Spectre

I went to see the latest 007 movie in the theater back in October and was so ambivalent about it, I have only just gotten around to reviewing it.  My blasé attitude and extremely uncharacteristic procrastination should speak volumes.  It’s not that Spectre is a bad movie, it is a perfectly respectable spy thriller containing all the requisite components.  But any Bond movie would have suffered in the unenviable position of following Skyfall.  The producers definitely knew this and nearly killed themselves trying making Spectre even more epic, more sweeping, with bigger explosions, more mayhem, Bond hooking up with not just one hot woman but two!, many, many action sequences and even going so far as to ostensibly connect all the previous Daniel Craig Bond films.  But despite this agenda, one car chase seemed more like a leisurely drive and in one memorable scene, Bond actually walks out on the hot girl before things get serious!

I should say I was biased against this film from the start, simply because they had offed Judi Dench‘s M (boo!) and replaced her with Ralph Fiennes.  He’s a perfectly good actor, but I loved Judy Dench as M so much that it made me a trifle wroth.  In fairness, there were quite a few parts of the movie I did like quite a bit.  The opening sequence during Mexico’s Day of the Dead was fantastic, for the costumes if nothing else.  It was a visual extravaganza and the cinematography and staging were fabulous.  I noticed in the credits a bit of it is referred to as ‘helicopter ballet’, which I thought was extremely apropos.  Of course, in this day and age it beggars the imagination to believe if a helicopter is going wacko above a huge plaza filled with revelers that NOT ONE OF THEM whipped out a smartphone and started filming the drama unfolding in the sky.

My favorite scenes in the movie were where Bond interrogates a mouse, which was extremely funny and spot on for the franchise, and also when James is driving another 00 agent’s car and the poor guy is portrayed as an extreme sad sack by means of his vehicle’s accoutrements  (to much hilarity, of course), although we never meet him in person.  Léa Seydoux was absolutely lovely as Dr. Madeleine Swann and it was kind of cool, if an unnecessary detour in the plot, to have Bond seduce an older woman, beautifully played by Monica Bellucci.  Christoph Waltz naturally delivered a great performance and it was nice to get a glimpse of Moneypenny’s everyday life (Naomie Harris).  But there were just way to many instances of eye-roll induced action sequences due to the extreme improbability, if not downright impossibility of such things actually happening.  Not that James Bond movies have ever been known for their realistic plots and stunts (Moonraker, I’m looking at you!), but some have been more believable than others.  All in all, I felt this was a very anemic Bond movie that was just trying way too hard and I sum it up with an apathetic meh!  – BETHANY

For more on Daniel Craig’s latest romp as the famous spy, visit the Internet Movie Database

Bond takes a stroll during the Day of the Dead festival.

Some of the fantastic costumes and set pieces from the sequence:

Oh James, did you crash yet another moving vehicle?

This looks like the least promising railroad stop ever.

                                      Hail Hydra!  Oops, wrong franchise.  Hail Spectre?

Helicopter ballet indeed!

Nice dress, Dr. Swann (Léa Seydoux).  Despite the fact we saw you get on that train in a different outfit with no luggage to speak of.

The new M (Ralph Fiennes) faces off with the unctuous C (Andrew Scott).

Here’s all you really need for a Bond movie:

Babes!

Crashes!

And Boys with Toys.

 

 

 

Photos courtesy of B24, Columbia Pictures, Danjaq, Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Sony (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

 

 

 

The Tomorrow People

The CW seems to have cornered the market in supernatural dramas populated by the young and beautiful. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing, just an observation. I started watching The Tomorrow People because I love Arrow so much, and figured another Amell cousin might be worth a try. After watching the show’s freshman season, I think it would definitely be worth tuning in for the next season, if there is one. The premise is familiar enough, with the next step in human evolution manifesting as the psionic powers of teleportation, telekinesis and telepathy, and the new species being persecuted by normals as well as some misguided members of their own kind.

The main character, Stephen, serves as the audience’s gateway guide to the world of the Tomorrow People as he suddenly starts manifesting superpowers and begins to meet the major players in the “shadow war”. Is the concept thoroughly original and each episode utterly compelling? No, but it is entertaining and interesting enough to keep me watching. This isn’t meant to be groundbreaking television drama. It’s a young adult soap, but in the best sense of the phrase. My favorite character is Russell, a paranormal who gets all the good lines and is always the life of the party. Full of suspense, underground lairs, shadowy government installations, the inevitable romantic entanglements and family drama, I hope the show gets a chance to expand the story line with a second season. It is currently listed as cancelled, but shows have been known to be resurrected if the fans howl loudly enough. – BETHANY

For more on this wasted opportunity by the CW, visit the Internet Movie Database

Stephen Jameson (Robbie Amell), flanked by his uncle Jedekiah Price (Mark Pellegrino, whom you might remember as Jacob from Lost) and his father Roger Price (Jeffrey Pierce), both pulling him in diametrically opposing directions, each with their own agendas.

