD. My opinion of the film is based on the extended cut. Many reviewers complained about the incoherent and illogical plot for the theatrical release, so maybe the extended cut did fix some of this. I did end up watching the theatrical version before finishing this review. I'll get back to this later in the review. In Babylon A.D., Vin Diesel portrays a character, Toorop, not unlike Riddick in my opinion. I even find his XXX character to be like Riddick. I liked Pitch Black, but I found The Chronicles of Riddick to be boring. I am not a big fan of Vin Diesel, but I find his action character persona to be likable. He's gruff and blunt, but his heart seems to be in the right place. I wonder if Vin Diesel fans would be even more forgiving of this film's perceived flaws. Many reviewers thought Diesel acted like he was bored in the film and that he wasn't much of a protagonist, but I'm fine with that kind of portrayal even though I disagree with these reviewers. I thought that Kevin Costner took a bold move by making his character in Waterworld unlikable, even going so far to have his character take food from a child. Toorop is a reluctant hero, but one that can be relied on to do the right thing in the end. He even seems to take food from a child at one point, but he goes out of his way to give food back. Toorop is hired by a mercenary boss (GÃ©rard Depardieu) to smuggle a young woman (MÃ©lanie Thierry) from a Mongolian convent to New York City. Sister Rebeka (Michelle Yeoh) accompanies them. Thus the film is basically structured as a simple chase film with the importance of the young woman being a mystery that slowly unravels with possible misdirection. There is also a mysterious Noelite organization (headed by Charlotte Rampling) that supports the Mongolian convent. The casting of Hong Kong action star Michelle Yeoh as Sister Rebeka should probably be a clue that Sister Rebeka is no ordinary escort for the young woman. Yeoh does add tenderness to her character that one might not expect from an action star. She seems to genuinely care for the well being of the young woman in her care. As the young woman, Aurora, MÃ©lanie Thierry has a wide-eyed innocence necessary for a character that has been raised in isolation. Through her, we get the perspective of how badly society has deteriorated. It is understandable how a character like Toorop would be affected by her outlook. As a mercenary, Toorop can't give a second thought to a human life. The film makes a point that Toorop has never had a family life. The extreme circumstances of their journey bond Toorop, Aurora, and Sister Rebeka. I thought the performances in the interactions of all three actors were very well done, and I found the dialogue interesting. When Sister Rebeka first meets Toorop, she lays ground rules for the journey. One of the rules is that she has no tolerance for foul language. Well, you can probably expect what Toorup's response will include. At the beginning of the film, Eastern Europe is shown as a place where society has broken down with people scrounging to survive. The production design seems very simple, and one wonders if a limited budget is the reason. There are some glimpses of a futuristic society with a mercenary tank's hi-tech interior being notable. A folding map made of electronic paper is a nice touch. (I don't think they've solved the problem of how to fold a map back after unfolding though.) A motel shower that sprays water based on paid time increments seems logical in a future world where fresh water might be more precious. When the locale switches to New York, it becomes obvious that the film is set in a future time. The blatant exorbitant use of electricity or energy for lighting the city is a stark contrast to the earlier European setting, but it visually displays the class hierarchy that exists between people from different areas of the world. Scored by composers Hans Zimmer and Atli Ã–rvarsson, the music is a mix of hip-hop, rock, choral and classical music with the emphasis on the latter. Achozen (Shavo Odadjian and RZA) performed the score. Given the theme of the film, I thought the use of choral music was most appropriate. I would think that the use of hip-hop music will date this film when hip-hop has died in a decade or so. (I'm sure Sean will add a Film Junk disclaimer here that this opinion only reflects the reviewer's personal opinion.) Some reviewers have noted that the plot is a mess. At one point, a group of people skilled in parkour attempt to snatch Aurora away. They are easily scared away when Toorop wounds one of them with a rifle shot. One might wonder why they don't carry weapons or why they aren't more persistent afterwards. We do find out later who they are. I simply think they are non-violent in keeping with who they are. I guess one has to wonder why Aurora was kept in the Mongolian convent in the first place rather than closer to New York City. Also why is her trip to New York City entrusted to only one individual? I suppose the Noelites might not have wanted to attract too much attention to Aurora, but I must admit that I think the Noelites should have taken precautions for Aurora's safety. There is a snowmobile action sequence that would seem unnecessary if they simply flew across the snowy region, but maybe with the aerial attack drones, traveling on land offers a better chance of survival. I'm guessing that North America has somehow isolated itself from the rest of the world so that aerial transportation across the border is impossible. In any case, I was not distracted enough by possible plot-holes for me to come away with a negative reaction to the entire film. The meaning of the title of this film is not overt in the film. The film is based on a French cyberpunk novel, Babylon Babies, written by Maurice G. Dantec who was formerly a punk rocker. The novel has a cult following in France with a New York Times Book Review reviewer stating that the novel is under-appreciated. Derived from an ancient city during biblical times, the word â€œBabylonâ€ is applied to a place of luxury and sensuality with the unfortunate consequences of corruption and sin. It can also carry the connotation of a place of exile. In the film, the decadence of New York City is reflected in the bright lights. On the other hand, cities in Eastern Europe and Russia are places of exile from what we see. Terrorism seems to afflict Europe and Asia whereas New York City seems unaffected. I got the impression that terrorism was maintained or at least supported by corporations. I should note that Babylon Babies was published in 1999 before 9/11. The film has been Americanized in that the final destination in the novel was in Quebec, Canada rather than New York City. The â€œA.D.