Panda Press

Lost Finale

2010-05-24T01:30:04Z

Okay here we go.

::hands hover over the keyboard::

...

...

....

(20 minutes later)

WHAT THE HELL?!

(Thoughts after the jump. Please excuse any copy editing misses. It's late. My brain is fried. And I wanted to push "Publish" on at least one of the twenty drafts sitting on this blog.)

]]> I've been trying to write and rewrite this post for awhile now. Most of the problem lies in the fact that there's not much to write about. We didn't get any answers about the origin of the Island, what it is, why the Dharma Initiative, Eloise Hawking what?, Charles Widmore why?, Desmond's immune huh?, etc.

Instead, we got a philosophical dissection of... something.

I liked the first 2 hrs and 15 minutes, mostly because I still held out hope for some kind of amazing, transcendent moment at the end.

Y'know, watching this episode the exact same way I've been watching Lost for six seasons.

This is what I *think* the finale was trying to tell me:

1) Everything that happened on the island Actually Happened.

That means Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on the island carrying our main cast.
Desmond was already there, pushing a button for a few (2?) years. He didn't press the button, which brought their plane down.
The Others/Dharma Initiative were there before Desmond and before the crash building crazy science stuff since the 70s.
Prior that, Jacob and the Man In Black and Richard Alpert have been on the island for hundreds of years, bickering and trying to kill each other.
The survivors (Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Hurley, etc) did actually go back in time when the Island was jumping through time.
Which means Juliet did actually blow up the spot where the hatch was supposed to be, which means there was no button for Desmond to miss pushing to bring the plane down. Except, for some reason that original timeline kept going. There was no white-light-what-have-you that erased everything and shifted to this new alternate universe.
THERE IS NO TEMPORAL PARADOX. LOOK A TEMPLE, A GIANT ANKH AND LAZARUS POOL! IGNORE GHOST JULIET SAYING "IT WORKED."

2) Everyone who died on the Island really died.

This includes Jacob and the ALREADY DEAD Man In Black who dies again?
(No, we never did get his name.)
So yes, ~~75%~~ 90% of all characters on the show have died.

3) Frank Lapidus, Kate, Claire, Sawyer, Miles and Richard did in fact get the plane up in the air, do leave the island and, as of the last moments of the episode proper, are alive.

Whether or not their hack job of soldering a plate onto the plane IN POURING RAIN will hold is unknown.
Whether or not the plane has enough fuel to fly back to land is unknown.
Whether or not the Island's weird electromagnetism will eff up the Ajira plane's instruments and send Frank flying incircles is unknown.
Whether or not Smoke Monster faked his death by leaving a fake dead Locke body where it fell and then turned into smoke without Jack and Kate noticing and streaked over to the Ajira plane and hitched a ride on the landing gear before any of the plane people noticed and therefore also made it off the island and has just doomed The Entire Earth is unknown.

4) Jack puts the stopper back in the Island but dies because he is not immune to electromagnetism like Desmond, Hurley is now Benevolent Keeper of the Isle, Ben is content with being his Number 2, Desmond is completely and utterly effed and stuck on the Island.

Don't get me started on all of the unknowns here.

5) Everyone dies sometime, but these people who were so strongly tied to each other created a "paradise" where they could all meet in order to be together.

However, this paradise still involved experiencing (I won't say "living") lifetimes/years of similar mistakes before they all reached a place where they could regain their memories and Finally Be Happy Together.
Not everyone gets to regain their memories and "Move On." See: Ana Lucia, Michael, Rousseau, etc.
But randoms Boone and Shannon get to come along for the ride because they couldn't justify Sayid getting with his One True Love, Nadia/[Noor].
Apparently Ben is choosing not to move on because he has other stuff to still work out. Perhaps becoming a family with Rousseau/Alex? So why wouldn't the other couples want to stay and live Happily Ever After together in Not-Purgatory instead of moving on? I mean, they JUST found each other AGAIN.
~~75%~~ ~~90%~~ 100% of all characters on the show have died.

Annnd the questions could just keep rolling.

