Monthly Archives: December 2016

Dec 30 2016

Top 10 Films and TV Shows of 2016

For 2016, superheroes continue to reign in film and TV, while other genres like sci-fi, fantasy, horror and related combos offered refreshing alternatives. Many of the best films and TV shows on this list were very profound and pushed the envelope, while others were just plain fun to watch.

Films

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10. 10 Cloverfield Lane: The spiritual sequel to Cloverfield was a tense and suspenseful thriller with a great performance by John Goodman as a doomsday prepper.

xsuicideTIE: 9. Suicide Squad/X-Men: Apocalypse: Despite their flaws both superhero (and supervillain) films were enjoyable romps with unforgettable characters (Harley Quinn, the Joker, Deadshot, Magneto, Quicksilver, and more) and eye popping action-packed moments.

8. Doctor Strange: With the big-screen debut of Marvel Comics’ Sorcerer Supreme the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to remind us why their superhero films are currently the best of the crop compared to Fox’s X-Men Universe films (Deadpool aside, of course) and the DC Extended Universe movies.

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7. Zootopia: The best animated film of the year dazzled us with eye raising animation and a clever script that highlighted important social messages about tolerance and prejudice.

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6. Star Trek: Beyond: The film’s back-to-basics approach with Star Trek’s iconic characters paid proper homage to the TV show while having a genuine adventurous tone.

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5. The Jungle Book: Even though the CG-created animals and environment were flawless and stunning, the film to its merit emphasized story and characters, which left a bigger impression.

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4. Deadpool: As a faithful adaptation of the irrelevant and violent comic book, Deadpool proves that it’s possible to be true to comic book source material and still be an entertaining film.

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3. Arrival: A provocative, well-acted and beautifully shot film about first contact with aliens smartly emphasized the communications hurdles humanity would face. The film’s ending was a true surprise and was just one of Arrival’s highlights.

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2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: The first Star Wars spinoff not only neatly ties in with Episode IV but is a great and exciting film in its own right with more nuanced characters and situations than seen in a typical Star Wars film.

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1. Captain America: Civil War: The Avengers are torn apart from within as Captain America and Iron Man philosophically, then violently disagreed over allowing the government to supervise their team. Featuring strong performances and the best superhero fight scenes ever filmed, the film was an emotional ride for viewers.

TV Shows

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10. Ash Vs Evil Dead: Grossly fun and action-packed as everyone’s favorite deadite fighter Ash Williams and his gang continue delighting horror fans.

redhats invade9. Colony: Unexpectedly well done look at life under alien domination and that “big, beautiful wall” separating American cities is a chilling portent of what lies ahead.12 Monkeys Cole time travels8. 12 Monkeys: Of the many time travel themed TV shows out there, this is the best of them as many episodes explored the convoluted nature of time travel.

dareflashTIE: 7. The Flash/Daredevil: The two best superhero TV shows were on the opposite ends of the tonal spectrum. The Flash is pure Silver Age awesomeness, while Daredevil reflects a more gritty and grounded mood, especially with the introduction of the brutal vigilante, the Punisher. Both shows  featured intense and enjoyable comic book adventures thanks to well written scripts and engaging lead actors, plus supporting characters/actors.

6. The Walking Dead: The megahit series about brutal life after the undead destroy civilization has  hit a creative wall and is past its peak according to many fans. Yet, for the most part The Walking Dead is still delivering more than adequate thrills, gross out moments and entertainment, even if the show went to far in Negan’s introduction and certain character deaths.

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5. Black Mirror: A dark anthology series about the downside of technology offered many disquieting episodes about technology’s impact in our lives today and tomorrow.

El confronts monster Stranger Things4. Stranger Things: A wonderful ode to ’80s sci-fi movies featured terrific child performances, geeky Easter eggs and an intriguing mystery revolving around a missing child and an interdimensional monster.

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3. The Expanse: This well-crafted series about a brewing war among human colonies in our solar system during the next century could wind up being the next great TV space opera.