â€ in the title is a foreshadowing although Toorop does narrate in the opening minutes of the film that he â€œdied.â€ When applied to dates, I always think of â€œA.D.â€ as meaning â€œafter deathâ€ (i.e., of Christ) when it actually stands for â€œAnno Dominiâ€ which is Latin for â€œin the year of the Lord.â€ To avoid spoiling the plot too much, there are religious overtones that make the use of â€œA.Dâ€ in the title significant. Admittedly, my review might be imposing a thoughtful interpretation that this film doesn't merit. But I think this film also works as an entertaining, mindless action film. The action sequences aren't really exceptional, but there are a few cool moments. I thought the camera placement and movement was excellent throughout the film. I thought the movie was paced well and I didn't find any scenes to be extraneous. I guess if I were to find fault, I would say that the film doesn't offer much new to say about its subject matter. However, there was the strange new idea to me that the hotel room's massive television screen couldn't be turned off. You could only change the channel. Or maybe Toorop was making a joke. As I had mentioned near the beginning of this review, I decided to watch the theatrical version of this film weeks after watching the extended unrated cut. I found myself engrossed in the narrative again, so I guess this is a testament to the movie standing up to repeated viewings. The DVD doesn't have any feature that tells you the differences between the two versions on the DVD. And since Kassovitz has pretty much disowned this film, there isn't a director's commentary or any commentary at all to help. There also aren't any â€œmaking ofâ€ featurettes. Because I had watched the unrated extended cut weeks earlier and my memory fades rather quickly, I didn't notice which scenes were missing from the shorter theatrical cut. I did notice that the ending had been altered. One review I had read said that the theatrical version had the worst ending of any movie he had ever seen! So I guess the people involved in the unrated extended cut agreed with this assessment. Surprisingly, the theatrical cut contains an ending action sequence that is omitted from the unrated extended cut. If you're a science fiction film fan, then you're probably aware of many versions of Blade Runner. The theatrical release of that movie had a Dekker narration that was added in order to make the film understandable to film audiences. At the theatres, many reviewers found the plot of Babylon A.D. incomprehensible (or at least illogical as I've halfheartedly explained with examples earlier). So in the case of Babylon A.D., it appears that additional Toorop narration was added to the unrated extended cut for DVD to make the film understandable. I don't have an immediate preference for either cut of Babylon A.D. I can see why some people might find the â€œfeel-goodâ€ ending of the theatrical cut to be schmaltzy. I hope I'm not spoiling the ending by saying this, but Babylon A.D. could be an unintended prequel to Vin Diesel's movie The Pacifier. Amount I paid: $3.33. Bargain bin rating: $4.25.

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Killer Imports: Shinjuku Incident

Reed — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:06:31 +0000

Killer Imports is a regular feature on Film Junk where we explore foreign-language films from around the world that haven't yet had their chance to shine. See Jackie Chan drive a farm tractor on an iced, shallow pond and fall through! That's the only promotional blurb I can think of to sell this latest Jackie Chan movie to a Jackie Chan audience. Shinjuku Incident marks Jackie Chan's first full attempt at a dramatic role. His role in the 2004 New Police Story movie was more of a transitory role in which he got to do some emoting as a drunken cop and for which he received a Best Actor nomination by the Hong Kong Film Awards and a win by the Golden Rooster Awards. And although there is action in this movie with gangs fighting each other, Jackie's trademark stunts and fighting skills are nowhere to be seen. Instead of Jackie dealing out the punishment, we see him taking the punishment much more than usual. Jackie portrays a farm tractor repairman who enters Japan illegally to find his missing girlfriend Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei). While he is in Japan, he meets up with a good friend Jie (Daniel Wu) from his hometown and other illegal Chinese immigrants, befriends the Yakuza leader Eguchi (Masaya Kato), and rises to prominence in the Shinjuku district. His friendship with Japanese police detective Kitano (Naoto Takenaka) complicates matters. The Japanese prostitute/bar hostess Lily (Fan Bingbing) also plays an important role. The movie takes its background setting from the historical significance of an influx of illegal Chinese immigrants into Japan in the '90s. This was something that I was unaware of. I had thought that the enmity between the Chinese and Japanese as a result of the Japanese invasion of China during the World War II years had dissipated somewhat. In this movie, we see a more benign invasion reversal, yet human nature being as it is, some Japanese people of a recent generation have developed hatred. The frequent news reports of illegal Chinese immigrants probably fueled the hatred. I do find it strange that some Chinese would choose to go to Japan with the awareness that they are not welcome, but I suppose the allure of a better life would make people bear the occasional insult and overcome the fear of being caught someplace where they were not supposed to be. The overt racism is apparently ignored by Japanese authorities since there are nightclubs displaying signs saying that Chinese are not allowed entry. I recall the scene in one of Bruce Lee's movies where he is not allowed entry into a park that displays a sign saying that Chinese and dogs are not allowed. I love dogs, but to equate an ethnic group with an animal species seems like a huge insult. Bruce Lee's character's reaction to the sign is to kick the sign off the wall and then kick the sign into pieces in the air. It's no wonder that Bruce Lee instantly became a hero to the Chinese. I'm