May 13 2014

First Look At The New Batman

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Ever since Batman was announced to be appearing in the next Superman movie, there has been a ton of speculation about how he would look. Things went into overdrive when it was announced that Ben Affleck would be taking over the role from Christian Bale. Many people decried the acting pick, while others had a wait-and-see attitude.

Still, behind all the wondering, Batman fans wanted to know how the new Batman would look like. Yesterday, Zack Snyder, the director for 2016’s Superman/Batman movie teased fans with a covered Batmobile and hinted that more revelations would come. Well, Snyder wasn’t kidding.

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Today, he released a black and white photo of Affleck adorned with the famous Batsuit alongside a new Batmobile. From what can be seen from the photo, the Batmobile looks like a throwback to the sleek designed armored car seen in Tim Burton’s Batman movies, but looks more sturdy like the mini-tank shown in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films.

As for Batman himself. he looks like the way Frank Miller drew him in the famous The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel. Very muscular, and the pose gives off a Batman who seems weary and near the end of his rope, but still determined to carrying out his duty…the latest one being confronting Superman.

To think we have to wait over a year to see the film! At least now we have something to whet our appetites.

Lewis T. Grove

May 12 2014

Optimistic Anticipation For The Latest Godzilla Epic

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With the release of a new American-made film Godzilla coming on May 16th, there is hope (based on the trailers) that the mistakes made in the previous American effort won’t be repeated. That film from 1998 directed by Roland Emmerich had a giant iguana-type creature that ran through the rainy streets of NYC and dodged fire from attack helicopters, which ended up hitting many buildings. It was shown that the army did more damage to the city than Godzilla himself, and he was vulnerable to their attacks when he was hit. This description illustrates what went wrong with that film and shows what Godzilla isn’t.

photoIn all of his Japanese films, Godzilla is portrayed as an unstoppable force of nature that has to be endured. He causes massive destruction on an unimaginable scale, almost like a typhoon or tornado. That is why military strikes against him don’t really work. You can’t bomb a hurricane into submission. All you can do is wait for it to pass and deal with the aftermath. The ’98 film Godzilla didn’t seem to grasp this concept and made Godzilla seem like your run-of-the-mill monster. If it was not called Godzilla, the movie can be enjoyed as a decent monster flick. But when given the title Godzilla, there are certain expectations that fans have, and hopefully the new film will fulfill them.

So far, the trailers for the latest Godzilla film seem to show the same serious tone that the original 1954 film had with a dark and moody feel. They also evoke a sense of dread and awe at the sheer size of Godzilla, and the chaos he leaves in his wake.

If done correctly, this film can lead to a new series of American-made Godzilla movies and reestablish the godzilla 2000character as a film icon, something the ’98 film failed to do. That misstep forced Toho films to resume making their own Godzilla movies. The first of which (Godzilla 2000) was a nice return to form for the Big G. The new film will also have him fighting other creatures, which should be fun to see and bring back memories of his many bouts with other fan favorites like Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidora. The thing with those films is that they were somewhat more light hearted in tone than the original film. So hopefully this new one will combine the serious outlook of the 1954 film with the monster match ups of later Godzilla movies.

In any case, it is nice to see another Godzilla movie after 10 years of his absence since Godzilla: Final Wars from 2004, and should bring the King of The Monsters renewed attention and attract new fans.

C.S. Link

May 7 2014

Coyote: Allen Steele’s Gateway Novel To A Bold New World

Some of the best sci-fi books to read during the summer months are those from author Allen Steele’s Coyote universe. Starting from Coyote and concluding with Coyote Destiny, these books explore a few tried and tested themes seen in science fiction literature. Chiefly among them are the ideas of man versus nature and of man versus his government, which are first seen in the first novel of the series Coyote. Subtitled “A Novel of Interstellar Exploration” this book deals with a group of space colonizers who rebel against an evil American government in the late 21st century and like the early pilgrims in our history, set out for a new land or rather a new planet.

coyote 1Actually this novel that was published back in 2003 is a collection of short stories that have been gathered into one book which explains the episodic nature of the novel. It’s not a complaint since each storyline while self contained and sometimes focusing on some characters does advance smoothly the overall story and gives a good perspective on the aspects of colonizing an alien world.