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2. Westworld: HBO’s potential successor to Game of Thrones went way beyond the original Michael Crichton movie about theme park robots running amok by presenting a thought-provoking series about existentialism and ethics.

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1. Game of Thrones: Even though the fantasy series is drawing to a close, the sprawling epic continues to captivate viewers with its visceral tale of power struggles among kingdoms. One of the highlights was the epic episode  “Battle of the Bastards” that put rival films to shame with its gut wrenching fight scenes.

 

Dec 27 2016

Carrie Fisher Passes Away As She Leaves a Legacy In The Stars

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Unfortunately, 2016 is not done with taking away another beloved celebrity. This time, the passing of Carrie Fisher is hitting genre fans directly being given her genre creds in Star Wars.

princess-leiaFisher was truly a trailblazer in her role as Princess Leia Organa in the very first Star Wars film 39 years ago in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. These days it may be easy to overlook Leia’s (and Fisher’s) influence not just in the world of science fiction but in popular culture. As the spunky and strong-willed princess from the planet Alderaan, Leia defied the stereotype of a hapless damsel in distress. Although she was held prisoner onboard the Death Star for most of the film, from the start she was someone who could stand up to Darth Vader. In future Star Wars films she more than held her own with her male co-stars and proved beyond a doubt that she was a strong woman while being kind and gentle during special moments. Undoubtedly, Leia as portrayed by Fisher paved the way for other legendary women in science fiction like Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor, and much more.

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Of course, Fisher showed different facets of Leia (as well as iconic hairdos and outfits) in other Star Wars films, especially a more romantic (The Empire Strikes Back) and even sexier side (Return of the Jedi). We last saw the former princess as a military leader in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Fisher will appear for a final time as Leia in the upcoming Star Wars Episode VIII. What will happen to the character for the unfilmed Episode IX is anyone’s guess but most likely she will be written out of the film. Even though Rogue One: A Star Wars Story showed that it is possible to digitally recreate the character using the actress’ likeness it may be seen as poor taste given her recent passing.

Outside of Star Wars, Carrie Fisher struggled with fame and postcardshad problems with drugs and having a bipolar disorder. But she channeled the pain from those experiences to write several well received fiction and non-fiction books, the most famous one being Postcards From the Edge. She also appeared in many other films like The Blues Brothers, When Harry Met Sally…, and The ‘Burbs. She also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Postcards From the Edge and contributed to other screenplays like Hook, Last Action Hero and even the Star Wars prequels. Before she died, Fisher was returning from a book tour promoting her latest book, The Princess Diarist, which was a memoir of her time filming the original Star Wars films. As we all know, during her flight home to California, she suffered a cardiac arrest and sadly never recovered. Her passing away hits many home given her relatively young age (60) and her resurgent fame with the renewed interest in Star Wars. Even though Carrie Fisher is no longer with us we can and must still celebrate her contributions to sci-fi and pop culture, which will always be there.

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On the whole, the tragic passing away of too many people this year, whether famous or personal, reminds us to cherish them and their contributions to our lives as we continue on our journeys.

José Soto

Dec 22 2016

Rogue One: The Most Pivotal Star Wars Film To Date

star-wars-rogue-one-characters-names-vehicles The very first Star Wars spinoff film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scoring big in theaters and with audiences. Despite its faults, the film is a rollicking success not just in terms of box office dollars but for its many merits. This is critically important considering that a lot was riding on this particular Star Wars film that many do not realize, at first.

Of course, with its Star Wars credentials Rogue One was bound to open huge and have its own core fan base. The question before it premiered was would it not just resonate with fans, but establish its own identity without relying (for the most part) on the central tenets of a Star Wars film: the Skywalker clan, Jedi and Sith, lightsaber duels and some overreaching multi-film storyline. Rogue One is largely self-contained with its main characters making their only appearance in a Star Wars film. So no, you won’t see Jyn Erso or K2S0 popping up in future films. That is a huge gamble for the Star Wars juggernaut since this limits its marketing potential, at least with some narrow-sighted marketing heads.