sure dogs elatedly barked in unison as well. To be fair, the Chinese are not shown in a totally positive light as they are shown taking advantage of Japanese trust by stealing from the marketplace. And in-fighting within the group of illegal Chinese immigrants is just as evident and violent as within the Japanese Yakuza. It is interesting how illegal Chinese immigrant women are accepted as wives in Yakuza households. The uproar over the roles in Memoirs of a Geisha taken by Chinese women seems less relevant in light of this revelation. (I'm being somewhat sarcastic in that last statement.) The plot does unfold with too many coincidences, which is a usual lament of movie critics. I was fine with what happens as the drama kept me watching nevertheless. Be prepared for no humor though. The gang fight scenes are done with a minimum of flair with the exception of one short slow motion sequence. I must admit that I was expecting a more powerful climax. In keeping with Jackie's much mentioned obligation as a role-model to his fans, the character he plays is decent and his rise to gang prominence is done with the noblest of intentions even though he does do things that are not lawful for which he regrets but for which he is willing to accept the consequences. At film awards held by China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, Jackie Chan has been receiving nominations and wins for his acting in his action films since 1985 for Project A all the way up to 2005 for the aforementioned New Police Story. I suspect that these awards are awarded with popularity in mind. With all due respect, I don't think Jackie will be receiving an Oscar for his acting anytime soon although I do think he is competent at doing what this role demands. And for those keeping tabs, Jackie along with Daniel Wu is fearless when it comes to displaying full rear nudity. I recognized the actor Masaya Kato, who portrayed a Yakuza leader, from a film called The Last Supper based on a novel by Kei Ohishi, who also wrote the novelization of the film Ju-On: The Grudge. In The Last Supper, Kato portrayed a cannibalistic plastic surgeon / chef. I'm guessing this somewhat obscure reference will probably have no relevance to anyone reading this except to indicate the somewhat obscure films I sometimes watch. If you ever happen to come across the DVD cover for The Last Supper, then you'll understand what attracted me to this bargain bin find. The director Derek Yee has also been an actor, writer, and producer with his acting starting in the mid-70s. He has received recent acclaim for his directing of One Night in Mongkok in 2004 and ProtÃ©gÃ© in 2007. I did see ProtÃ©gÃ©, but I can't say it was memorable even though someone at Dragon Dynasty thought it deserved to be released by them. I generally haven't appreciated the recent slew of Chinese crime dramas that have attracted attention with the most notable being Infernal Affairs that generated a remake from Martin Scorsese. I've noticed other reviews not having much affection for Shinjuku Incident, so I feel reasonably confident in not recommending this movie even though I'm more inclined to recommend one see this film to judge for oneself. Unfortunately, I found it hard to find reasons to see this film. Perhaps this film will be remembered for having Jackie Chan's first sex scene.

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Treknobabble #72: Dogs in Space: Charles Schulz’s Peanuts and Star Trek

Reed — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:57:07 +0000

Treknobabble is a continuing series of columns written by uber-Trekkie Reed Farrington about Star Trek and how it has influenced his life. When I was in grade school, a friend of mine and I co-created a school newsletter comic strip called â€œDogs in Space.â€ I believe the main inspiration was the popularity of the Planet of the Apes movies. I'm not even sure we were aware that dogs like Laika were used in early space flight testing by the Russians. Neither of us owned a dog. I think we simply needed another animal besides apes. Dogs were easy to draw and easily recognizable by their snouts and floppy ears. I suppose we could have called the comic strip â€œPlanet of the Dogs,â€ but I think even at our young age, we didn't want to make blatantly obvious what the source of our inspiration was. Anyway, this Treknobabble isn't about that comic strip. And it's not about the 80's film with Michael Hutchence. It wasn't even originally supposed to be about the dogs that were used in the Russian space program, but after a bit of research, I thought I should devote a paragraph or two to these special examples of â€œman's best friend.â€ Instead, I wanted to write about the connection between Star Trek and another of my favorite things, Charles Schulz's Peanuts and especially Snoopy. And I'll also be writing about Porthos, the real-life beagle that appeared in the Star Trek series, Enterprise. Before I get into my main topics, I wanted to pay tribute to the Russian space dogs. As far as we know, no other nation has used dogs in their space program. The Russians used at least thirteen dogs with five of them giving up their lives in man's pursuit of knowledge. Dogs were chosen because it was believed that they had the domestication and endurance to remain inactive for long periods of time. Stray dogs were â€œrecruitedâ€ because they had the further benefit of having endured harsh conditions. Besides, I can't imagine it would have been easy to get people to volunteer their pet dogs for the space program. When I read about the training, I thought it was somewhat inhumane. And without mincing words, the berth within the space vehicles was basically a torture chamber. When Laika was launched as the first Earth-born being to achieve orbit on Sputnik 2, the intent was that this would be a suicide mission. Her life-support system would fail after several days when the batteries ran down. Basically, Laika would suffocate although it was claimed that Laika would die painlessly. This is disturbing enough, but forty-five years after the launch, it was revealed based on sensor readings that Laika had most likely died five to seven hours into the flight from stress and overheating! I can only hope that Laika is living comfortably in doggie heaven. Snoopy is probably the most famous character in Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip. Like all dogs, Snoopy communicates through his facial expressions and body language. The great thing about Snoopy is that we are also privy to his thoughts through his thought balloons. We can easily imagine dogs having the same thoughts. I didn't think I would be able to find a connection between Charles Schulz's Peanuts and Star Trek until I serendipitously came across a post in the appropriately named The AAUGH Blog. (â€œAaughâ€ is what Charlie Brown would exclaim in frustration or pain.) In a Peanuts' strip published on February 7, 1972, Linus finds Snoopy sitting on his doghouse. He says, â€œI should think you'd get bored just sitting on a doghouse all day.