Tagged: review

James Cameron may be Joining JMS on ‘Forbidden Planet’

  • News
  • December 22, 2008

Lots of Forbidden Planet buzz spread across the Internet while you were digging out from the snowstorms.

IESB broke the news that James Cameron was to meet with writer J. Michael Straczynski to discuss the project.  The Latino Review reported, “I do know that Cameron has flipped for the current draft.”

The Review also confirms that the script is a prequel to the 1956 movie, picking up threads from the original’s dialogue. Warner Bros.. recently gave the script a green light with a 2010 release date pencilled in.

“I told [producer] Joel [Silver] this is how you do Forbidden Planet without pissing on the original that no one has ever thought of,” the screenwriter was quoted as saying. “When I told [the idea] to him, his eyes lit up. It’s not a remake. It’s not a reimagining. It’s not exactly a prequel. You’ll have to see it. It’s something that no one has thought of when it comes to this storyline.”

“The prologue to the script contains the following: Two ships traveled to Altair 4, a planet orbiting a star 16.7 light years from Earth. The first ship, the Bellerophon, came to explore that world. The humans on board encountered the relics of the Krell civilization for the first time and exhumed their dangerous past. The Bellerophon was never heard from again. Twenty years later, a second ship, a C-57D Starcruiser, came to investigate the disappearance of the Bellerophon and her crew,” the Review revealed.

Additionally, Straczynski has intentions of this being, what else, a trilogy. The Latino Review outlines the plan:

•    Movie One tells the story of the original ship that came to Altair 4.

•    Movie Two tells the story of the search for the Krell by the captain of the Bellerophon and his crew…as Diana continues to grow into something profoundly other-worldly. The search takes them beyond the limits of known space into other dimensions, passing from what’s known into what’s not.

•    Movie Three tells the story of the second ship to arrive at Altair 4 to investigate what happened to the Bellerophon. They discover Morbius and his "daughter," who is desperate to get off the planet and out into the rest of the universe, where her power would nearly be god-like…a fate we are spared when Morbius sacrifices his life to keep her there and eliminate the Krell homeworld once and for all.

Movie Review: ‘The Spirit”

spirit-posterIn the past, the holiday season is a time for at least one big box office hit, and while the period between 2001 and 2005 may have been taken over by Peter Jackson’s army of Orcs and giant gorillas, the pattern has been consistent. This year, however, you shouldn’t expect to be blown away, or even spend the money on admission with an adaptation of a literary or Hollywood classic, as Frank Miller and his motley crew try to pass off a remake of Will Eisner’s classic “middle-class crime fighter” comic. The film, as a whole, makes very little sense and will bring mostly heartache to fans of the source material, and on an original level, the movie jumps around both in mood, story, and even dialogue so much that it makes it feel like you’ve been watching [[[Sin City]]] fan film for over 90 minutes.

The movie should have simply been called a faux sequel to Sin City, because that is what it felt like. Gravely voices, over-the-top villains, and women in leather should just be what was written on the poster for this film, because those elements just about sum up what to expect. There are a few twists and turns, mostly in the tone of the film and how it jumps from a high-paced action film to a slapstick comedy around every turn. The inconsistency alone is enough to deter most of the audience, let alone the campy dialogue or ridiculous plot devices that would have Eisner spinning in the grave.

Those who were/are a fan of Eisner’s original story or even the later retellings know the basic story behind the hero: Denny Colt, a middle-class rookie cop in Central City is presumed killed, but actually goes into suspended animation, only to come back and create the identity of The Spirit, a man who is able to fight crime in a way local cops can’t, all while wearing a blue suit, red tie, domino mask, and a fedora. [[[The Spirit]]] never had super powers, but still had the same mystery as rival character Batman to the in-book villains. This new representation has The Spirit as a man who was killed, and brought back to life by a serum that gave him super powers, allowing him to recover from fatal wounds quickly and run across telephone lines. He now must take down The Octopus, his archrival who mysteriously has the same powers as our red-tied hero.

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Review: ‘The Dark Knight’ DVD

The Dark Knight stunned movie audiences by taking the mature themes and tone of its predecessor, [[[Batman Begins]]], and amping things up by a factor of 10. The movie was hailed by critics for around the world and theatres packed in the crowds to the tune of $1 billion in box office (or thereabouts).

In rewatching the film on DVD, now out from Warner Bros., the film remains very strong thanks to terrific lighting, set design, and riveting performances from Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart.  Yet, the story doesn’t hold together as well. 