Pushing The Envelope

Furthermore, as those who have seen the film will agree, this isn’t a typical Star Wars film. There isn’t an opening crawl, the film’s tone is distinctly more mature and feels more like a war film with actual consequences and has many characters with shades of grey. Honestly, this was to the film’s benefit because this shift in tone helped set it apart from Star Wars and pushed the envelope for what can be done with Star Wars in general. At the same time, it is clearly a part of the established Star Wars lore and serves as an important link not just to the Prequel and Original Trilogies but to the animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. Doing this last linkage now establishes both TV series as part of official canon.

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Storywise, the events in this film were extremely critical to the Star Wars universe. Think about it, the main story is about Rebel spies trying desperately to steal the plans to the Death Star. If they failed there would not be A New Hope. C-3P0 and R2-D2 would never have fallen into the hands of Luke Skywalker. He would never have destroyed the infernal Death Star and set off events leading to the Galactic Empire’s demise.

For these reasons, Rogue One was a huge test, a proving ground, for the Star Wars film franchise. erso-andor-and-droidBeing that it is the first spinoff that is quasi-independent of the “Saga” trilogies, there was a question if audiences and fans would accept it. If it failed either in ticket sales or not have excellent word of mouth, the fate of future Star Wars spinoffs would be in question. Of course, Lucasfilm would not abandon the spinoffs altogether, but the film studio might have only concentrated their spinoffs on established characters like Han Solo. The fact that the swashbuckling space pirate is the focus of the next Star Wars spinoffs is evidence that Lucasfilm was hedging its bet and planned on playing it safe in case Rogue One faltered.

Thankfully, Rogue One is a hit, partly because it did not play it safe while at the same time it took advantage of the rich Star Wars backstory. It’s the same formula that worked for the Star Trek spinoffs. The first one, Star Trek: The Next Generation, followed the same premise, a starship exploring the unknown except with new characters. Its success allowed for future spinoffs to try different tones, plots and characters, the best example being Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

What Lies Ahead

Now that Rogue One has proven that a Star Wars film doesn’t have to rely on established tenets to tell a riveting story that resonates with fans, what other stories can be told? After the Han Solo prequel, there is rumor that an overdue Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff will follow and at one time a Boba Fett film nearly went into production before its assigned director Josh Trank blacklisted himself with his dismal Fant4stic debacle.

dash-rendarThose films sound intriguing since they’re about popular and intriguing characters with the potential to carry their own films. However, Lucasfilm should take heed of Rogue One’s success and tell stories with new characters and situations. Or adapt popular ideas from other media. Live-action versions of Knights of the Old Republic or Shadows of the Empire would make terrific films. Perhaps, as C.S. Link suggested in his Rogue One: A Star Wars Story review, a film taking place in between Episode IV and V could be done. This concept of filling in the gaps between films or trilogies can be done with several films and there are many questions about what happened after Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens that are worth exploring.

rogue-one-on-the-beachRogue One: A Star Wars Story has opened up many possibilities in future Star Wars films. It passed the hurdle of not relying on classic characters and situations to tell a compelling story. And it liberally and skillfully took elements from other films and TV shows without overdoing it or aping the same story beats and characters. This is why Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the most pivotal Star Wars film for now.