â€ Snoopy's thought bubbles read, â€œOn the contrary. Who could get bored flying the star ship 'Enterprise'?â€ The post's author claims that with publishing lead times, Schulz would have had to have drawn this strip before the first Star Trek convention that had occurred less than three weeks earlier. So it wasn't a matter of Schulz drawing a strip in response to the publicity of the Star Trek convention, but rather that Schulz had an interest in Star Trek or at least was attuned to the growing popularity of Star Trek in reruns. During the 60s, Schulz had taken great pride in his association with NASA which had unofficially adopted Snoopy as its mascot. NASA had come to Schulz after the Apollo 1 tragedy and together, they created a Silver Snoopy lapel pin safety award. For Apollo 11, the astronauts gave the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) the call sign of Snoopy while the Command Module became known as Charlie Brown. Today, there is a five-foot Snoopy statue at the Kennedy Space Center. And the Snoopy LEM is still flying in a solar orbit (assuming that a Klingon Bird-of-Prey hasn't torpedoed it to smithereens), the only LEM given this honor. In 2007, Comic Con issued exclusive Wacky Wobblers: Peanuts Snoopy Captain Kirk, and Peanuts Woodstock Mr. Spock (WoodSpock!). When Rick Berman and Brannon Braga were formulating the Star Trek series Enterprise, they decided to add a dog as a regular Star Trek character. Several breeds were tested in casting sessions. Production personnel went with a beagle, its compact size probably being one of the deciding factors. I do wonder if Snoopy had been an influence since Snoopy is a beagle! Porthos was chosen for its name. Porthos was the name of one of the three musketeers in Alexandre Dumas' novel, The Three Musketeers. No significance has ever been attributed to why Captain Archer named his dog Porthos. Porthos was played by three beagles during the series: Prada, Breezy and Windy. Coincidentally, one of the last Russian dogs in space was named Verterok which is Russian for little wind or breeze. One has to wonder if it's realistic to keep a beagle or any dog on a star ship. I wonder if a dog realizes the difference between being on Earth and being in outer space. It must be disappointing for a dog not to be able to stick its head out of a porthole and feel the wind on its face. A beagle is a social dog, so I can't imagine Porthos being happy cooped up in Archer's quarters while Archer is away. Beagles are known to howl as well when they are lonely. In one episode, we did see Archer asking Ensign Hoshi Sato to take care of Porthos during his absence, so Archer does keep Porthos in consideration. We never see any other dogs on the Enterprise. Once a dog is neutered, does it not care about being in the company of other dogs or even about being able to catch the scents of other dogs? Adult beagles don't need much exercise but they enjoy walks. There was an episode where we saw Archer walking in the Enterprise corridors with Porthos tagging along. Archer was conversing with Trip and walking through doorways. I must admit wondering if Porthos might wander off without Archer's attention as beagles are oft to do. Thankfully, the end of the scene had the camera panning back down to show that Porthos was still around. As with his human counterparts, we never did get to see where Porthos went to relieve himself. Beagles are not easy to housebreak. And even with their short hair, beagles do shed. I wonder why we didn't see Roombas on the Enterprise. We did get to see Archer take Porthos down to a planet to allow him to run around, but I wonder if Porthos is cautious enough to realize the dangers of strange new worlds. I can only imagine what kind of contaminants that Porthos might leave behind on a planet. Beagles are good hunting dogs with a strong sense of smell. Porthos did alert Archer to invisible intruders, so having Porthos as a watchdog was beneficial. Their gentleness and overall good nature is probably a good asset in first contact situations. It's funny that T'Pol found Porthos' odor to be offensive. We can only guess what a female Vulcan would smell like to Porthos! In the new Star Trek movie, Scotty makes a reference to transporting Admiral Archer's pet beagle. People have actually asked the writers if the beagle is indeed Porthos even though Porthos would be several centuries old in dog years by the movie's time. The writers have answered that it's a different beagle but the same Archer from Enterprise. So Archer must like beagles. Besides Snoopy, I suppose I also have an affinity for Peanuts because I can relate to the loser, Charlie Brown. At the same time, I saw Captain Kirk as a role model. Could it be coincidence that both Charlie Brown and Captain Kirk wore a golden yellow tunic as their familiar uniform? (Yeah, I suppose it is. Ha ha.) I guess if I were to succinctly summarize what Peanuts and Star Trek have in common is that they both express what it means to be human although perhaps on opposite ends of the spectrum. From Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis, here are some apropos excerpts from the cover flap book description: â€œâ€¦[Schulz] daringly chose themes never before attempted in mainstream cartoons â€“ loneliness, isolation, melancholy, the unending search for love.â€ â€œâ€¦usingâ€¦a cast of memorable characters, [Schulz] portrayed the struggles that come with being awkward, imperfect, human.â€ Star Trek showed the opposite end where teamwork and reliance on our humanity could direct us towards progress and achievement. However, this gross categorization would be simplifying matters too far. In Peanuts, we get to see friendship and happiness through Snoopy and Woodstock. In Star Trek, we see human foibles personified through alien villainy. Maybe it all comes down to both having a memorable cast of characters.