Jedikiah broods a lot, ostensibly running the ridiculously named covert organization called Ultra.

Stephen’s best friend Astrid Finch (Madeleine Mantock) knows there is something hinky going on.

Tomorrow People Russell and Cara (Aaron Yoo and Peyton List) no doubt crashing a party to which they were not invited.

In order to be cool desperados, it is necessary to wear black boots and black leather jackets.  Anything else would be just banal.  Stephen, Cara and John (Aussie actor Luke Mitchell).

Cara and John are a very cute power couple.

   The iniquitous power behind Ultra, a stygian character known only as The Founder (Simon Merrells).

Stephen and Russell in the Tomorrow People’s Lair, a tricked out abandoned subway station.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Berlanti Productions, CBS Television Studios, Fremantle Media North America, Warner Bros. Television and The CW (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

 

 

 

Believe

OK, so the premise of this show is a little hard to swallow, but there are plenty of other TV shows out there about the paranormal and nobody bats an eye. The focus of this show is a special little girl named Bo, who evidently inherited psychic and telekinetic gifts from her mother. She was born into the care of a group of scientific researchers trying to harness her power for some unknown but probably nefarious purpose. Now on the run from the powers that be, Bo is entrusted by some of the erstwhile scientists to a man they broke out of prison’s death row (exactly where anyone would go to find excellent child care). William Tate swears he was framed and is also, as we discover in the first episode, Bo’s father, although neither one of them know it. Tate and Bo continually try to evade the authorities but frequently get sidetracked by Bo’s intense desire to help people in ways only she can.

The story is meant to be about the uncorrupted innocence of Bo, the redemption of Tate and the all-powerful force of good the two of them together represent. Whether the show manages to achieve this is a matter of opinion, but each episode has a dreamy, hopeful quality to it that I find quite compelling. The high minded premise is leavened with a humorous, slightly antagonistic relationship between the two leads as they slowly figure out how to work together. The visual effects achieved when Bo manifests her power are quite stunning, and I was looking forward to learning more about all the characters as the narrative progressed, but now the show has been cancelled.  Even though there won’t be any more of them, the first season is well worth watching on its own merit.  – BETHANY

For more on Believe, visit the Internet Movie Database

Not your average little girl.  Bo Adams is played by Johnny Sequoyah.

                         Dr. Milton Winter (Delroy Lindo), leader of the group of scientists who split from Project Orchestra and now make it their mission to protect Bo.

Janice Channing (Jamie Chung), one of Milton Winter’s associates dedicated to protecting Bo.

Dr. Roman Skouras (Kyle McLaughlin), head of Project Orchestra and one-time partner of Milton Winter.

                                                     Bo, meet Tate.  We busted him out of prison so he could look after you!

Bo and William Tate (Jake McLaughlin).

                                                                       Bo, Tate and Lila Leeds (Katie McClellan), another member of Winter’s team.  I don’t think her disguise is very good.  Ever seen a doctor wearing black combat boots?

                                                                     Dr. Zoe Boyle (Kerry Condon), who replaced Winter as head of research at Project Orchestra.

Dude, you cut Bo’s hair like that and we’ll have a problem.

         FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Ferrel (Trieste Kelly Dunn).

Bo using her power, this time in the form of birds.  Does that make her a druid or a Disney princess?

                         Bo and Tate get close.

On the run again.  Those are some epic earmuffs, Bo!

 

 

Photos courtesy of Bad Robot, Bonanza Productions, Esperanto Filmoj, Warner Bros. Television and NBC (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

Mortdecai

This definitely not your usual comedic fare, but rather a delicious throwback stylistically to the great screwball and caper comedies of the 70s and 80s.  Lord Charlie Mortdecai (Johnny Depp) isn’t a nice person.  He’s a vain narcissistic pansy totally convinced of his own superiority or in other words, a perfect send-up of the British aristocracy.  The story is what you might get if you took a P.G. Wodehouse book, infused it with a lot of somewhat crass but extremely elegantly worded vulgarity and then cast all the major characters with movie stars accustomed to getting top billing.  Very much in the same vein as many of Blake Edwards’ movies, most notably the Pink Panther films (at least the Peter Sellers ones, not the recent Steve Martin abomination), Charlie Mortdecai is a bumbling idiot with extraordinarily good luck.  Ostensibly, he’s an art dealer but in reality he specializes in swindling gullible patrons and has many a disreputable connection in the seedy underbelly of the art world.