The heart of why I bought the first 2.25 hours of the finale was because they got me emotionally early on with Sun and Jin. After the last three episodes before the finale, people bitched and bitched online about how their long-awaited reunion was never given the time and attention it should have. Sun and Jin deserve their beautiful reunion, dammit!

So when they got their extended flashback sequence and we all collectively relived their greatest and worst moments, I felt the weight of their six seasons of transformation. And of course, when Sun started crying, I started tearing up. (Other people's tears are my Pavlovian bell. It's awful.)

Then more stuff happened. Then Charlie/Claire got their reunion. Kate/Jack got their on-Island kiss. Sawyer and Juliet had their amazing reunion at around 2 hours in, which kept me hanging on.

Essentially, the show just kept emotionally blackmailing us into staying tuned.

That's what the show's been all about, what set it apart. The mysteries kept you curious and thinking while the characters kept you caring. These two in tandem turned Lost into Primetime TV Crack.

The finale technically did its job. Cuse and Lindelof gave us the happy One True Pairing endings we wanted to see happen because that's what we as people (and Americans especially) believe in.

Maybe they showed that Inception commercial one too many times during airing, but I started accepting the idea that It Doesn't Matter What The Island Is because maybe it was all a death-dream in Jack's head and that's why nothing made any sense. It was just the journey that mattered.

Then I stepped back, look at the convolutions of the last six seasons, the detail put into the character's backstories and know that's not what they intended during S1-3.

And I just throw up my hands and scream.

[Edit: For some more closure, try out this link that is theoretically written by a Lost writer.]

Here's what other people thought:

@Annaleen um did Ron Moore write this episode of #Lost?

Jimmy Kimmel thinks (see 1:05) that The Island was Jack's "Real Life"
and "Test" because most cultures/religions position life as a test for
all humans to decide whether or not you're good enough to go to
heaven/nirvana/etc.

The New York Times Arts Beat thinks:
"So what was the island? Those who have been voting for purgatory
all along can make a case, though it seems highly unlikely that the
creators had anything so specific in mind. Fans and commentators
will go through all sorts of twists and turns to make sense of the
ending. From here, it seems that if everyone is dead, the only thing
that makes sense -- if that's a requirement -- is that everyone was
dead at the beginning."

Charlie Jane at io9 is righteously angry, has no answers and asks all of the right questions that will NEVER be answered. As usual, io9ers have a wide range of theories, some good some bad.

io9 comment from mekki:
"But they weren't dead. The afterlife flashes happened immediately
for some and years for others. But the flashes had NOTHING to do
with the Island. I think that is what is confusing people. The
sidewaysflashes were not connected to the Island but to the people
on the Island. The Island is still moving out there somewhere with a
new guardian. It's tangible. A plane can still crash on it."

Unfounded but interesting comment from SinisterBill:
"I was thinking that when they all sort of disappeared
in the church that they became the source for the new light.

Otherwise where did the new light come from?"

From agrajag42:
"Why isn't anyone asking why the show is called "LOST"?
Obviously these people were lost on an island, but also in life.
The point was the connections.

You don't 'Live together, die alone' - you live together and die together.
Death isn't something you take on by yourself. These people found
each other through common experiences forming a special bond.
Consider this - some people may never move on. They stay lost in the
sideways universe forever, never finding the connection that allows them
to move on."

There's a cacophony of variations-on-a-theme theories and rants on Cleolinda's LJ, the place I go to for knee-jerk-reaction fan-freakout crowdsourcing. Some theories:

Cleolinda says:
"ETA: Oh! Sideways World was Titanic Heaven! Now you're speaking a language I can understand."

From ook:
"I think that after the plane crash, Jack was laying in jungle
dying and he dreams the entire series. Then (in the final episode),
the dog Vincent comes to comfort Jack as he finally dies.
Vincent was the only one to actually survive the plane crash."

A thread about the Ajira plane that flew off:
"Weren't there explosives on the Ajira plane? So, is that what the wreckage after the title card was?"

(Although, the semi-consensus was that *all* of the explosives were taken off the plane by Flocke to blow up the sub. Also, elsewhere in the conversation it was agreed that there were no visible bodies [either of Oceanic or Ajira passengers], and was likely just an homage image. [Remember, in the Pilot, much of the wreckage was destroyed when the engine blew.])