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Treknobabble #71: A Reappraisal of Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Reed — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:11:18 +0000

Treknobabble is a continuing series of columns written by uber-Trekkie Reed Farrington about Star Trek and how it has influenced his life. When I first watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture (STTMP) in a theatre in 1979, I must admit that I thought that Gene Roddenberry could do no wrong. I was one of those Trekkies who were eager for new adventures after years of watching reruns. I think I watched the theatre screen with rapt attention even with the interminable fly-throughs of the V'Ger spacecraft. I must admit that I didn't clue in to the twist even when the crew approached the Voyager type spacecraft. I remember being disappointed by the simple resolution of the threat. And I did miss the fun factor even though I had thought most of the humor in the television series was hammy. Visually, I liked the monochromatic design with the gray and muted colors. I thought Star Trek needed a more serious, realistic look to counter the overuse of color that was used in the Original Series (TOS) in order to sell color televisions. The costumes appeared more dignified. I thought that it made more sense now that engineering personnel had special outfits. Also the security personnel now had head and chest protection. I had pre-imagined the all-in-one pants and boots as a visually appeasing look. I was probably influenced by the svelte appearance of Bruce Lee in a form fitting track suit. In our current day and age, this idea of the pants and boots being one piece seems rather impractical, but in the 23rd century, laundry doesn't seem like it would be much of a problem. As the movie showed, after you showered, you could have transporter technology â€œinstantlyâ€ clothe you. The new Enterprise looked beautiful. I liked the rectangular rather than cylindrical look of the nacelles. Wrist communicators seemed like a good idea although it may have seemed a bit retro because of Dick Tracy. Even though ten years had passed since the television series, it was rather surprising to me that no new technological ideas were introduced in the movie. Everything just seemed to look different. I suppose the airbus that brings Kirk to Starfleet Command was something we had never seen in Star Trek before, but it was similar to the shuttlecraft. I'm still trying to decide if I like the stick-shift on Sulu's navigation console. I will begrudgingly admit that STTMP was slow and boring. I did think that the fly around of the Enterprise by Kirk and Scotty seemed to take forever. We had an entity destroying everything in its path and coming towards Earth while Kirk and Scotty were casually enjoying the beauty of a starship. I was anxious for the Enterprise to get under way! I understood later that the excuse given for the fly around was to give the Trekkies a moment to appreciate what could not be shown in the television series due to budget constraints. The musical score by Jerry Goldsmith was without a doubt one aspect of the movie that was exemplary and the fly around did give one the opportunity to appreciate the musical score along with the hard work put in by the Enterprise modelers. Before his death, the director Robert Wise was able to supervise a director's cut in which originally planned visual effects were completed using today's technology. Care was taken to make sure that the added effects complemented the original effects. Also the pacing was improved through judicious editing. When I saw this revised version, I must admit that my opinions about STTMP didn't change. What has changed over the years is my regard for the movie's plot. I think I have come to the realization that it is very difficult to come up with an original plot or even an interesting variation. The lack of originality in STTMP's plot is often criticized. STTMP shares similarities with TOS episodes â€œThe Changeling,â€ â€œThe Immunity Syndrome,â€ and â€œWhere No Man Has Gone Before.â€ Comparisons have even been drawn to an animated episode, â€œOne of Our Planets is Missing.â€ At least Star Trek was copying from itself (although Star Trek stories can be traced back to earlier science fiction source material). And if one considers that a goal for the movie was to expand the audience beyond the loyal Trekkies, then the choice to expand and enhance elements of Star Trek that had worked before seems logical. Trekkies should be grateful that Roddenberry didn't decide to remake a television episode for the big screen although I actually wouldn't have minded this too much as long as the movie had retained the impact of the episode it was based on. I should note that in â€œThe Changeling,â€ Kirk saves the day by performing one of his patented mind-f*cks with the obstinate computer intelligence. I'm surprised that Kirk didn't attempt this against V'Ger. Ha ha. I do think that the use of V'Ger and its search for life's meaning is relevant for a Star Trek movie involving a re-introduction of the characters of Kirk and Spock after the original five-year mission. At the beginning of the movie, we find Spock attempting to attain Kolinahr, a â€œVulcan ritual intended to purge all remaining emotions in pursuit of the ideal of pure logic.