Lady Mortdecai, Johanna to her friends, is played in rather exquisite detail by Gwyneth Paltrow.  She wields her not inconsiderable power with grace and aplomb as well as all the ruthlessness of Attila the Hun.  Playing the Jeeves to Mortdecai’s Wooster is Jock (Paul Bettany), a thug extraordinaire with a rapacious appetite for the ladies.  He conducts his job of all-purpose servant to the most inept employer on the planet with ease and regardless of whatever onerous task he’s given or dire injury sustained, his response is always the same – “It’s a privilege, sir!”  When a certain painting is stolen, Inspector Alistair Martland of MI5 (Ewan McGregor) reluctantly enlists Mortdecai’s assistance.  The international hunt for the missing artwork eventually leads Mortdecai to Los Angeles, a beastly colonial backwater home to billionaire (and art collector) Milton Krampf (Jeff Goldblum) and his nymphomaniac daughter Georgina (Olivia Munn).  And then things really get interesting.

Like any caper worth its salt, there are Russian criminals, terrorists, Oriental mobsters, femme fatales, kidnappings and at least one narrowly averted international incident.  It had me howling with laughter and I personally think it is one of Johnny Depp’s better performances.  His character is just so blissfully ignorant and genuinely believes himself to be the James Bond of the art world.  All that aside, I can see why it didn’t do terribly well with American audiences because despite it being an American production, the tone is very, very British.  I personally adore British comedy but I’m sorry to say I am not in the majority amongst my countrymen on the subject.  Its subtlety and verbal acrobatics were wasted in the U.S.  This American, however, gives it a smashingly good four stars.  – BETHANY

For more on this twisted and zany farce of a movie, pop by the Internet Movie Database

“What is that infernal thing on your lip?”  Charlie Mortdecai is convinced his new mustache is the icing on top of the confection that is his most treasured self, but absolutely nobody else agrees.

Jock (Paul Bettany) and Mortdecai (Johnny Depp).  Martland had this to say about Mortdecai’s appearance:  “A man your age has no excuse for looking or behaving like a fugitive from a home for alcoholic music hall artistes.”

                                    “I asked for a bit of cheese, not an instrument of biological warfare!”

Georgina (Olivia Munn) living up to her reputation.

Mortdecai crosses swords with international terrorist Emil Strago (Jonny Pasvolsky).

Landing in Los Angeles, which makes Mortdecai “long for the rain and indifference of Europe.”

Darling!  This is not what it looks like.

Mortdecai and Milton Krampf (Jeff Goldblum).

Lady Mortdecai (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Alistair Martland (Ewan McGregor).

Jock, if not the brains of the operation then definitely the fists.  (Paul Bettany)

Mortdecai being forcibly detained by Romanov (Ulrich Thomsen).  Say what you like about him, but Mortdecai really can dish out some devastating insults.  “Your mother and father only knew each other for a day, and money changed hands!”

Lord and Lady Mortdecai (Gwyneth Paltrow and Johnny Depp).  With a mustache like that, the poor chap always seems to be smiling, even when he’s not.

“Can you think of a good reason why I shouldn’t arrest you right now?”              “I eschew discomfort?”

 

 

Photos courtesy of Mort Productions, Infinitum Nihil, Mad Chance Productions, OddLot Entertainment and Lionsgate (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

Apollo 13

Growing up in Orlando, Florida, I was highly attuned to NASA’s space program.  Our family were frequent visitors at Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Center, where it was my privilege to actually touch a Saturn 5 rocket and I got to watch many a Space Shuttle launch up close.  I was regrettably born too late to witness the events in Apollo 13 myself, but Ron Howard‘s attention to detail and extreme accuracy in depicting the events makes it possible for me to feel as though I was there.  This movie has withstood the test of time and made the phrase “Houston, we have a problem” permanently part of pop culture’s lexicon.

Although the misfortunes of Apollo 13’s mission are already a given historically, the film still kept me on the edge of my seat and holding my breath not an inconsiderable number of times.  The performances from Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan (Marilyn Lovell) are superlative and passionate, making the characters come to life in a very real way.  The movie richly deserves its 34 awards, including two Oscars, and was nominated for 7 more Academy Awards including Best Soundtrack (sorry, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score).  The composer was James Horner, a luminary in the world of movie soundtracks who died tragically in a plane crash earlier this year.  He is responsible for some of the most memorable music in movies including:

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Cocoon
• Aliens
• An American Tail
• Willow
• The Land Before Time
• Field of Dreams
• Glory
• Braveheart
• Titanic
• The Mask of Zorro
• A Beautiful Mind
• Troy
• Avatar

Many of these were nominated for and won their own awards.  The score he composed for Apollo 13 is somewhat reminiscent of his work in the movie Glory, a similarity which first twigged me to the fact that he had created them both.  Call it his musical signature, if you will.  There’s a graceful and quiet nobility to the score which is much more powerful than if it had been loud and bombastic.  As a musician myself, it pains me a great deal that the world has lost such a gifted composer.