From misachan:
"You know what's awesome about Ben staying behind? That means
he can be Desmond for everyone else who wasn't ready to move on,
waking them up, guiding them to the church, etc.

Which will make him leader of the Others."

The most terrifying theory of all, especially considering the last scene, is the fact that The Simpsons might have gotten the true ending:

I didn't hate it, I didn't always love it, I didn't always get it, I didn't always care, I didn't always know what was going on, I couldn't always keep track of who was who...

....but I watched every single episode of Lost and I don't regret it.

Twitter Is Telepathy

2009-11-19T06:23:05Z

I had a thought today.

Twitter is Telepathy.

Or at least, a major precursor to it.

As we interact with Instant Messages, [Google] Readers, RSS Feeds, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and extreme multitasking, we are literally rewiring our brains to accommodate not just a constant stream of information being uploaded into us, but multiple streams of thought as well. Twitter is just the latest facilitator of our rapidly skyrocketing information upload rate...

]]> Uploading...

In high school, I could casually type 80 wpm, there were 10 or more IM screens open at once, chatrooms, IRC and more. That was only the beginning of the information stream.

When I started using Twitter, I followed 35 people and I thought that was a lot. I now follow 145 people and during North American working hours, my feed updates every couple of minutes. I check it constantly at work, at home and in class. The only time I really stop is when I sleep. Over time, I'll follow more people because honestly, sometimes I'm annoyed if someone doesn't update after five minutes.

Telepathy, Eh?

According to the wiki, "Telepathy (Greek τηλε, tele meaning "distant" and πάθεια, patheia meaning "to be affected by") is supposed to be the transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five senses."

Most people just consider telepathy instant mind-to-mind communication.

We're getting pretty close to it. You think something, you tweet it and instantly, all of your followers can read it and respond to it. No longer is this just a conversation with you and the 4-5 people you regularly chat with, this is you conversing with everyone. About anything.

You can check any person's feed (if it's not private or "well shielded"), rifle through their "thoughts" (previous tweets) and learn a lot about them. Or you can hear the "thoughts" of the entire world by searching Twitter. Forget Cerebro, you just need trending topics.

Of course, some people have more "open" minds than others. One common complaint is the absolute banality of many tweets/thoughts. Many telepathic sci-fi/fantasy characters have the same complaint. You hear all of these voices and you have to filter them out unless you go crazy. We're learning to do that now. I choose not to follow some people or I skim some tweets but I'm still connected to all of my friends all the time. Let's not forget learning to deal with "mental attacks" in the form of spammers. We're learning how block those too.

What else?

Telepathy may have distance limits. Twitter doesn't.
Telepathy usually eliminates language barriers. Tweetdeck has a pretty awesome translator.
Telepathy has the power to influence people's thoughts. Besides link and news sharing, how many celebrities has Twitter killed? Jeff Goldblum, Miley Cyrus, Kanye, and surely more to come.

Obviously, we can't affect each other physically with telepathy, and I rather hope we don't get to that point. I'm sure there are more parallels to be drawn, but I'll think up more later. (Feel free to share if you come up with something!)

Just Do It

Naturally, when I first conflated Twitter with telepathy, I tweeted about it:

@pandang:Sometimes I think Twitter is the first step toward telepathy. You have everyone's head in your head @ the same time, but you can easily...
@pandang:...filter out or listen in to certain voices. We stay connected 24/7, but don't have to talk directly unless we want to. Think about it.

Moments later my friend @theMaykazine re-tweeted what I said, prompting my response:

@pandang: @theMaykazine I was "chatting" w/ a friend via twitter & it hit me. Our generation's ability to multitask is like a step in evolution. :O

All of this has basically proved my point. I had a thought, Mayka heard it, responded, and then we were in conversation. I hadn't said one word to her all morning, but within moments, we were talking, and just as quickly, we weren't. Meanwhile our mutual friends could see our discussion and could have chosen to jump in if they wanted to.

Telepathy. We're getting there and it's kind of awesome...