â€ Throughout TOS, we saw Spock struggling with his human side as he had chosen the Vulcan way to live his life. After serving with humans for so long, we can imagine the frustration that Spock must have felt in denying his human self. The approach of V'Ger prevents Spock from achieving Kolinahr, because Spock's human half is stirred by the disturbing telepathic thoughts from V'Ger. At the same time, Kirk's own aimlessness at this point in his life parallels both V'Ger and Spock's search for meaning. After completing the successful five-year mission, Kirk had been promoted to admiral, thus consigning him to a desk bound position. At the beginning of the movie, we find a Kirk who is eager to once again sit in the captain's chair. We feel his frustration at not knowing his way around the new Enterprise. When Captain Will Decker confronts Kirk with a correct assessment of Kirk's actions, we are glad to see Kirk recognize that Decker is right. This reaffirms our belief in Kirk as the honorable hero. By the end of the movie, Kirk is back on firm footing as the captain of the Enterprise. When Spock realizes that V'Ger can never understand its purpose without the ability to feel, we know that Spock has also realized that Kolinahr is not what he needs. Will Decker makes the sacrifice to bond with V'Ger, allowing V'Ger to transcend its machine origins. The sacrifice is made not only out of duty but also out of love, because Decker will also be bonded with Ilia who had been assimilated by V'Ger. Kirk, Spock and V'Ger have all achieved contentment for the time being. Much fun has been made of the alien intelligence that found V'Ger, because it wasn't smart enough to wipe the smudge off the exterior of V'Ger's nameplate to reveal V'Ger's true name. I would think that the aliens would have discovered V'Ger's real name somewhere in V'Ger's data banks. If so, I imagine the alien intelligence might have a wry or whimsical sense of humor and have nicknamed the spacecraft, V'Ger, based on the nameplate that it did not bother to clean. After communicating with the alien intelligence, V'Ger might simply have come to refer to itself by its nickname. However, we are told that V'Ger was damaged when the alien intelligence came across it and the alien intelligence repaired V'Ger. Perhaps the damage had wiped all data pertaining to Voyager since V'Ger had no â€œknowledgeâ€ of itself except for the notion that it should transmit all accumulated data to its creator. But how do we know that the alien intelligence was corporeal? Would the fact that the alien intelligence was able to see the smudged nameplate necessarily mean that it must have the physicality to remove a smudge? Might it be so smug as to not bother to remove the smudge? There is some speculation in fandom that V'Ger in its damaged state had landed on the Borg home world. Thus the alien intelligence that had reprogrammed V'Ger was the Borg! This deduction seemed logical since V'Ger was no longer benignly gathering data. V'Ger had been transformed to basically assimilate everything that it came across during its search for its creator. One wonders if V'Ger was also given the unspoken motivation that the Borg have of achieving perfection. When V'Ger arrives at Earth, it sets up satellites around the planet and threatens the planet in order to meet its creator. If this movie was remade nowadays with our current CGI technology, then I'm sure we would witness scenes of destruction on Earth which seems to be de rigueur for science fiction movies. Perhaps the climax of STTMP would have benefitted from this type of visual impact. What made me reconsider STTMP was a book entitled, On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not, written by a neuroscientist, Robert A. Burton, M.D. His basic premise is that the â€œfeeling of knowingâ€ does not arise from conscious reasoning. From this, he goes on to speculate about subjects such as the ongoing debate between science and religion. People have this idea that Star Trek is all about science and how technology will provide all the solutions to our problems. Curiously, I think the message of STTMP is that science alone is not enough and not just because the movie had the audaciousness to show a transporter mishap. Humanity is special because we have a quality that transcends pure reason. Since Gene Roddenberry was a humanist who despised organized religion, he was asking us to have faith in ourselves rather than in some external deity. And in this movie, the solution lies in humanity. Burton discusses the myth of the autonomous rational mind and our understanding of objectivity. Basically he thinks people, even â€œsmartâ€ people, fall into the trap of thinking that any problem can be solved by reasoning. Philosophers have been tackling the question of the existence of God and the meaning of life ever since humanity attained consciousness. (Note that there have been interesting discussions of when exactly humans achieved a sense of self or consciousness, but I won't get into that right now.) Burton thinks that the meaning of life is one of those questions that cannot be deduced through reason. Many others have come to the same conclusion that it's impossible for the mind to know itself. I think this is the limitation that V'Ger encounters. Even when it is presented with the evidence that humanity created it and it fulfills its purpose by uploading all the data that it has accumulated while traveling through space, it still isn't satisfied. It rationally decides that it must bond with its creator, its God, in order to gain further insight into its existence. On an episode of Enterprise, â€œBreaking the Ice,â€ T'Pol solicits Tucker's advice concerning her pre-arranged marriage. When Tucker suggests that she subconsciously made a decision by postponing her arrival date, she replies with a typical Vulcan response that she doesn't allow her subconscious to make decisions for her. But as Spock discovered in STTMP after a mind-meld with V'Ger, there is a limit to logic and rational thinking. In addition to giving our lives meaning, feelings for which we have no conscious control over help us to make decisions. The scene where Spock reveals this insight to Kirk was not in the theatrical release of the movie. In order to speed up the already languorous pace of the movie, someone apparently thought that this scene was superfluous or at least that the expressed idea was not necessary to be explicitly stated. At the end of the film, Kirk believes they're