One of the busiest people within the New Pulp movement is author Bobby Nash. Amongst his credits is co-creating and contributing to the new anthology from Airship 27: The Ruby Files. Bobby was nice enough to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to grant The Free Choice E-zine an interview.

You can read the full interview at http://www.thefreechoice.info/2012/04/rick-ruby-and-bobby-nash.html

Visit Bobby at http://www.bobbynash.com/

‎New Pulp Author Don Thomas recently gave The Free Choice E-zine an interview concerning his New Pulp novel SAVIOR.

You can read the interview in its entirety at http://www.thefreechoice.info/2012/04/interview-with-don-thomas-and-his.html

Since alien invasion films are nothing new, it all comes down to the execution. Having a vision of the characters and the nature of the attack will make or break a film and in the case of The Darkest Hour, it all falls flat. There’s a distinct lack of innovation to the set up or characters although director Chris Gorak and producer Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) get credit for setting the movie in Russia which at least gave us different visuals. But, the film then centers on a quartet of English-speaking foreigners with not enough of a fish out of water vibe to make it interesting. The movie, released in 3-D on Christmas Day was quickly dismissed by critics and audiences for being anything but a nice present.

The movie, out now from Summit Home Entertainment, focuses on Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella), two Americans in Russia to sell a social networking concept only to discover they’ve been ripped off. Drowning their sorrows at a bar, they meet up with Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor), and just then, the invasion begins. It takes a while to determine the full scope of the problems thank to an EMP knocking out all the electronics. There’s panic, there’s screaming and shouting and oh yeah, invisible alien attackers who can disintegrate you with a touch.

It becomes a survival and resistance story so the Russian locale is merely a backdrop that serves to complicate our protagonists’ journey but that’s about it. There really is weak writing from Jon Spaihts so the characters are interchangeable and not interesting enough for the audience to care who lives or dies. This could have been a really interesting character study fueled by adrenaline and special effects but instead, it has a sameness that spoils the story. While watchable, it’s just not special enough to seek out, making this a perfect cable time-killer.

There are some nice visuals, some good moments, some actual thinking going on as they figure out how to track the unseen foes and go on to build a Faraday Box to protect themselves. But it’s too little scattered over a poorly-paced 89 minutes. On the other hand, the movie looks and sounds terrific on Blu-ray. If as much effort went into the story as it did on the transfer we’d all have it on our buy lists.

As much as the film has a been there, done that feel, so do the extras accompanying the DVD. There’s Gorak providing some nice commentary about the film’s troubled production, shooting in Russia and so on. You also have a featurette “Survivors” (8:10) looking at the rest of the people in Russia as a supplement to the feature; “The Darkest Hour: Visualizing an Invasion” (12:09) which is the obligatory piece on the visual effects; and a few Deleted and Extended Scenes (4:48), with optional director commentary.

I think Catwoman is the most fascinating woman in the DC universe.

I can never have a conversation about the character with men and women of a certain age about her without their mentioning Julie Newmar, who played the lithe kittenish female fatale on the Batman television series of the ‘60s as a woman whom we knew had a thing for her “arch-enemy” but loved her diamonds more. With men a certain look comes into their eyes; I wouldn’t exactly call it “leering,” but it sure comes close. With women, I think they remember Newmar’s Catwoman as an independent woman going after what she wanted – be it the Caped Avenger or the ancient Egyptian cat-stature worth millions. (And what little girl didn’t want to look like Julie Newmar when she grew up?)

Then there is Eartha Kitt, who took over the role from Ms. Newmar. She had no desire to rub her fur on the Caped Avenger – her signature purrrrrr-fectly contralto, raspy voice let us know that the only catnip she was interested in was money, and lots of it. Her Catwoman was a bit more, well, sophisticated, than Newmar’s, and I think a little off-putting to the adolescent boys – and girls – of the era; a little scarier because she was more adult.

Michelle Pfieffer, although blonde, totally understood Selina, who, in my opinion, is always straddling a psychic crevice. To paraphrase Mae West, “When I’m good, I’m very, very good. And mousy. And let people walk all over me. And dress like a frump. Barely brush my hair and rarely brush my teeth. But when I’m bad, I’m better. And proud. And strong. And smart. And sexy – my lips taste like vanilla cherry!” All those in favor of Ms. Pfieffer, raise your hands.

Halle Berry? Oi!!!! Though I’m sure there are those out there who would love to finish shredding her costume until she’s perfectly naked.

Anne Hathaway, whose breakout role as Andy Sachs (“Ahn-dreya,” as Meryl Streep – as Miranda Priestly – called her when not calling her “Emily”) in The Devil Wears Prada was absolutely luminous, is playing Selina in the next – and final – installment of Christopher Nolan’s brilliant Batman trilogy, due to hit theatres this summer.

Don’t know about you, but I can’t wait. I have a feeling that, like Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara, this is going to be perfect and dream casting. Okay, the jury is still out, but I believe that not only is Hathaway an actress who is capable of delving into her emotional and psychological shadows – see Rachel Getting Married – but she is also a sexy, talented, and intelligent player whom, I am sure, will bring all those factors into the role.