...I'm already Jean Grey.

Postscript: Don't hate on Jean Grey. She's had a tough four or five lives.

Postpostscript: And don't worry about her current status in the comic, she'll be back.

Postpostpostscript: I recognize that Facebook does essentially the same thing with their new stream, but I think Twitter is the purest form and most clearly fits the connection with telepathy. And I don't really use Facebook anymore.

Glee is a [Social] Science Fiction Show.

2009-11-12T04:52:53Z

Spoiler warning: If you haven't seen Glee, there will be spoilers up to Episode 9. Also, if you haven't seen Glee, what are you doing reading this? Go watch Glee now and report back here afterward!

I'm ashamed to say that this post has been knocking around in my head for about a month, and it's taken me this long to finally write it out. Either way, from the very first episode, I wanted to label Glee a fantasy show, but that never struck me as quite right. It wasn't until I watched the fourth episode, "Preggers," that I realized Glee was not fantasy, but science fiction. Social science fiction, to be exact...
]]> In "Preggers," Kurt tries out for the football team in order to impress his flannel shirt wearing, Deadliest Catch watching, trucker hat sporting dad. The first three episodes had been peppered with Kurt making vague remarks about his father finding his secret stashes of sparkles, and how he had to "cover" for himself.

Of course, we assume Kurt's father is a typical disconnected, homophobic American father. However, when Kurt comes out to his father after the big game and his father says he's always known Kurt was gay and it's alright, it's one of the most poignant and memorable moments of the show.

It was also shocking. That's when I realized that Glee is not a fantasy, but a social science fiction.

Science fiction takes our reality then subverts it with blatantly unrealistic ideas that are based in science, rendering them somewhat plausible. This plausibility forces us to compare the two worlds, then reconsider and question the possibilities of the world we live in.

Glee does exactly that, but in social science terms.

Kurt, like so many kids, was afraid to come out for fear of the repercussions, but it turns out that his father knew him better than he ever realized. His father has always loved him no matter what. It was an incredible moment, and completely unexpected.

That's when I asked myself, why is it so unexpected and "unrealistic"? Why can't we live in a world where parents display this perfect acceptance of their child's unique talents and abilities? Social Science Fiction at work.

Then in this most recent episode, Kurt is reciprocally self-sacrificing for his father. Kurt is a diva, and proud of it. However, when it's his big chance to rip the spotlight from Rachel, he lets the light fade in order to give his father peace. Kurt and his father are so different, but they love each other so much and want nothing but to be there for each other. Again, such a shocking image, but why couldn't such two wildly different people--much less family--get along?

If that wasn't enough, Finn has a speech in episode 8, "Mash-Up," that sums up Glee's entire social science fiction ideology:

"Leaders are supposed to see something other people don't. They can imagine a future where things are better, Like Thomas Jefferson, or that kid from the Terminator movies.
I see a future where it's cool to be in Glee club.
Where you can play football and sing and dance, and no one gets down on you for it. Where the more different you are, the better."

A future where things are better. Glee shows us high school and post-high school careers as we know them, but they've tweaked it just enough to show a place where some things are better, where the jocks and cheerleaders are friends with the nerds, the emocore girl, the wheelchair kid, the choir nerds, the divas, the gay kid. Where the pregnant girl gets support, the Spanish teacher gets to live his life to the fullest, and even Sue Sylvester has a heart.

By no means is this world perfect, though. Quinn has lost the future she once aspired to and is buried under medical bills, relationships are still just as convoluted as have been and will be, and even though Puck comes through for his baby, it's through pot-laced cupcakes and stolen money.

True "perfection" is subjective and it would be boring anyway, but the intent is to make us examine our world and perhaps make it better in response.

The Mystery of FlashForward

2009-10-10T00:54:38Z

According to ABC, Flashforward is supposed to be the second coming of Lost. While J.J. Abrams has no hand in it, it will never escape the specter of Lost's success and the pressure of the hype machine. It's three episodes in, I'm feeling this show is much less Lost, and much more Heroes...]]> TED talk and read his recent Wired Guest Editor issue, and it really made me think about what makes his shows work. Yes, a lot of it is mystery. It's getting people hooked on "What's going on?"

