Category Archives: Movies

NCC 1701

3 Replies

“To boldly go …”.  The worlds most famous split infinitive lives on. Better yet, tatted Romulan skinheads bring doomsday to a theater near you.  To the delight of Trekkies everywhere, the latest incarnation of the Star Trek franchise was just released. Clearly, it was designed  for the Yuppy Trekkie crowd of viewers who were assimilated decades ago into the original Star Trek setting.

Rather than introducing a new crew of characters with a new set of quirks and dynamics, this movie sets the stage for the original cast and crew. The time setting of this episode puts it between Star Trek: Enterprise and the original TV series. The movie is well cast with strong character conformance with the original crew.

The stark difference between this production of Star Trek and the original made-for-TV series is the highly engineered style of film making. The cinematography and editing are best described as frenetic and delerious. Decades of television production are recorded via standard sound stage cinematographic sensibilities where the cameras are firmly planted to dollies castering around on a flat surface. Perfect focus and reference frame squareness and stability were as consistent as the print on a dollar bill.

In this production of Star Trek the camera is an extension of the viewers senses rather than just a means of recording scenes. It’s use is meant to amplify and focus the confusion and danger of the scene. Closely framed scenes of objects in wreckless motion, off-focus shots, and obtuse tilt angles bring the action past your retina and into your brainstem. It is quite effective.

And yes, Kirk suffers from chronic lackanookyitis. He does get a bit of technicolor action, but it is only slightly more racey than the classic shot of him pulling on his boots after a romantic encounter. If you see the movie with your mother, sunday school teacher, or kids it is unlikely that anyone will be too embarrassed.

I attended with a quantum physicist friend and we agreed that some of the physics was deeply flawed. Scotty’s cabbage creature friend was odd and the ending was less than satisfying. Nonetheless, I would rate this movie a strong thumbs up and most preferably viewed in a decent theater with a big screen.

Lipid Rafts

2 Replies

This morning I found out what a “lipid raft” is. All of these years I’ve been in the dark about order and disorder in cell membranes. I didn’t learn about this through any sort of noble quest; I was merely curious about a movie.

Molecular Movies is a website containing links to a marvelous set of animations about cells and molecules. I enthusiastically recommend that the reader visit this site. The movie mentioning lipid rafts is in “The Inner Life of the Cell“.

More than the Earth Stood Still

6 Replies

Having sat through the remake of the classic SciFi movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, I am compelled to set up a warning beacon for those who have yet to see this movie.

Here is the warning- While it may be worth seeing on a big screen, it is definitely not worth the full price of admission. If your local cineplex offers discount tickets for afternoon shows, take the opportunity to see it then. Also, be sure to sneak in as many concession snacks as possible. You want to keep your financial investment in this movie to a bare minimum.

First, a few words about Keanu Reeves. Much like John Wayne, Reeves seems to have a single character that he portrays in every film. In this movie, it’s “Reeves plays Klaatu”.  I will say that Reeves portrayal of Klaatu is fine- his trademark deadpan delivery works well for the part. 

Jennifer Connelly plays Dr. Helen Benson, an astrobiologist who is swept into action by mysterious people with Chinook helicopters. Her part is poorly written and suffers from excessive cliche. Character development is weak as is emotional buy-in. 

Stepchild  Jacob Benson, played by Jaden Smith, is an impish, totally gratuitous angry stepchild trapped in a love-less domestic truce with stepmom Connelly. Smith’s part was poorly written and directed as well. There is little or no opportunity to emotionally connect with his character.

The blackboard scene with John Cleese was conducted like a checkers match rather than a brainstorming session. It was lifeless and unconvincing.  This is one of the few serious roles played by Cleese and I believe it is a step down from Basil Fawlty.

Emotional connection is the lost key to this movie. It is actually part of the plot construction. The movie demands the viewer to accept that Connelly and Smith emotionally connect with Klaatu, but the direction and writing of the movie fails to bridge that gap convincingly or even connect the viewer to the characters.

This movie is written like a class project in preparation for midterm exams in a Cinema 205 course. Cliche parts and story telling devices were taken off the shelf and snapped together.  While I will give a passing grade on cinematography and effects, it is a sophomoric exercise in movie writing.

Klaatu Berada Nicto

2 Replies

Looks like I may have found the perfect fraternal organization from which I can express my need to contribute to society. E Clampus Vitus, or ECV, even has a chapter here in Colorado- Alferd Packer Chapter 100.

Somehow I managed to miss Imperial Week in San Francisco. I’m told the view of the Death Star above SF was specatular.

Th’ Gaussling was thrilled to discover that the Theremin was used for background music on the original The Day the Earth Stood Still, one of the greatest SciFi movies of all time. You can hear the Theremin in the scene where the robot Gort exits the saucer to rescue Michael Rennie. It has a menacing, other worldly sound. No word if the upcoming remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves uses the Theremin. Seems doubtful.

Let’s get some new archetypes and paradigms. Please?

5 Replies

I viewed the new version of The Andromeda Strain recently. The miniseries is directed by brothers Ridley and Tony Scott and was broadcast on A&E. I really like and respect Michael Crichton for the book and the original movie was quite good. And, Ridley Scott is one of my favorite directors.

But this remake is a problem. The production value is excellent and the cinematography is quite inspired in a few places. I couldn’t do better than Ridley Scott, so who am I to complain? But there is the rub. While it is technically competent and visually stimulating, the storyline is a bit … well, I’ll just say it … overwrought. The updated storyline is just too bloody complex. Too many little cul-de-sacs and backstories to keep track of. It has that same manic, runaway train feel as ER. Just like Crichton’s most recent books. I can’t finish them.

Part of the problem with much of contemporary movie making is the persistance of formulaic and over used themes. Tired, threadbare archetypes of reluctant heroes, corrupt politicians, and busty nubiles who are handy with martial arts and firearms. I enjoy watching Angelina Jolie spraying machine gun fire as much as the next guy, but enough! Lets move on to something new.

Which brings me to the latest Indiana Jones movie. This movie proves that even George Lucas is subject to the Peter Principle. The storyline is a patchwork of whatever few baby-boomer oriented euphamisms that haven’t already been hijacked by the trolls at Industrial Light and Magic. It’s a contrived piece of cinema that was apparently designed by MBA’s and industrial psychologists to extract money from your debit card. (But I did enjoy some Milk Duds during the show.)

For Gawd sakes, George, go out back and dig up some of that money you have buried in the back yard and buy a better script next time.

Linkography

2 Replies

A friend sent this hilarious Bill Gates movie link.  Thanks JT.

When it all comes tumbling down, these are the first 100 things to disappear.

Interested in the Taxonomy of Logical Fallacies? I guess I should actually read this.

Just wanna know how damned dangerous blogging really is? Satisfied??

Farewell to Bobby Fisher.

Lookin’ to get rid of some of that Radwaste you’ve got buried in the back yard? Lots of links here.

Cloverfield

Leave a reply

Just back from seeing the movie Cloverfield. Holy cow! Fast and intense flick. Not for dates.  Ninety five minutes of home video. NYC trashed by another dyspeptic monster. Creature feature. Angry shrimp-grass hopper hybrids the size of golden retreivers. Rather well done in my estimation. Best seen on a theater screen.  Not for little kids- it’ll scare the doo-doo out of them.