And she sings, too!

Hmm.

I could easily see Selina Kyle as a nightclub chanteuse. Singing “God Bless the Child.” And “Strange Fruit.” And “Lover Man.”

What do you think? What songs would be on Selina’s repertoire?

TUESDAY: Michael Davis

AS I SAID LAST WEEK AND THE WEEK BEFORE  AND THE WEEK BEFORE THAT – WARNING: I’m assuming that people reading this have seen the movie and thus will be fine with my discussing elements of the plot. If you’re one of those who haven’t watched the movie, do yourself a favor and DON’T READ THIS. See the movie instead and have your own experience with it. Trust me. You’ll be glad you did. If you need a plot synopsis, imdb has a good one here. 

This is the fourth and final installment in my examination of the classic Warner Bros. film, Casablanca. Not that I couldn’t go on (and on and on) about it further but I figure there are limits to the patience of all of you out there and I thank you for indulging me thus far in looking at one of my own favorite films.

Possibly yours as well. Roger Ebert has noted that, while Citizen Kane is generally respected more as the better film, Casablanca may be better loved, probably showing up on more all time best lists.

One of the amazing things to me is,that as it was made, most of those working on Casablanca didn’t think much of it. The principle actors were not crazy about it and Ingrid Bergman had a legitimate complaint in that, as production started, no one knew with whom Ilsa was going to go – to Rick or to her husband, Victor Lazlo. By accounts, Claude Rains referred to it as “a piece of crap,” which is startling to me considering the number of classic lines he gets. Paul Heinreid, playing Victor Lazlo, fumed about his part because he felt it would undermine his viability as a romantic lead in other films. Instead, as critic Pauline Kael noted, it defined him as a very stiff actor. Ingrid Bergman found him to be a prima donna.

The script has been used by many people, including myself, as a prime exhibit of how to tell a story. Robert McKee in his amazing book, Story, uses it as an important example in story construction. Yet, there are three scriptwriters credited on the film, a fourth unaccredited writer, and the producer, Hal Wallis, came up with the closing line! What a writing hodge-podge!

Casablanca started with an unproduced, unpublished play called “Everybody Comes to Rick’s” by Murray Bennet and Joan Alison. It was bought by Warner Bros. and re-named Casablanca to play off of a previous hit for the studio, Algiers. Hal Wallis came on to produce it and, to my mind, that was key. Wallis superbly did one of a producer’s primary functions – hiring the right people for the right jobs.

He hired Michael Curtiz to direct and brought in the Epstein Brothers – Julius and Phillip – as the principal screenwriters. After the attack of Pearl Harbor, they left the job to help Frank Capra in his series Why We Fight and Howard Koch was brought in to assist, although there are those who claim little or no work of his was used in the film. Casey Robinson, who was unaccredited, added important scenes of Ilsa and Rick in Paris. The Epsteins returned to finish the script.

The Breen Office – the Hollywood Censor – had some problems with the script and so Ilsa and Rick’s love affair in Paris is never shown to be sexual (although we all know it was) nor is Captain Renault trading exit visas for sexual favors (although we all know he did). Ilsa, after all, was a married woman, although she thought her husband was dead. I think both story elements are stronger for their not being explicitly stated. Trust to the audience’s imagination: it’s bound to be filthier than anything shown.

What is also interesting to me is that Claude Rains’ character, Captain Renault, is gay. That certainly wouldn’t have been stated but, despite Renault’s compulsive womanizing, I think it’s there. In describing Rick to Ilsa the first time Renault meets her, he says “if I were a woman, I would be in love with Rick.” I think Renault is also deeply in the closet; the above described womanizing is his attempts to hide his homosexuality, especially from himself. He defends Rick to the Nazis, he covers for him, and, in the end, walks away into the night with him. For me, Renault’s sexual orientation just adds another layer to an already fascinating character.

The film is chock full of fascinating characters, right down to small parts like Sascha, the bartender, Carl, the waiter, the jilted Yvonne and on and on. Only three members of the large cast were born in America: Bogart, Dooley Wilson (Sam), and Joy Page as the Bulgarian newlywed Annina Brandel (fun fact – Page was also the step-daughter of WB studio head Jack Warner). The others were all foreign born and many were refugees from Nazi oppression in Europe, which adds to the film’s authenticity. They lived the parts they were playing.

The film was fairly successful when it first appeared and it won three Oscars: scriptwriting, direction, and best picture. Famously, Jack Warner leapt up when the latter award was announced before Hal Wallis could and claimed the prize. It so infuriated Wallis that he would soon quit Warner Bros.

The film would become more highly regarded as time went by with many of the classic icon shots and posters of Bogart coming from it. I have watched it over and over again and gotten something new from each viewing. Its lines are endlessly quoted because they continue to reverberate. It’s romantic, it’s suspenseful, and it has great characters. It was very much a film of its time but it has become a film for all time.

I would love to do something half as good. I’ll keep working at it.

Go watch a great movie. Go watch Casablanca.

MONDAY: Mindy Newell, R.N., CNOR, C.G.