FlashForward has mystery in spades.

What or who caused the blackout?
Why that long?
Why did it happen at that day and time and why did it flash forward to that time in the future?
Who's after Mark in his Flashforward, and why is he drinking so much?
How does Olivia end up in bed with the man she's never met?
Why doesn't Demetri see anything? Is he really dead?
Why was the young doctor, Bryce, suicidal?
What did the daughter, Charlie, see?
Who is the lone man awake in Detroit, a man who doesn't seem to be all that horrified that the rest of the stadium is down for the count.
Who else is awake, and/or how many are there?
~~How did Demetri's coworker manage to see that one man in that giant stadium amongst millions of video clips?~~ (Answer: TV Magic)
~~And what Asian parent named their kid Demetri?!~~

Between all of these questions, Mark's map and the "Flashcards" on Hulu feeding us specific mysteries to look for, it feels like we've glimpsed what's inside the "mystery box."

Backing up: in J.J.'s TED Talk, he talks about the Mystery Box his grandfather bought him, and how he's never opened it. To him, the box is more interesting sealed as it represents limitless potential because of what your imagination puts in it.

Back to FlashForward. In an attempt to keep people from becoming confused--as so many feel or felt with Lost--we're being given clues to the story and the future.

I don't like that. They're literally spelling out the mysteries and not making you put things together on your own. J.J. Abrams' mystery boxes are always sealed tight. Sometimes too tight. After five years of Alias I still don't know what the hell the Rambaldi artifacts are all about, Cloverfield never explains the monster, Lost hasn't explained much of anything, and don't get me started on Fringe. The fun in the mystery box is making your own guesses and putting together your conspiracy theories. Let's face it, "the reveal" is often a letdown, deflating all of that fabulous tension built up over story arcs and entire seasons.

FlashForward, in theory, follows the formula. Mystery after mystery has compounded in just the first three episodes, but it feels sloppy. They're throwing so much stuff at us hoping that something somewhere in one of the stories will hook you. You know what other show did that? Heroes. See where that got them?

It turns out mystery isn't the only part of what makes a show. It's not just "What happens next?" but also, "Why do we care?" The characters in Lost were given gradual introductions, but they would get entire episodes focused on them and their stories, creating a connection, establishing depth of character and making us care.

That's where Heroes went wrong. Threading ten story lines through 42 minutes just made things confusing. It also doesn't help that most characters have been reset multiple times--sometimes every season, sometimes twice a season. FlashForward is going the Heroes route, threading multiple storylines at the same time. We haven't been given any character backgrounds in FlashForward, so we don't really care that Mark's wife might leave him, or that Demetri may die in six months, and that's a major problem.

Letting us peek into the mystery box so early takes the fun out of the guessing game, and the shallow characters aren't helping the show at all. I'll continue to watch to see if it gets better, but I'm not hooked. However, there is one final mystery that I'm very much curious about. One question that may never be solved:

...How insanely gorgeous would Demetri and Zoey's kids be?!

Summer Movie Blitz!

2009-09-17T05:13:33Z

Obviously, I've been on hiatus. Yes, I missed a lot of juicy potential posts, many of which I started but never quite got finished.

So here in one fell swoop are a bunch of not-as-quick-as-I-would-have-liked-them reviews!

After the jump: Terminator Salvation, Harry Potter 6, Transformers 2, GI Joe, District 9, Inglourious Basterds.

]]> Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation could have been amazing. If there was a TV show that had run for a season or two and culminated in this movie, it would have been awesome. As it is, the movie is all chase and little development. Marcus Wright had potential, and I was fascinated by Anton Yelchin's Kyle Reese and Star, but both had too little screen time.

What actually left the biggest impression on me was the ending as Christian Bale flew off into the sunset to take down the next Skynet stronghold. The glaring problem with that is in Skynet's name: Sky. Cloud. Cloud computing. There's no end to Skynet because Skynet will just keep respawning all over the world at all of its other terminals; that's how it took over the first place. The Resistance has already lost, and they expect to make another two movies?