At the film’s premiere, Ron Howard, who maintains this is his favorite film of those he’s directed, asked the audience to write reviews of the movie.  One of them emphatically stated there was no way the crew would have survived the mission in real life.  Evidently the author had no idea it was based on a true story.  The history books call Apollo 13’s mission the ‘Successful Failure’.  They never landed on the moon but instead plunged into an epic drama that captivated the world, an incredible story of survival against overwhelming odds, making the name of the spacecraft Odyssey all the more appropriate.  Tom Hanks‘ brilliant performance as mission commander Jim Lovell earned him an asteroid (12818 Tomhanks) named in his honor, and some of the shots of the moon and the earth were actual pictures courtesy of the Apollo 8 mission.  This fabulous movie remains one of my all-time favorites and yes, I still get chills and hold my breath every time I watch it.  One day it will be my very great pleasire to watch another human set foot on the moon and it can’t come soon enough for me.  – BETHANY

For more on this iconic movie, launch yourself to the Internet Movie Database

Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise and Bill Paxton in their official NASA portrait, before Sinise’s Ken Mattingly was replaced with Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon).

                           Displaced astronaut Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) watches the launch of Apollo 13.  In Forrest Gump, Gary Sinise’s Lieutenant Dan tells Forrest (Tom Hanks) that if he ever becomes a shrimp boat captain, he, Lt. Dan, will become an astronaut.  Sure enough, they’re both astronauts!

NASA, in the person of Buzz Aldrin, asked permission to use the movie for training purposes.  – source- IMDB.com trivia

                                         Ed Harris playing flight director Gene Kranz, working through the problem of how to get the crew of Apollo 13 home alive.

Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell, Kevin Bacon as Jack Swigert and Bill Paxton as Fred Haise, getting a look out the frozen window at the damage to the side of the spacecraft as it is jettisoned.

Marilyn Lovell (Kathleen Quinlan) waits with her children for new updates.  I was inspired to watch this movie again after becoming such a fan of The Astronaut Wives Club.

Triumph of the engineers, working to solve the puzzle of how to fit a square peg in a round hole using only materials actually accessible to the astronauts.

   The real life Jim Lovell in his cameo playing the Captain of the USS Iwo Jima, shaking hands with Tom Hanks, playing his younger self.

NASA’s KC-135A, also known as the Vomit Comet, which achieves a near weightless experience for passengers by flying in a steep parabolic arc.  Many of the weightless scenes in Apollo 13 were actually filmed here, achieving a level of realism that would have been impossible otherwise, short of actually filming in space.

It’s been a goal of mine to one day see the Earth from space, ever since I heard Captain Picard’s speech about it in Star Trek: First Contact.  Most astronauts say it’s the most incredible experience and they would do most anything to go back.

There are a surprising number of actors who were in Apollo 13 that have since gone on to become recognizable names.  Here are a few surprising faces you might recognize.  If you know you’ve seen them before but can’t remember where, click on the hotlink which will show you what other things that actor has been in.

Xander Berkeley as NASA liaison Henry Hurt.

                                                                     Brett Cullen, credited as CAPCOM 1.

                                                                        Ned Vaughn as CAPCOM 2.  These poor guys didn’t even rate a name!

                                                                     Rance Howard as the Reverend.  I don’t think he even gets a single line.  He can also be seen in the picture of Marilyn Lovell above.

Bryce Dallas Howard is credited as Girl in Yellow Dress, during this scene with Marilyn Lovell.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

 

Edge of Tomorrow

I am not a fan of Tom Cruise.  I used to like him in the Top Gun and the first Mission:Impossible era, but now his personal life and political/religious beliefs have loomed so large as to overshadow any character he might play.  So whenever I see a preview of a movie starring Tom Cruise, I generally automatically dismiss it as unwatchable, no matter how interesting the rest of the story may be.  However in this instance, I chose to watch this movie simply because I’m such a massive fan of Emily Blunt.  Because she was starring, I felt the presence of Cruise would be an annoyance, but not an insurmountable one.  Thus, I rented Edge of Tomorrow.

It wasn’t everything I thought it would be.  It’s what you might get if you combined Groundhog Day with Starship Troopers.  The script blatantly rips off the movie Mimic by calling the aliens Mimics, which I felt was a poor descriptive name for them.  But then, the script had a lot of flaws.  The beginning is very confusing, with Tom Cruise‘s character Cage waltzing about either impersonating a superior officer or actually being said superior officer.  It’s never clear exactly who he is, but he winds up being shipped off to the front lines to die.  No clue as to why.  The attack on the aliens goes poorly and courtesy of being slimed by a special alien, Cage is doomed to repeat it over and over, constantly re-setting whenever he dies.  Emily Blunt‘s character Rita observes him in action and discerns what is happening to him, as the same thing happened to her before.  She fills him in on her experience, dropping the information bomb that the aliens can control time and thus always know what’s going to happen in advance.  She never reported this to anyone else is because A) they’d think she was crazy and lock her up, or B) believe her and dissect her.  Fair enough, I wouldn’t want to be dissected either.  Rita begins training Cage (cue the montage) and together they set out to find and kill the ‘Omega’ alien that is responsible for time loop.