witnessing the birth of a new life form. I would suspect that the resultant hybrid of man and machine would still ponder the question of the meaning of life, but its human side will allow it to cope with this unanswerable question. It would be interesting to revisit V'Ger. Like all good Star Trek stories do, STTMP leaves us to speculate on the consequences. Burton mentions a Terry Bisson science fiction short story, They're Made Out of Meat, that I think is amusing. Imagine a machine intelligence coming across Earth and discovering humanity, and trying to come to grips with meat that thinks. I think STTMP missed an opportunity to have V'Ger provide some comic relief. Ha ha. So, does STTMP deserve better consideration as a science fiction film? I don't wish to reopen the familiar art debate of a filmmaker's intentions versus what a viewer interprets. The well-documented difficulties that arose in coming up with a script for this movie provide suitable evidence for the reasons why there is a lack of dramatic thrust in the movie. Filming began without a completed script and both Shatner and Nimoy got unfairly blamed for being conceited actors when they tried contributing ideas of their own. When all is said and done, I think what an audience member gets from viewing a movie shouldn't be disregarded. STTMP is certainly a unique film. We often complain about the dearth of intellectual science fiction movies. I suppose when one tries to make an intellectual science fiction film, one is bound to produce something that is labeled boring and pretentious. I'm sure many of you are thinking that I've rationalized away or downplayed all the things that made STTMP â€œbad.â€ And I admit I probably am. Years from now, I will probably admit that my initial impression of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek was wrong. And I'll be calling it a masterpiece.

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Treknobabble #70: Across the Star Trek Universe

Reed — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:03:45 +0000

Treknobabble is a continuing series of columns written by uber-Trekkie Reed Farrington about Star Trek and how it has influenced his life. You know when you find something that you like, whether it be a song or book or movie or whatever, and you want to share that something with family and friends? And you really hope that they share the same feeling about that something? Or how about the feeling that you get when you find out that the creators of things you admire are fans of each other? I've grown to agree with the familiar saying that you can judge a man by the friends he has. I suppose in trying to understand myself, I've been trying to assess the commonality among all my interests by looking at the people behind my interests. Although this may sound self-serving, I agree with Plato in his statement that an unexamined life is a life not worth living. Since this is a column about Star Trek, I thought it would be interesting to find connections between Star Trek and other things I love. In this column, I'll be looking at the sporadic connections between Star Trek and The Beatles. I was born in the '60s, so it might be natural that I appreciate things from the '60s even though I was too young to enjoy the experience of living through the '60s. Growing up in a small town in Canada, I was probably sheltered. At the least, the events of the '60s were filtered by the seclusion. I realize that the '60s were filled with turmoil, but as is so often noted, great things seem to arise from adversity. I'm a big fan of The Beatles. Not just their music, but as individuals. Part of their appeal was attributed to how each Beatle had his own distinct personality. It's interesting to see how each of them handled the riches and the fame. The worlds of Star Trek and The Beatles didn't seem to mix. From what we saw in the Original Series' episodes, there was no sign that The Beatles' music had survived to the 23rd century! Yes, I realize even if anyone at the time had wanted to include Beatles' music in an episode, the licensing fees would probably have been prohibitive. Also there was a stigma attached to pop culture that Star Trek maintained by dismissing the relevance of television and spectator sports as well. However, the Beatles' haircut did survive as could be seen in Spock's mop-top and Chekov's early haircut, I mean wig. Gene Roddenberry was not oblivious to the popularity of The Beatles (or should I say The Monkees, who were based on The Beatles) with the younger generation. Here's a memo that Roddenberry sent to Star Trek's casting director, Joe D'Agosta: "Keeping our teenage audience in mind, also keeping aware of current trends, let's watch for a young, irreverent, English-accent â€œBeatleâ€ type to try on the show, possibly with an eye to him reoccurring. Like the smallish fellow [Davy Jones] who looks to be a hit on The Monkees. Personally I find this type spirited and refreshing and I think our episodes could use that kind of â€œlift.â€ Let's discuss." Walter Koenig was eventually hired as Chekov because of his resemblance to Davy Jones, the lead singer of The Monkees. Chekov became a Russian after Roddenberry had heard that Pravda had published an article noticing the absence of a Russian on the bridge of the USS Enterprise. There was an Original Series episode, "The Way to Eden", that did address the hippies and counter-culture of the time. Kirk wasn't too sympathetic with the hippies, but Spock and the hippies grokked each other. Spock even played a musical instrument! Granted it was a Vulcan harp, but stillâ€¦ I suppose I should mention William Shatner's rendition of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" that he recorded in 1968. In 2003, it was voted as the worst cover of a Beatles' song in a poll conducted by the digital TV channel Music Choice in Britain. In the mid '70s, I found out about a project that had me totally