Besides that, the question remains whether or not Christian Bale will continue to be involved. I hope he will, considering all the effort expended to keep him alive in the movie, at the expense of Marcus Wright coming back. Sam Worthington wasn't bad!

PS: Let's pretend the Governator thing didn't happen. Thanks.

Harry Potter 6: The Half-Blood Prince

This was one of my favorite books, closely following Book 4, Goblet of Fire, as my #1 and probably tied with Book 7, Deathly Hallows, for 2nd. In fact, it may edge Deathly Hallows out a bit. That said, I love David Yates' version of the books, which pulls the fifth and sixth movies into the fore for me.

There are always complaints about what did or didn't make it into the movie, but I thought the movie worked well with the material, and instead of focusing on the story, it really embraced the the visual aspect of the medium. I mean, no descriptive words could ever evoke the same reaction as just seeing this moment:

Yates took this movie in a completely different direction than anyone could have guessed: comedy?! This was one of the saddest books in the series and Yates made me laugh out loud over and over again. It's a different view of the books that I never got before and created a whole different dimension to the story. In fact, Yates did the same thing with Order of the Phoenix by turning it from an teen-angst-filled anger-fest to an epic and heroic installment in the series.

I'm not saying he's improving on the books, I'm just saying he's giving us something completely different, and it's all the more fun for it. All of this just makes me more excited to see what he does with Deathly Hallows.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

I figured if I was going to pay to see it, I might as well go all in and see it in IMAX, which is always an "experience." I have to say, seeing the robots in IMAX gives you a much better appreciation of scale. On the other hand, seeing Shia LaBeouf's face 3 stories high was somewhat of a nightmare, but you have to give and take.

The movie wasn't nearly as bad as I was led to believe, thanks to far more scenes including giant robots. This movie also forced fanboys and fangirls to relive the Death of Optimus, but you can't sell toys of dead robots, so throw the robot a Phoenix Down and an Elixer because, hey, making a bigger, badder version of Optimus will sell even more toys! I will admit, however, Optimized Optimus kicking ass all over the place did make me smile. A lot.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

G.I. Joe, on the other hand, had me smiling throughout. No, I was giggling throughout. Laughing. Rolling, practically. My friend Julie said it best: "You know you're in trouble when Sienna Miller is the best 'actress' in a movie."

The utter disregard for physics was a fascinating turn from all of these superhero movies attempting to entrench themselves in reality. I mean, orange fireball explosions underwater?! Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow's battle in a room crackling with so much electricity, it looked like one of those electrostatic balls? Pack ice sinking down to the ocean floor after being blown apart? Excuse me!?

Don't even get me started on the whole Ripcord/Scarlett thing. Who in their right mind would go after Snake Eyes' girlfriend? Please.

Oh, and one more thing. I liked Snake Eyes' suit, but what was up with the molded lips? That was weird, like bat-nipples. Should not have happened.

What I really should have done was watch G.I. Joe back to back with 500 Days of Summer, both of which have Joseph Gordon-Levitt in them. I did that for Star Trek and Terminator 4, which starred Anton Yelchin in both. That was interesting.

District 9

I went in with few expectations because of the unbelievably mixed tweets I read. I don't really like splatter movies and I don't do gore (which is why I'm more of a martial arts movie fan), and by all accounts, District 9 had much more of that than I'm into. However, I didn't really notice much of that.

What I did notice was how fantastic the CG was on the Prauns. In Lord of the Rings, Andy Serkis acted as Gollum, but Gollum was clearly CG. With the Prauns, I would have honestly believed that there was a man in an extremely advanced and expensive costume suit standing there.

The whole social message about the definition of humanity was fascinating because it was messy and often got lost, but I felt that was alright. This movie wasn't trying to be a vehicle for a strong social message, but it managed to slip it in there quite ably. I could probably write a Sociology paper on this movie, but this is supposed to be short. I'm also choosing to skip over the racial themes because better bloggers regarding this particular subject have covered it more ably than I.

But I will mention again, I have no idea how this movie was made for just $30 million dollars, except for undisclosed subsidies coming out of Peter Jackson's pocket. Wow.