The opening sequence of the film makes you think somebody in the projector room must have accidentally done something to really mess things up, as the image skips all over the place with lots of static.  The end of the film had a kind of Prince of Persia twist to it, but as a whole I felt it was lacking substance.  Groundhog Day was a story of personal discovery and romance, but Edge of Tomorrow has no time for things like character development and instead relies heavily on CGI, special effects and action sequences.  If that’s all that interests you, but you’ll probably love the movie, but after numerous iterations of the tagline Live, Die, Repeat, I grew quite bored with the proceedings.  Every time things reset, you get to hear a rather pompous Master Sergeant expounding on the virtues of combat in a speech you come to absolutely despise. There’s a smattering of decent lines and the plot is as least nominally interesting, but in general I was disappointed.  It’s not terrible, but not good enough to earn it more than an apathetic two stars. – BETHANY

For more on this curiously titled film, visit the Internet Movie Database

Emily Blunt‘s Rita has literally become the poster child for the war effort.  She also has the unfortunate and rather offensive nickname ‘Full Metal Bitch’.  I do at least appreciate the nod to World War II era propaganda.

Meet a Mimic.  What they’re mimicking is unclear, but I’ve gotta say I’m getting really sick of movies that feel like video games.  This is even a first person shooter shot!

Get ready for lots and lots of scenes like this.

Really. a lot of them.

     And now for something completely the same …

Master Sergeant Farrell (Bill Paxton):  “Battle is the Great Redeemer. It is the fiery crucible in which true heroes are forged. The one place where all men truly share the same rank, regardless of what kind of parasitic scum they were going in.”

Fighting to get off a beach in France – hey, this sounds a lot like Saving Private Ryan.

Rita does yoga. (Emily Blunt).

She does it very well.

Look out, it’s an irradiated octopus!

Cage shucking his fancy battle suit.  At least they’re no longer on the beach.

                                                         By his own admission, Master Sergeant Farrell is not an American, he’s from Kentucky.  This is pretty weak as jokes go, and a sad commentary on the American educational system.  Evidently Farrell flunked Geography.

This guy is definitely toast.  Repeatedly.  (Tony Way)

‘Let’s have coffee’.                                                                                                                “And then I’m killing you.”                                                                                            “Fine.”

Why is it always tachyons?

 

 

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment, Viz Productions, LLC), Province of British Columbia Production Services Tax Credit and Dune Entertainment (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

The Tournament

OK, here’s the 50¢ synopsis of this movie.  Every seven years, a random town is selected to be the unwitting host to a tournament of the world’s greatest assassins, who all try to kill each other within a 24 time period in order to win a cash prize of £10 million and the title of last assassin standing.  The town is rigged with CCTVs and in a shadowy room somewhere, equally shadowy people bet millions on the proceedings.  Robert Carlyle plays Father MacAvoy, a priest in the aforementioned town, who accidentally gets tagged with a chip identifying him as one of the contestants.  Let the games begin.

If you read this and still think the movie sounds interesting, you might just like it. It really is an all out war of professional assassins, all trying to kill each other for prize money. You have to assume there is going to be a fair degree of violence, language, gore and whatnot, but boy is the whatnot entertaining. Robert Carlyle is spot on as a not-very-good clergyman who accidentally gets caught up in this madness and most everyone assumes he’s another assassin playing the ‘I’m just a priest’ card (doesn’t every deck have one of those?). Kelly Hu‘s character Lai Lai Zhen, quite vicious in her own right, takes pity on him and tries to protect him while other characters gleefully kill one another.

Ian Somerhalder, a particularly favorite actor of mine (whom I think would have been a superior Christian Grey), plays sadistically psychotic cowboy Miles Slade in one of his best performances. Don’t expect Damon from The Vampire Diaries or Boone from Lost, this whack job is a whole new brand of unhinged.  Ving Rhames also enters the fray as Joshua Harlow, in an attempt to solve the murder of his wife.  The Onion Knight, otherwise known as Liam Cunningham, hosts the whole thing as the appropriately named Powers.

I think my favorite scene involved one character pulling the pin out of another assassin’s grenade, letting the pin lazily swing around their raised middle finger as the first character proceeds to explode after the obligatory comedic pause. I laughed myself sick at that one simply because it was so unexpected but rather elegant. This movie is unapologetically violent and graphic, deserving its R rating. If you get a kick out of watching bad people kill one another in increasingly creative ways, this movie is definitely for you. Robert Carlyle’s character provides the anchor to reality, puzzling the assassins by his very existence. He ties the whole thing together and his journey of self-discovery was fun to watch as both he and the other contestants slowly learn who the real bad guys are.  It’s not the best movie and will have limited appeal, but if want to watch what boils down to assassin population control, I highly recommend it.  – BETHANY

For more on The Tournament, visit the Internet Movie Database

Sorry dearie, I can’t help you.  I’m a bit sloshed.

All right, all right, I’ll go the full monty!

