Firefly: Still Shiny

Christmas is almost upon us, but there's one anniversary just past that most people missed: the tenth anniversary of Firefly's cancellation.  Personally, I was in a bit of a pickle on how to honor this series, and then I realized there was one thing that I would never be able to do for it: watch it while it was on.  So I decided to recreate the conditions as closely as possible.  Starting Friday Sept. 21st, I proceeded to watch the show on Fox's original schedule.  I even looked up some old promos for the show.  Now, I've seen this series backwards and forwards a dozen times, but I tried to distance myself from that to give myself the experience of watching it for the first time.  It would have been nice to have a new viewer with me, but that would've just confused a prospecitve new fan, and I couldn't do that.  Here's what I thought.  

A Look Back at James Bond 007, 1962-2012

The latest Bond film is coming soon and as the new installment is bringing back some of the older staples, I thought it was time for a look back at the previous incarnations of the silver screen.  

Waiting for the technology

I've been thinking a lot about the phrase "waiting for the technology to catch up."  It's been used by a lot of filmmakers who want their projects to be heavy on special effects.  They usually announce the project and push the release back a bit so the hype can build up a bit and then finally release it.  Here's my question, has it really been worth the wait?  Are the final products better now than they would have been 10-15 years earlier when the idea first germinated?  The answer would be purely speculative of course, but I'm going to examine the issue using a few films as case studies.  Here we go.  

Masters of the Timelords

The new season (or if you speak British, the new series) has begun of the long lasting Doctor Who.  The first half of this season marks what I hope will be the beginning of the end of the second phase of the contemporary series.  The first phase was the Russell T. Davies era and the second was the Steven Moffat era.  There are thematic and stylistic differences between the two that extend beyond just a different Doctor and companions.  Which of the two is better is as much a battle as Kirk vs. Picard, so I'll try to stay objective.  Each one has different things to offer.  

Last Day in EUReKA

SyFy's EUReKA has dropped its curtain.  For the series, I would use one word to describe it: fun; fast and loose sci-fi fun, with all the tropes common to the genre.  There was rarely a moment where it took itself too seriously.  Entertainment came first, science second which it maintained over its whole run.  

Total Unremarkable Recall

A recent arrival off the remake assembly line, Total Recall proved to be an exercise in unimaginative sci-fi and lackluster action.  While there were no crippling flaws or gaping plot holes, most the film's elements seemed uninspired and trite.  The cast mostly gave wooden performances, and the production design, no longer buoyed by campy creatures and spacey locales, felt too streamlined.  Overall, it was averagely mediocre at best.

(That's right, Colin Farrell is looking directly at the camera.)

Sequel to Masterpiece: 2010

Buried in the shadows of the numerous sci-fi hits of the 80s is the lackluster sequel to one of the most acclaimed sci-fi films of all time; 2010: The Year We Make Contact, sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The film is a moodier followup to Stanley Kubrick's cerebral masterpiece.  While its story addresses the mysteries in 2001, the execution is a far fallen apple that leaves a lot to be desired.  

The Dark Knight Journey

The newly completed Dark Knight trilogy forms a tightly knit story about a lone hero in pursuit of justice.  Each film explores the issue from a different angle and creates a comprehensive psyche of both Batman and Gotham City.  Both pass through the different stages of life and face the various trials therein.  Batman follows a very simple progression: birth, life, death.  The story of a boy who became a man who became a legend.  A true hero for the books, through and through.  

Not Quite Amazing, But Still Good

Sony's reboot of Marvel's Spider-Man franchise was both burdened and elevated by the more serious approach to the material.  Since the last Spider-Man series was so recent, the origin story held few surprises, but there was an effort to infuse more depth into it.  New stars, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were aptly cast and took the characters beyond the bland portrayals of Macguire and Dunst.  The film tried to be a full journey to heroism for its entirety, but lost a bit in the climax and follow-through.  Much like Parker, it was just a bit average.  

Young Indy in the 1920s

After World War I finished, the series slowed down heavily, for better and mostly worse.  Without a war to provide an excuse for action, there were fewer opportunities for Indy to get into trouble, and his activities shifted to working in entertainment.  Unfortunately, this also resulted in fewer developments for his character.  As far as the TV series is concerned, World War I did the most to shape Henry Jones Jr. into Indiana Jones.  

3D in Adolescence

Over the past few months, I've come to the realization that 3D is going to be around for a long while yet.  Unlike 3D fads in previous decades, it's not going out of style anytime soon.  As a viewer, the decision and progress is out of my hands.  The question is, where does the industry stand? 

Losing The Finder

Fox's freshman show The Finder was officially cancelled in April.  The backdoor spinoff of Bones was the latest in the quirky crime genre that includes Monk, Psych, and White Collar.  While The Finder played the quirkiness card very well, most of the show's other attributes were rather shallow or misdirected.  For starters, the recurring storyline had the greatest focus on the supporting characters, leaving little for the protagonist, Walter Sherman (played by Geoff Stults).  What little story Walter was given seemed to be deliberately downplayed and neglected.  This coupled with an already risky concept gave Fox an excuse for "The Firefly treatment." 