José Soto

Dec 16 2016

Rogue One Is An Exciting Addition To The Star Wars Saga

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the newest film for the epic space saga from Lucasfilm and is a great action movie as well.  It tells the story of how the Rebel Alliance was able to procure the plans for the Empire’s super weapon the Death Star. It involves a young woman named Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones) who is recruited by the rebels to find her long lost father, who is an imperial scientist and in charge of making the weapon. She is accompanied by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a rebel spy and his cranky, but useful, droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk). Their journey across several new worlds tells an exciting tale that has a feeling of dread as the Death Star is shown reigning death upon worlds in anticipation of its later appearance in the original Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
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Godzilla director Gareth Edwards does a very good job portraying the action, both on the ground and in space, with a gritty feeling that is somewhat different from previous films in the series. The intense firefights between rebel soldiers and storm troopers really give the impression of a huge struggle between bitter foes in a long war for survival. The action in space is just as impressive with camera views from the top of X-Wing fighters that give the feeling of actually being up there in the middle of all that chaos.
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Another very interesting aspect is the use of characters from the original film that make an appearance. First and foremost is Grand Moff Tarkin played by Peter Cushing. Yes, Peter Cushing, who died in 1994. He was digitally recreated for this film and has many scenes in the movie. It’s not just a brief cameo and his presence is something to behold. Other classic characters who appear include a brief appearance by Princess Leia and, of course, the iconic villain Darth Vader. His return is also brief, but very powerful, especially towards the end when he is seen in action and he is brutal and terrifying. It was also nice to see Jimmy Smits again as Bail Organa and does link the prequel era to the original set of films.
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One issue with the movie is that since there were many new and different characters to introduce, some of their characterizations were thin. As a result, when our heroes began to make their inevitable sacrifices for freedom, there wasn’t as much of a feeling for them as there would be if we got to know them a little bit better. This was somewhat inevitable though, since the story does have to revolve around Jyn and both her search for her father, as well as redemption for him. Nevertheless, audiences are still able to appreciate what the rebels lost and see how costly the battle to gain the Death Star plans was for the Alliance. We also see a new Imperial villain, Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) who is the head of weapons research for the Death Star. His rivalry with Tarkin over control of the battle station and brutal tactics against rebel worlds is effective at showing the sinister side of the Empire, as well as the its repressive nature for both its subjects and those serving in its ranks.
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The climatic battle at the end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set on the planet Scarif. It is a real highlight and the battle is destructive and almost apocalyptic end goes to show what is really at stake for the galaxy. The final scenes tie directly into the beginning of Episode IV and it makes this film the perfect companion piece to the 1977 classic. Overall, I enjoyed this new foray into the Star Wars universe and see it as a ground level view of the whole conflict between the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire. I would really like to see another Star Wars film by Gareth Edwards, perhaps set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and hope that other directors are inspired by his vision of this universe created by George Lucas.

 C.S. Link

Dec 14 2016

Lead Actress Cast For Star Trek: Discovery

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For most of the year, we Star Trek fans have been teased with the casting of the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery TV show that is premiering next year. We were excited over the casting of Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones and others who would play diverse characters in the show, but no lead had been cast. That all changed today when word came that after an exhaustive search Sonequa Martin-Green has just been cast to play the lead role Lt. Commander Rainsford in Star Trek’s eagerly awaited return to TV.

Most fans know Martin-Green from the hit TV show The Walking Dead. For those of you out there who don’t she plays the role of Sasha, one of the few survivors of the walker apocalypse. Not to beat up on The Walking Dead, but that show has been in a rut this season with the Negan overkill and the tropes that the characters, including Sasha had been going through.

Obviously, Sonequa Martin-Green’s casting means that Sasha will probably be the next victim of Negan on The Walking Dead. It’s just as well, since her arc had come to a conclusion last season and the men she cared about in her life, her brother, Tyreese, and her new lover Abraham are both dead. In other words, The Walking Dead’s loss is Star Trek: Discovery’s gain.

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Her casting is quite inspired, since it covers many important areas. One, she is the first woman of color to have the lead role in a Star Trek show. The honor of the first non-white goes to Avery Brooks who starred as Captain Ben Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine back in the 1990s. Ironically enough, like Sisko, Sonequa Martin-Green’s Rainsford won’t begin the show as the captain but as a lieutenant commander. Hopefully as what eventually happened with Sisko, her character will get promoted to captain before too long because she has the look of a Star Trek captain.

But more importantly, as seen in The Walking Dead, Martin-Green has the acting chops to headline a TV show and being that she has experience in a related genre, she will please many fans who only want the best casting options for the beloved Star Trek franchise. Finally, her landing the role cements the notion that Star Trek: Discovery will be populated by a diverse group of people with different backgrounds. This is actually reflective of our society today, despite what some on the fringe-elements may wish for, and this casting proves that Star Trek on the whole is able to keep up with the times.

Seriously, this is an excellent cap to Star Trek’s 50th anniversary as this year draws to a close.

T. Rod Jones