‘I would have been the perfect Christian Grey!  I’m already fabulous at playing 50 shades of messed up characters. But noooo, they had to cast Jamie Dornan!’  Ian Somerhalder being not very nice to Ving Rhames.

People with way too much time and money on their hands.

No, this picture isn’t upside down.  Sebastien Foucan as Anton Bogart.

“What’s the matter, Mr. Harlow? Are you out of bullets? Why, here, have some of mine!”  John Lynch as Gene Walker.

I think the scar put him in a perpetually bad mood.  Scott Adkins as Yuri Petrov.

A three piece suit and a trench coat?  Come on, Ving, you’re making the rest of us look bad!

Does this qualify as a meet cute?

Oh the glamour of being in the movies!  Kelly Hu and Robert Carlyle.

 

Here’s the bit with the grenade:

 

Photos courtesy of Mann Made Films, Sherazade Film Development, Storitel, AV Pictures and Dimension Films (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

Killjoys

Rejoice, fans of Firefly, because you will absolutely love this show.  Syfy hit the sweet spot with Killjoys, a rough and tumble space adventure featuring a trio of misfits that work as interplanetary bounty hunters.  Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), a smoking hot woman incredibly skilled in just about everything thanks to a mysterious and definitely hazardous past, and John Jaqobis (Aaron Ashmore, Warehouse 13) have worked as a highly successful team for the Recovery and Apprehension Coalition, or the RAC, for several years.  Commonly called Killjoys, RAC agents operate across the galaxy but our story focuses on the Quad, a solar system comprised of one planet and three moons.  Killjoys are licensed to fulfill warrants, which range from finding and apprehending people with bounties on their heads to transporting valuable and/or dangerous goods.  They have broad authority, but pride themselves on being neutral parties that do not get involved in local politics.  They have only one sacred creed – The Warrant Is All.  But things change radically for Dutch and John when a new warrant is issued, a level 5 dead not alive bounty on John’s brother D’Avin (Luke MacFarlane).

Killjoys greatly resembles Firefly, featuring humans spread across the galaxy on a myriad of different worlds, but no aliens.  A space ship named Lucy, whose A.I. has a dry sense of humor, and a crew of merry rogues zip all over the place, having fun and often getting into trouble.  The Quad is monopolized by a nefarious, shadowy and corrupt entity known as The Company, but the real source of power is the planet Qresh.  Home to Nine old, inbred and exceedingly rich families, who dealt with the problem of overpopulation by sending the middle classes to rural moon Leith and dumping all of society’s leftovers on poorly terra-formed moon Westerley, leaving Qresh to become the haven of the elite, an obscenely opulent planet devoted to scheming politics and pleasure.  It’s a perfect set-up for a wild, rip-roaring and outrageously fun story with intriguing sub-plots and well thought out back stories.

Dutch is a fabulous character, the leader of her Killjoy team who can switch in the blink of an eye from a highborn lady to a leather-clad fighting machine, always poised and in control until it comes to her messy emotional past. Raised in a royal harem and trained to be a lethal assassin, Dutch is on the run from forces that have a different agenda for her life.  John and D’Avin have their own history and there are a host of other great characters spread across the Quad.  Alvis the Penitent (Morgan Kelly) is a monk from an interesting religious sect whose practitioners seek faith and salvation through physical pain and suffering.  Sarah Power plays Illenor Pawter Simms, a disgraced Company doctor banished by her Qreshi family to live on Westerley, a moon home to beggars, sinners, pirates and other disreputable elements.  Scariest of all is enigmatic Khlyen (Rob Stewart), the man responsible for Dutch’s unorthodox upbringing, from whom she thought she had long since escaped.

Killjoys is a sleek and sexy show, full of grit and glam.  Each episode is an exhilarating thrill ride, rich with fine-tuned characters and incredibly detailed backdrops.  It’s a rollicking adventure cleverly seeded with deeper narratives, beautifully balancing lively humor with compelling drama.  I was a huge fan of the first season, devouring each new episode with tremendous enjoyment and was ecstatic when it was announced on September 1, 2015 that Killjoys had been renewed for a second season.  So go ahead and indulge yourself in a fabulous show, safe in the knowledge it will not suffer the same fate as Firefly.  The Warrant Is All!  – BETHANY

For more on the awesomeness that is Killjoys, swing by the Internet Movie Database

For even more in depth detail, visit the Killjoys Wiki site.

Left to right:  D’Avin Jaqobis (Luke Macfarlane), Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) and John Jaqobis (Aaron Ashmore).

The Killjoys chasing a warrant in Westerley’s Badlands.  Look at all the fun toys!

                                          Dutch effortlessly blends in, no matter her surroundings.  Fantastic dress, but it’s the necklace that’s deadly.

A view of The Quad.

D’Avin looking decidedly out of place at a high society gala.  The costume design for this show is beyond exquisite.

Lucy, voiced by Tamsen McDonough.  Shiny!