First of all, Gotham looks and feels different from the first film from director Christopher Nolan. The city had been a character all on its own, with the architecture and monorail but now it just looks like, you know, Chicago. We don’t know how long its been since the first film, but since it ends with the Joker’s calling card, it can’t have been that long for a remake, and yet Batman’s legend is such that people are already out there being bat-masked vigilantes.

We know [[[Batman]]] is a presence, so much so that the criminal operations are suffering.  Enter, the Joker, a force of nature. The performance by Ledge is riveting because he makes you forget all about Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson and creates something totally fresh. His desire to spread chaos in opposition to Batman’s sense of order becomes the film’s spine.

But, once you examine what happens next, things take an odd turn.

As the UK’s [[[Guardian]]] put it, when they named the film as having the most ridiculous plot of the year: “Wait, so the Joker really orchestrated that big truck chase just so that he could get caught and go to prison, then he could kidnap that guard and grab his phone to make the call to set off the bomb he’d previously sewn inside the henchman in the next cell? That would kill the guy who stole the mobsters’ money, thus enabling him to … er, what? Heath Ledger’s Joker may have been a psychopath, but he had a nerdish capacity for forward planning.”

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‘Lost’ Season 4 DVD previews: Behind The Music

losy-dvd-3826058Continuing our previews of the Lost Season 4 DVDs (here’s Bob’s review and here’s the first preview) here’s how they come up with the soundtrack. Because when I think of Lost, I think of that memorable theme music… man, I could just hum that melody for days.

Keep coming back to ComicMix for more previews.

‘Lost’ Season 4 DVD previews: Sawyer Abroad

losy-dvd-4107369Yes, even more previews of the Lost Season 4 DVDs (here’s Bob’s review and here’s the first preview). Here’s how they do the shooting in one of the loveliest places on the planet, and make it look like every other place on the planet.

Keep coming back to ComicMix for more previews.

‘Lost’ Season 4 DVD previews

losy-dvd-3311276Before J.J. Abrams drove us all nuts with Star Trek, he spent years driving us nuts with Lost. The Season 4 DVDs hit the store on Tuesday, but we’ve already seen it (here’s Bob’s review) and we’ve finagled previews of some of the DVD extras. We’ll be doling them out over the next few days, as soon as we check to make sure that they’re spoiler-free if you haven’t seen the last season.

Here’s one on the difficulty of keeping track of the guns…

If only Plaxico had seen this clip beforehand.

Review: ‘Lost Season 4’ on DVD

losy-dvd-3771137

Serialized television has seen a decline in ratings after becoming all the rage, ignited largely by the originality and quality of Lost.  Created by J.J. Abrams, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, the series had an intriguing premise, an intricate mythology and a sprawling cast, but they never took the focus off the characters.  We got to know them, one by one, and came to care what happened. As several regulars died off, we were repeatedly told, this is a dangerous situation and everyone was vulnerable. This season, more favorite characters are wiped away in dramatic fashion and helps inform those who survive.

Of course, the fun of the series is also seeing the dead come back to appear in flashbacks and hallucinations so no one stays away from the show for good.

The third season was accused of losing that tight focus and its audience began to dwindle.  In spring 2007, ABC and the producers agreed to an end date for the show, spring 2010, and that freed the producers to finish plotting out the series in broad strokes.  We go the first hint of that in the season finale which had the first flash forward, showing us a suicidal Jack insisting he and Kate have to return to the island.

As a result, we were eager for the fourth season, the six-disc DVD collection, which goes on sale Tuesday and were not disappointed.  The freighter that has arrived proves not to be from Desmond’s beloved Penny but on behalf of Charles Widmore, who seems to be out to control the island and its secrets.  From that point, we delve into sixteen episodes which furthered everyone’s character arcs while introducing new wrinkles and new cast.

As one would expect, Jack and Locke are at odds as Locke’s spiritual side says they have to remain on the island while Jack remains committed to getting everyone off.  The cast splits and we follow both sides with Locke’s crew taking over the compound used by The Others, who have fled.

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A Qualified Positive Notice for ‘Dollhouse’

  • News
  • December 7, 2008

Time magazine’s television critic,  James Poniewozik, has posted the first review for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, which will not air until February 13.