The book opens with the main characters on Earth. In the future, the United States has fallen and replaced by an ultra conservative dictatorship called the United Republic of America. It’s a dismal place where the government represses people, is fighting guerillas and separatists and is isolated from the world. The U.R.A. is also launching a colony starship with colonizers to its destination being Coyote, a moon that can support life and orbits the planet Bear in the 47 Ursae Majoris system. Unknown to the tyrannical U.R.A. is that the starship’s captain Robert E. Lee – – yes, he’s a descendant of the actual Lee from our history, and a group of conspirators plan to hijack the ship during its voyage. It won’t really spoil anything to say that they succeed and that the reason they do so is that his group wanted to escape the government and they figured that their destination was beyond the grasp of the U.R.A.

Before they arrive on Coyote, the novel spends a segment on the actual voyage. The starship, the U.R.S.S. Alabama, won’t reach Coyote for 230 years so the crew goes into biostatis, a type of induced hibernation. Unfortunately, one of the crewmembers, Leslie Gillis, is awakened only three months into the journey. Unable to go back into biostasis, Gillis is condemned to spend the rest of his life in solitude on board the ship or commit suicide. He chooses the former and the novel details how he spends time which was surprisingly interesting. One plot point which is brought up and so far never resolved is the fact that Gillis finds evidence of alien intelligence in the form of a passing spaceship. Steele never reveals in Coyote what was it that Gillis spotted and it’s frustratingly tantalizing.

Midway through the book, the colonists coyote maparrive and the rest of the story deals with the hardships they face in settling in the new world. Steele wisely spends some time going over the alien environment that while Earth-like is still an alien world. It makes the world of Coyote seem like a character unto itself. One way this was shown was when it’s shown  that the world has longer seasons. This adds to the hardships the colonists face since a month lasts about ninety days so winter for instance is that much longer.

The story shifts to Carlos Montero a teenager who sets out with his girlfriend Wendy Gunther and his friends to explore the world’s vast equatorial river system. This plot doubles for a coming-of-age story which is heartfelt at times without being too saccharine. The story becomes more intense as his decision to take a Twain-inspired trip and his reckless behavior leads to death and Carlos is forced to become a man. Part of the way he does this is by his continuing the journey solo to find himself and spare his companions more hardship. The story at the same time doubles as a fascinating travelogue of Coyote as Carlos explores it and ultimately as a man makes a hard choice over what to do with his life.

From reading the novel it’s fairly obvious that it’s a retelling of our American history right up until the Revolution. The last part of the novel is a set up for the sequels. Another starship arrives and brings humans ready to share the spoils in the world the characters worked so hard to settle. This, of course, sets up the future conflicts seen in Coyote Rising and Coyote Frontier. The final two books in the series open up the Coyote universe as contact is made with alien civilizations. This premise spun off a trio of novels that largely take place away from Coyote: Spindrift, Galaxy Blues and Hex. Those books themselves are just as fascinating to read. On the whole, all these books are well written, never dull and are definite page turners. In other words, prime summer reading for sci-fi fans. It will take a while to go through all of them, but it’s best to start with Coyote, the one that started it all. With this first book, readers will easily find that Allen Steele has created an engaging story, world and cast of characters that warrant these sequels and spinoffs.

José Soto

May 2 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Should’ve Been More Amazing

posterWatching The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was both a joyful and frustrating viewing experience. There is so much that the film gets right in terms of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) and his girlfriend Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). But sadly, this film is nearly derailed with so many flaws, namely the villains, the sloppy script and haphazard editing.