Young girls from Leith earn money for their families by being surrogates for highborn Qreshi women who do not wish to sully their bodies by going through pregnancy.

     Wild child Pawter Simms (Sarah Power) runs afoul of The Company.  Again.

Tough as nails Bellus Haardy (Nora McLellan), a Killjoy warrant broker in her establishment on Leith.

  John and Alvis (Morgan Kelly), a Scarback monk who occasionally works with the Killjoys.

                                              Dutch is equally at home in low places as she is with the upper crust and is a force to be reckoned with in both.

             The beautifully rendered set of a party at a wealthy estate.

John sweet talking jaded bartender Pree (Thom Allison) at his dive in Westerley’s Old Town, where anything can be had for a price.

Dutch flawlessly morphs into a Qreshi aristocrat while searching for a man gone missing on Leith.

Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG-1 and Sanctuary) guest stars as a military doctor from D’Avin’s past.

Dutch faces Khlyen (Rob Stewart), the mentor/tormentor from her childhood.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Temple Street Productions, Bell Media, Universal Cable Productions and Syfy (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

Watchmen

Let’s start with the fact that I am totally unfamiliar with the comic on which this movie is based. I watched it as a neutral party, with no expectations or preconceived notions. It made little sense to me, was pretty much the antithesis of the usual super hero movie and was frankly more than a bit disturbing. In short, I hated it and gave it only a single star on Netflix (their lowest rating). However, as time passed and I mentally sorted through the story that stubbornly refused to vacate my brain, I began to think perhaps I had misjudged it. Eventually, I rented it again, liked it a whole lot more, and then actually bought the DVD. Once I realized this story is not meant to be set on our Earth but rather in an alternate 1985, the glaring historical inaccuracies became funny and I was able to appreciate the dark satire at play here.

Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) is magnificent, a lone crusader willing to do whatever is necessary for what he sees as the greater good. Billy Crudup is, er, divine as Doctor Manhattan, a chilly super being becoming increasingly detached from humanity while at the same time caring deeply about the welfare of the species. Malin Akerman and Patrick Wilson are amazing, delivering one of the most graphic and viscerally satisfying combat sequences I have ever seen. There is some excellent music used in the soundtrack, my favorite being Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’ playing during a funeral sequence.  This movie definitely deserves its R rating, with lots of casual brutality, a stomach turning bit involving a murdered child, a horrifying sexual assault as well as the best sex scene ever, bar none. A great look at our society from a decidedly oblique angle, showing us what might have been in order to better understand what is, this movie is very dark, sad, funny, entertaining and above all, thoroughly thought-provoking, with multiple twists I definitely did not see coming. – BETHANY

For more on Watchmen, visit the Internet Movie Database

A whole lot of anti-superheroes.  Left to right:  Ozymandias, Doctor Manhattan, Silk Spectre II, Rorschach, Nite Owl II and The Comedian.

                                                The whole thing starts out with a murder, making it a superhero whodunnit.

Malin Akerman as Laurie Jupiter, a.k.a. the Silk Spectre II.  Why the two?  Because her mother was the original.  This is a multi-generational movie.

                                                                                   Sally Jupiter, the original World War II era pin-up superhero Silk Spectre (Carla Gugino).

Scientist Jon Osterman (Billy Crudup) becoming Dr. Manhattan.  Naturally it was the ‘accident in a laboratory’ cliché.

Rorschach, so named because the black shapes on his mask continually move.  He’s a bit of a dark personality.  “This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout “Save us!”… and I’ll whisper “no.””

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian, known to his friends as Edward Blake.  That is, if he had any.

Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) in his guise as Ozymandias, a harbinger name if there ever was one.  This guy has a seriously inflated ego.  “We can do so much more. We can save this world… with the right leadership.”

The Comedian and The Silk Spectre way back when.

Laurie Jupiter (Malin Akerman) and Dan Dreiberg (Patrick Wilson) on their day off.

                                                                             Dan looks much better as Nite Owl II, a job he inherited from his father, played by Stephen McHattie.

                Matt Frewer as Moloch.  In this movie, he’s kind of a tragic figure.

Silk Spectre and Nite Owl have fun breaking someone out of the slammer.

Nite Owl’s ship Archimedes, affectionately known as Archie.

An alternate version of how the Vietnam war might have gone if Dr. Manhattan had been involved.  Scene accompanied by Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Legendary Picture, Lawrence Gordon Productions and DC Comics (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)

Interstellar

‘Mankind was born on Earth.  It was never meant to die here.’  Overpopulation and a ferocious blight attacking crops is driving humanity ever closer to extinction.  Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper, a farmer like everyone else, but also an ex-NASA pilot and engineer.  Their world now resembles the 1930’s Depression era dust bowl, with drab clothing and utilitarian farmhouses.  While society regresses technologically, there are a few who realize the salvation of mankind isn’t on Earth but out in the stars.  Once again, it’s the ‘NASA saves the day’ cliché, but since I wholeheartedly support the space program, I don’t mind one bit.  Interstellar is a rather magnificent combination of incredible cinematography and a lot of cool real scientific stuff, and a story of family and what makes us human.  Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, with which there are a lot of parallels, you will most likely love it or hate it.  I’m one of the few who fell right in the middle, able to appreciate all the good qualities in director Christopher Nolan‘s work, but still conscious of the stretches in logic and other faults.