The X-303 Prequel-theous

Hailed as Ridley Scott's return to sci-fi and anticipated as a new masterwork of horror, Prometheus falls a little shy of expectations.  The intense film satisfies the Alien fan's need for suspense, deadly creatures, and human maiming, but not in exposition.  The characters are archetypes built from the original cast but aren't overly derivative and the story expands the mythology.  Like most prequels, the failings are in the details.  There are the unfortunate continuity errors and some of the plot points are poorly connected or unexplained.  Bottom line, the film gets the blood pumping and the stomach churning, but it doesn't fully gap the missing information of Alien or even itself.  

Aliens, Predators, and Gods, oh my!

The upcoming Prometheus is a prequel to Alien, the first of four films and two crossovers. With a new story and direction in the series, let's take a look at what this universe contains so far.

SPOILERS OF THE ALIEN AND PREDATOR MOVIES AHEAD.

House: The Final Season

Fox's long running medical drama, House, suffered a common ailment of popular shows in their final run.  It ran just a bit too long.  The eighth and final season limped to its finale as the signature wit and charm fizzled out.  The primary problem was the depleted material.  House's cases had become less interesting, the original team had dispersed, and the recurring conflicts of the previous seasons had either been resolved or dropped.  There was very little left of the character discourse and Sherlock-ian methodology that had carried the series to success.  

Avengers Assemble, But Only For A While

After a four year drumroll, The Avengers has arrived and it's a hit.  Marvel now has the commercial leverage it needs to pursue further films within the Cinematic Universe, and in stand alone series like the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man.  That clout puts Marvel producers in a rather unique and unprecedented position.  They can produce multiple films in the same universe at the same time and release up to several per year.  While it may sound cool for fans, Marvel faces a danger of going too far too fast with their films.  Multiple films means a longer investment in the characters and a risk of formulaic stagnation.  Then there's the difficulty in adaptation that the writers are already facing, and which will only get worse.  If Marvel isn't careful, their franchise could run away into multiplicity, and then, oblivion.  

Young Indy in World War I

(This is a continuation of a post from several months ago.  Click here to read.)  

Indiana Jones' erratic military career during The Great War spanned a volume and a half of the series.  During his service in the Belgian Army, Indy served as an infantryman, courier, officer, translator, aerial photographer, and finally, intelligence operative.  The constant vocation change made the tone of the second volume very uneven.  Some episodes had a very serious and/or dramatic feel, while others were comedic or downright cartoonish.  In either case, the series did manage to introduce some nice war action comparable to the films, along with some romantic subplots and character growth.  

Primer for The Avengers

The release of Marvel's big crossover film, The Avengers, is coming out this week.  Now, despite what AMC Theaters would have you to believe, there is a chronological viewer order that differs from the release order.  This post lists the Marvel films in that order, with all information needed to watch The Avengers.  

REVISED ON 06/15/13

The Great Actor Migration

I've noticed a lot of established feature film actors appearing in television shows lately.  This is a little unusual given that Hollywood films are usually considered the top tier of prestige and status, not to mention paychecks.  For most of Hollywood history, many actors would become famous or at least established on television before transitioning to the big screen.  Very rarely would they go the other way around.  Here are some examples of big screen actors who have appeared as regular cast members on prime time television shows in the last couple years:

The Adventures of Tintin

No, this is not a late review of the over-the-top, Oscar-snubbed,  animated Spielberg film.  I'm looking into the 1990's animated series that I watched as a kid and which recently became available on Netflix streaming.  This was a pretty bold kids' show that, inspired by the source material, had to toe the line of what was appropriate for young viewers.  To date, it's also been the most accurate video adaptation of the comics.  

The Conspiracy Syndrome

I've watched a number of crime dramedies on television and I've noticed that each one tries to include some sort of larger recurring mystery and/or conspiracy to hook the audience.  What I find interesting is that the recurring mystery is rarely the reason for their ratings.  Most often it's characters, humor, and the mysteries of the week that attract viewers.   So, why do producers continually write one in and what effect does it have on the show itself?  Let's take a look. 

The Box Office Games

The Hunger Games, fresh off it's opening weekend, has scored very well at the box office, especially considering it being the first film in its series.  The film is a perfect formula for modern Hollywood producers and audiences.  The action, romance, and topical themes from the novel bring in a wide audience and there are equally successful sequels ready to go.  Furthermore, the story makes for easy catering to popular cinematography and editing practice that succeed in telling the story without excessive creative effort (which also means a quicker production time).  The downside of all this is various issues that happen in page-to-screen adaptation.  Themes and morals from the novel are glazed over in favor of action and the larger story of the whole trilogy.  In the end it all worked; the film scored well in both B.O. receipts and critical reception.  

The Phantom Menace Indeed

No, I haven't seen it yet, but the numbers are finally in and in its opening weekend, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 3D rated number 4 at the Box Office.  The film (in its second theatrical release) came in during the lower competition season and, while it no doubt drew a few more people to theaters than normal, I'm afraid it may be a small beginning of what will turn into a larger issue. 

Lost TV of the 21st Century

Probably one of the most influential sci-fi shows of the 2000's was ABC's Lost (2004-2010).  The success of the series (along with Battlestar Galactica) gave rise to serialized shows and spawned a number of imitators, most of which were unable to capitalize on its elements.  Despite the praise, the show had a number of flaws (including, but not limited to, the ending) and the unfortunate truth is that most of the imitating shows replicated those flaws rather than the points of the series that made it successful.