psyched. Apparently, Gene Roddenberry and Paul McCartney were going to be working on a science fiction musical! I've read a source that says Roddenberry had initiated contact with Paul at Abbey Road Studios, but I also remember reading that it was Paul who initiated the idea. Supposedly, they did get together in November of 1976 to work out the story about an invasion from space that would involve Paul's group, Wings, and Paul as an outer space rock singer. However, when Paramount decided to go ahead with reviving Star Trek, Roddenberry abandoned his plans with McCartney. Roddenberry had suffered a breakdown from overwork during production of the Original Series, so I can imagine that Roddenberry thought he could only handle Star Trek and nothing else at the same time. A remnant of the project can be seen on the cover of the Wings' album, "Back to the Egg", that was released in 1979. The cover shows the group looking through a hatchway at the planet Earth from space. By the way, I find it strange that Roddenberry's authorized biography (and even an unauthorized biography I have) fails to mention this project. Furthermore, I dug out my copies of the Wings Fun Club fanzine, Club Sandwich, from the time of â€œBack to the Eggâ€ and I couldn't find any reference to the Roddenberry project. I assume the project is not apocryphal. A curious film entitled, The Beatles Meet Star Trek, was shown in the mid-to-late '70s at least in the New York tri-state area. There is speculation that this film was an edited compilation of clips from the Star Trek and Beatles animated shows that got shown in theatres that had cult films, revivals, and midnight showings. If anyone has actually seen this film, please tell us about it in the blog post comments. There is a popular Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) episode called, "The Inner Light", in which Picard lives the lifetime of an alien in less than half an hour as a result of contact with an alien probe. Now unless you happened to purchase the Lady Madonna 45 rpm single or The Beatles â€“ Past Masters â€“ Volume 2 CD, you might not be familiar with the George Harrison penned tune, "The Inner Light". I had assumed that the writer of the Star Trek episode had been referencing the same Indian mystic text that George Harrison had, but apparently, the Star Trek episode was named after Harrison's tune. In the TNG episode, "Redemption, Part II", during the Klingon civil war, Data commands the U.S.S. Sutherland. The motto on that starship's dedication plaque reads, "There will be an answer, let it be." For Star Trek: Voyager fans, there is a YouTube video of Tim Russ aka Tuvok helping to sing "Let It Be" at a Star Trek convention in Germany from 1998. At Gene Roddenberry's funeral, Nichelle Nichols aka Uhura sang "Yesterday". She introduced the song with, "This song was co-written by a dear friend of Gene's: Paul McCartney." In The Hippie Dictionary compiled by John Bassett McCleary, Gene Roddenberry and John Lennon are listed among the thirty-six most influential people of the hippie era. If you listen to Lennon's song, "Imagine", you can hear how this could be an anthem for Star Trek's future on Earth: Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world Much has been said about the bromance between Kirk and Spock in the latest Star Trek movie. To my surprise, co-writer Robert Orci states that inspiration came from the bromance between John and Paul! Let me allow Orci to explain in the following paragraphs:

"We looked at John Lennon and Paul McCartney's friendship as part of our model for Kirk and Spock. They were opposites and they bonded very young because they both lost their mothers when they were teens. They might not have actually gotten along at the time had it not been for that kind of a bond. They were the only ones who kind of understood each other's pain about having lost their mother, so they were definitely an influence on Kirk and Spock. You know, Star Trek and the Beatles were products of the '60s, so sometimes you have to tie it all together. "The more you read about them, the more you realize how they each had elements of the other. The Yin and Yang each have elements of the other color within their spot. I think it depends on the day. On the one hand you can say that Lennon was the intellectual like Spock, but on the other hand he was also kind of the leader of the band, so you can say he was Kirk in that way. And certainly Paul had more of the Spock haircut and the eyebrows. I guess we'll be able to answer that one later, when we see how Kirk and Spock develop. "You know what? Spock is Lennon, because Paul is the optimist who can kind of see through the pain and still keep his chin up. That's Kirk. Spock is a little more fatalistic with his logic, as John Lennon was."

In the Star Trek movie, recall that Kirk loses his father and Spock loses his mother as a direct result of Nero's actions. I think I agree with Orci's assessment that Spock is more like Lennon. Lennon wrote the song, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", which is a sentiment that Spock would agree with. In a story last year that's not directly related to Star Trek, The Beatles' song "Across the Universe" was the first song beamed directly at light speed into deep space. Appropriately enough, the song was beamed through NASA's Deep Space Network that was founded shortly before The Beatles invaded America. The Deep Space Network is â€œan international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe.â€ With his typical flippancy, McCartney notified NASA with the message, â€œAmazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul.â€ And with her typical optimistic dreams, Yoko commented, â€œI see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe.â€ I imagine Uhura should have picked up the broadcast at least once during the Enterprise's adventures.

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