He wrote, “It was both better and worse than I expected, in different ways. One of my concerns about it was that — given Joss Whedon’s talent for making absorbing serials — the case-of-the-week nature of the show would make it harder to grow attached to. (I’m assuming that anyone who cares at this point knows the premise already, but in case I’m wrong: Eliza Dushku plays Echo, an "Active," which is a person who has agreed to let a secretive organization erase his or her original memories and personality and implant new ones in them for "assignments" involving rich clients.)

“Yes, this is certainly Joss Whedon trying to do What People Think Works on Broadcast TV Today—the legendary serial-procedural hybrid. But the first episode—in which Echo is imprinted with a kidnapping-negotiator’s personality to secure the return of a rich man’s abducted daughter—is well enough written to be absorbing. Writing a crime hour doesn’t seem like Whedon’s thing, but the episode is tight, suspenseful, with intriguing psychological twists and flashes of Whedonesque humor.”

He is concerned that the show “is less a series concept than an actress’ showcase, a sort of extreme version of an Alias undercover premise.”

Still, he’s optimistic about the series and its future, concluding, “But for me, the main draw now is not seeing Dushku become a different person every week, but getting to see Joss Whedon become a different writer every week.”

Director May go from “Punisher’ to ‘Jonah Hex’

  • News
  • December 4, 2008

lexi-7896440Lexi Alexander, director of Punisher: War Zone, opening on Friday, told Latino Review that she’s up for another comic book film.  In fact, it may also star a gunslinger but from an earlier era.

She admitted to having been sent the script to Jonah Hex which is need of a director after Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor recently left the project. Alexander said, “I like it even more that Mr. Josh Brolin is still attached. Who knows if he’ll stay, but it’s more exciting than I thought. You get a story like this you think, ‘Oh God, I’m going to be doing the same thing over and over again.’ but it’s really, really interesting.

“I would change some things in the script, but you know. It’s not there yet. I’m sure there’s many, many directors up for the same thing.”

Review: ‘Batman’ #681

batman681-22-6520554The nature of super-hero comics (and serial storytelling in TV as well) has become an incestuous thing, one that feeds on its own cast of characters, no matter how wrongheaded it might seem. In any given story arc, the reader (and the viewer) has been trained to expect The Last Person You’d Ever Expect (fill in the name of your favorite Beloved Supporting Character) to be revealed as the villainous mastermind. And/or salacious details about Our Hero. Dark secrets that threaten the very underpinnings of the lead characters’ being. The promise of certain death for players who’ve existed for decades. (No, really. We mean it!)
 
The pleasure in last week’s wrap-up to [[[Batman R.I.P.]]] was in the way Grant Morrison mocked all that. Consider yourself under a Spoiler Warning for the duration of this column.
 
At its best, the story was a love letter to Batman as he ought to be — prepared to a degree that anyone else would find ludicrous (as in a terrific flashback sequence) and uncompromising in the face of threats against the reputation of his family name. Watching him emerge from an inescapable deathtrap and wade through all comers was quite satisfying after months of questioning whether Batman had lost it.
 
Just as 1993-1994’s [[[Knightfall]]] arc gave us the ultra-violent Batman that a fringe of fandom imagined they wanted, R.I.P. delivered the story formula that readers have been conditioned to expect. And then, in the final act, Morrison pulled the rug out from under them. Think that the Black Glove was going to stand unmasked as Thomas Wayne, the father of Bruce who’d faked death and became a criminal mastermind? Lies. All lies. Waiting for the culmination of Batman’s mental breakdown? Didn’t happen (at least not to the degree it seemed). He was acting! (Thanks, Alfred!) And that caped-and-cowled, ready-for-slabbing corpse? No body.
 
I can’t help but think, too, that Morrison’s treatment of the Joker reflects a bit on the villain’s usage in the wider DC Comics line. In Morrison’s first issue (#655), the character was casually defeated by a nut in a Batman costume who shot him in the face. And in this climax, his fate was even more dismissive: He was accidentally run off the road and killed (yeah, right) by a speeding Batmobile driven by the deranged Damian. The two scenes struck me as a statement of sorts on the sheer over-saturation of the Joker, a villain who’s appeared in 44 comics in 2008 alone! A character that almost anyone in the DC Universe can hold their own against is a character who can be sucker-punched by nutty Batman wannabes. Couple that with his ubiquitous presence in Bat-books proper and the persistence in characterizing the Joker as the biggest and most unstoppable mad-murderer in history and you have a Batman who’s rather ineffectual, too. But I digress.

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