Interstellar has undeniably spectacular visual effects, but it is exceedingly long.  With a run time of almost three hours, I did find myself checking the clock quite a bit.  It’s highly appropriate that the space vessel is called The Endurance, because it’s a trait you will need to get through the overly long and dare I say it, bloated film.  The most I can tell you about the plot is it involves a space mission to find other habitable worlds in order to save the human race.  Pretty much anything else is a spoiler.  Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, a walking Rubix cube wise-cracking robot and a few red shirt extras, including Seneca Crane from The Hunger Games (Wes Bentley, unfortunately minus the crazy beard), set out via a convenient wormhole on a quest designed to assault you with dumbed down but valid science, and copious quantities of stunning visual effects.  The whole movie is a paradox with most everything eventually tied up in a neat bow, so be prepared for a lot of mind bending stuff as well as some rather ridiculous plot devices (the solution to everything is “solving gravity”?  And what was up with that bit resembling that Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace?)

Despite the annoying absurdities, there are quite a few marvelous things about Interstellar that I must acknowledge.  The cast is beyond impressive with the aforementioned stars as well as Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon, Ellen Burstyn, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck and Topher Grace.  The soundtrack is wicked, with a nice use of pipe organ and I especially liked the subtle tick-tock motif used on the water planet to illustrate the urgency of time passing.  I might actually forgive composer Hans Zimmer for the Gladiator incident, wherein he failed to give credit to Gustav Holst after blatantly ripping off Mars: The Bringer of War from the collection The Planets.  With highly charged emotional content, many tangents regarding high-minded philosophy, quantum science, metaphysics and other conundrums, my personal favorite was a fascinating discussion about the nature of love.  You won’t believe the number of plot twists and while the ending might not be the most satisfying, it certainly fits with the outré thematic comportment of the film as a whole.  Undeniably idiosyncratic thematically with a lot of just plain weird stuff, but also including deeply personal character studies and some shrewd commentary on a number of subjects, including being good stewards of the Earth.  Interstellar doesn’t quite live up to the hype, but definitely has enough going for it to merit a solid three stars. – BETHANY

For more on this slightly bizarre space drama, visit the Internet Movie Database

Movie features lots of cool images like this one.

“We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down, and worry about our place in the dirt.”  – Cooper

“We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that. Or perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we’ve barely begun. And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us.”  –  Cooper

It’s all about Cooper’s relationship with daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy).  Evidently he couldn’t care two pins about his son Tom.  (Timothée Chalamet and Casey Affleck, thanks to the dime differential.)  “After you kids came along, your mom, she said something to me I never quite understood. She said, “Now, we’re just here to be memories for our kids.” I think now I understand what she meant. Once you’re a parent, you’re the ghost of your children’s future.”

As a book lover, it’s deeply satisfying to have a book shelf play such a lynch pin role in the movie.

“When I was a kid, it seemed like they made something new every day. Some, gadget or idea, like every day was Christmas. But six billion people, just imagine that. And every last one of them trying to have it all. This world isn’t so bad. You’re the one who doesn’t belong. Born forty years too late, or forty years too early… My daughter knew it, God bless her. And your kids know it. Especially Murph.”  – Donald (John Lithgow)

Some spectacular visuals of The Endurance about to penetrate the event horizon of the wormhole.

    An oversimplification of the theory of wormholes.

A planet orbiting ‘Gargantua’, the somewhat asininely named black hole.

Jessica Chastain works to ‘Solve Gravity’.

“Very graceful.”  “No, but efficient”.  Landing on Miller’s planet.

The disappointing truth about Miller’s planet.  But think of the surfing possibilities!  ‘Dude, I went to ride the waves on Miller’s planet for a few months and when I got back, it was, like 10,080 years later!’

Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and David Gyasi.

The Rubix cube robot TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin) rushes in to save the day.  “Come on, TARS!”

Investigating a planet with frozen clouds.  This movie really would have been a killer viewed in IMAX.  That is, if you could sit still for three hours.

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should rave and burn at close of day;  Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”  Michael Caine (Professor Brand) delivering a poem written by Dylan Thomas.

                                            Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand.  “Cooper, you were thinking about getting home! I was trying to do the right thing!”

A rather blatant plot hole in the movie.  But who cares, because it looked awesome.

                Oh merciful heavens, now there are Lego Interstellar characters.  Such flagrant commercialism, not overpopulation and failing crops, might be the downfall of our civilization.

 

 

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, Lynda Obst Productions and Syncopy (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)