Andrew GarfieldThe problem with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is that it juggles too many plot points and the result is that not enough time is spent on any particular narrative. For instance, there is a Gwen Stacy sub-plot about her moving to England to attend Oxford that is buried under the film’s histrionic nature. There is an extraneous sup-plot about Peter’s parents with a payoff that is very underwhelming and could’ve been summed up in one or two scenes. Aunt May (Sally Field) is taking nursing courses while waitressing to make ends meet, but the only payoff to her arc is an all-too-brief scene with her at a hospital during a blackout. Meanwhile as that is happening, the film wastes time with needless scenes featuring two planes about to collide with each other during the blackout. That development didn’t have anything to do with Spider-Man and it comes off as unwarranted screen filler.

The film just doesn’t flow smoothly, a whole bunch of eggs are thrown up in the air and it was up to the poor editor to catch them and try to make sense. A good example is the film’s opening that has an exciting car chase with Spider-Man. He is making his distinctive ?????????????????????????????????wisecracks and doing lithe acrobatics among several police cars and a hijacked armored truck. It’s classic Spider-Man stuff, bouncy, exciting and fun! Then suddenly the film cuts away to this nebbish Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), who is so broadly clumsy and weird that all the excitement generated from the previous scene quickly dissipates. This happens throughout the film. Again the fault lies with the script written by Jeff Pinkner, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the latter two being the now-infamous writing duo responsible for many flawed scripts in other genre works like Star Trek Into Darkness and Transformers. It’s as if they were given a directive to throw in all these plot points to ensure that Sony keeps the film rights to Spider-Man and his world and all else be damned.

?????????????????????????????????That leads to one underlying fault with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and it has to do with cramming multiple villains into one film. In reality, only one villain has the spotlight and that is Electro a.k.a. Max Dillon. Yet the film shoehorns in Harry Osborn/Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) and the Rhino (Paul Giamatti) in what are essentially cameo roles, especially with the Rhino. It does bring to mind Spider-Man 3 but at least there, Venom had more screen time than the other two villains in this film. The trouble is that Electro is one of the weakest villains seen in a superhero film and Harry’s story arc is more interesting than Electro’s. Jamie Foxx’s character is so over the top in his nerdiness that he seems more at home in the Joel Schumacher Batman movies from the ’90s. It’s like Foxx was trying to emote Jim Carrey’s Riddler performance from Batman Forever, but Dillon is so cartoony and unbelievable and not in synch with the rest of the characters. Then when he turns into Electro, his motivation is very vague. First he’s confused about what’s happened to him, then he’s dismayed that his idol Spider-Man is treating him like a criminal. After that for some reason he wants to take away the electricity from New York because he’s generally angry. Something like that.

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Dane DeHaan has a much better turn as Harry Osborn, but he can’t compare to James Franco’s version, who was more sympathetic and emotionally riddled. In Sam Raimi’s films, the friendship between Peter and Harry felt more natural and the earlier films had an advantage in that Harry’s descent into villainy was allowed to happen at a natural pace over more than one film. It didn’t feel forced as it happened in this latest Spider-Man film. The way Harry’s story was truncated was a major irritant.

The same goes for Peter and Harry’s friendship this time out. Suddenly Harry pops up and Peter is best buds with him, then in their next scene together Harry is already acting unhinged. It just felt rushed and tacked ?????????????????????????????????on. However, the new version of the Green Goblin had quite a presence for what little screen time he had and is leagues better than the Power Ranger version shown in Spider-Man. He is a much more interesting character than the one-note Electro, and the fight between him and Spider-Man brought much needed suspense and thrills since the fight felt more personal. The conclusion of the fight was a real gut punch and just illustrates what The Amazing Spider-Man 2 gets right.

The best thing about the movie is first and foremost Andrew Garfield’s performance. This actor perfectly captures the essence of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. This is the quintessential version of the beloved superhero. Garfield perfectly emulates Spider-Man’s witty nature and Peter Parker’s angst without going overboard. His Peter is infectiously relatable and grounded and many of his scenes provide much needed humor. It’s a shame that he is saddled in this film and that Garfield may hang up his mask after the next film. He is in the same league as Robert Downey, Jr. and Christopher Reeve who portrayed the definitive versions of their superhero characters. Garfield has perfected who Spider-Man is down to how he moves and acts.

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The chemistry Garfield has with Emma Stone is purely magical. Stone has a beautiful presence and lights up the screen whenever she appears. Her scenes with Garfield showcase director Marc Webb’s skill in bringing out intensely emotional and nuanced performances from the actors. Garfield and Stone make a terrific couple and emote an amiable nature that is so endearing.

Putting aside the romance which is probably Webb’s forte, the action in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is unquestionably thrilling. Many scenes look like splash pages from comic books particularly when the film goes into slow motion. The use of the film technique is justified here since we get to relish many eye-popping effect shots and see how Spider-Man moves. For the most part, the effects and stunt work are exemplary, but at some times the use of CGI makes the movie look like a video game and stick out from the natural feel of the rest of the film.

In addition to the effects, Hans Zimmer and the Magnificent Six composed the best score yet for these Spider-Man films. For once, the music perfectly matches and embellish Spider-Man and the tone of the film.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is definitely a mixed bag, which is disappointing. It’s not a terrible film but the stakes with these superhero films have been raised so high with the likes of The Dark Knight, The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier that this film falls short of those masterpieces. The bottom line is that despite its faults, it’s a generally enjoyable but messy summer film.

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By the way don’t bother sticking around for a post-credits scene. The only thing shown is clip from X-Men: Days Of Future Past that clearly doesn’t belong in this film and give the effect of watching the end credits of a TV show that shoves in scenes from another unrelated TV show. It’s a very crudely done marketing ploy and is systematic of the recent excessive marketing for many of these films.

José Soto

Apr 29 2014

Star Wars Episode VII Cast Announced

Well so much for waiting for May 4th to make the announcement. After months of speculation from fans and the press, Lucasfilm has just announced the cast for the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII.

As expected many of the actors from SWcastthe original Star Wars trilogy will reprise their iconic roles including Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia (will she be a queen by this time?). Also returning are Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, and Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker as the droids C-3P0 and R2-D2. At this point, Billy Dee Williams has not been announced as returning to play Lando Calrissian.

new castNow for the new actors, there hasn’t been any official announcement as to who will play who, but the following actors have been confirmed: John Boyega, best known for his role in Attack The Block; Daisy Ridley, a newcomer who may be playing Obi-Wan Kenobi’s descendant; Adam Driver, from the HBO series Girls, is rumored to be playing the villain; Oscar Isaac, who won a lot of acclaim for his recent role in the film Inside Llewyn Davis; Andy Serkis, who is known by genre fans everywhere for his groundbreaking mo-cap work as Gollum in The Lord Of the Rings trilogy, the title character in the King  Cast 2Kong remake and Caesar in the recent Planet Of The Apes films; Domhall Gleeson, recognized by fans for playing Bill Weasley in the latter Harry Potter films, and legendary actor Max von Sydow. It would be fun if von Sydow played a similar scene-chewing role as he did as Ming in Flash Gordon. However, it’s more likely he may play a diplomat, perhaps the leader of the New Republic, or maybe a clandestine villain ala Palpatine.

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Well, we can breathe a sigh of relief that Star Wars Episode VII director J.J. Abrams hasn’t picked anyone cringeworthy like Jake Lloyd or Hayden Christensen. In fact, some of these picks like von Sydow, Isaac and Serkis are quite inspired. Whether or not one is thrilled with these choices, the fact remains that a feeling of excitement is palpable among Star Wars fans now that a new Star Wars film is going to be a reality. Announcing the cast now just whets our appetites for next year.

Annette DeForrester