Inglourious Basterds

My parents were visiting NYC when this came out. On the Saturday we all split up, my dad chose to go watch a movie, and this was the one he chose. He called me right after and told me how good it was. I wasn't planning to go see it in theaters, but after that, I had to check it out. I'm not really that big of a Tarantino fan, mostly because he steals--excuse me, I mean, "pays homage to" and/or "satires" a lot of stuff.

I will say Inglourious was much, much better than I thought it would be. It was ballsy to have so much dialogue not in English, but that led to one of Tarantino's fantastic jokes: in us laughing at Brad Pitt's uncouth "Italian", we're actually laughing at ourselves because how many Americans are quadrilingual like Hans Landa (English, French, German and Italian that we saw in the movie), or even just bilingual?

And speaking of Hans Landa, in the publicity interviews Tarantino did about Inglourious, he said that he could have never done this movie without Christoph Waltz, who played Landa. I have to say, he was not overhyped. His was one of the most terrifying characters I've ever seen precisely because he was such a smart villian. Too many enemies are genius megalomaniacs and forget common sense. This may be why I was rather disturbed at the end of the movie because how could he underestimate the Basterds like that? We could call it hubris or we could call it "lucky."

I haven't been that tense watching a movie in a long time. So many movies (especially in the summer) follow the exact same arc, and you never feel that tension of "What's going to happen next?" In Inglourious, it was one twist after another. Loved it.

Fall's coming up with a slew of new movies. I haven't seen 9 yet, and will likely wait until DVD for that one. Also on the horizon: Avatar, Surrogates, Zombieland, Where the Wild Things Are, The Road, Ninja Assassin, and--WTF, Richard Gere is in a movie remake about Hachiko?! What's up with all of his Asian movie remakes? Oh and some crappy teen vampire movie...

Not sure how many of these I'll actually go out to see in theaters, but I won't say never!

Then again, prime time TV is starting up again, and that'll definitely be keeping me busy...

Star Trek Movie Reaches Batman Begins/Dark Knight-level Transcendence

2009-05-12T04:15:34Z

Yes that is a big statement. And yes, I stand by it.

I am not a Trekkie. (Or a Trekker. To-may-toe, to-mah-toe.)

I never watched the original series, though as a self-respecting nerd (wait, what?), I vaguely knew the characters and the archetypes. I've seen a little TNG, but not much and so this movie only piqued a vague interest.

That is, until opening weekend, when it opened with an insane 96% on Rotten Tomatoes--infact, I saw it at 94% for a while before it climbed *up* to 96%, with 228 reviews counted.

Then I became rabid. I had to see this movie. So, Sunday night, instead of going to see ASSSSCAT, we went to see Star Trek.

I just found out Amy Poehler was at ASSSSCAT (oh Twitter. -_-), but I can honestly say I'm totally okay that I missed Poehler and am so glad I didn't have to wait a couple more days to see Star Trek.

This Movie Is That Good.

As Twitter has wreaked havoc on my ability to blog and I had a million thoughts running through my head during the movie, I will now attempt to pin down some of them, in faux-tweet form... (spoilers abound after the jump)

]]> (Disclaimer: I never post posts here that are this detailed. This depth of detail usually goes elsewhere, but I figured I'd put it out and see what happens. You have been warned.)

I can't count the number of times I got chills watching the opening sequence with the first Romulan attack, Kirk's mother giving birth and his father's sacrifice. The focus wasn't on the captain's sacrifice or the attack, it was about Kirk's father being separated and leaving his family. For all that Star Trek's crew interacts with aliens, and for all that Sci-Fi creates fiction, what they really do best is bring into focus the actual human experience. That's how I knew this movie was going to be epic.

When the camera followed the one random crew member as she was sucked into space, and there was no sound, it was INTENSE. (In space, no one can hear you scream...)

According to the wiki, Star Trek had a budget of $140 million. I reiterate: Wolverine's budget was $150 million. WHERE did all of Wolverine's money go?! Because throughout the entire movie, Star Trek's SFX were Gorgeous. Exciting. Fantastic. Detailed. Sharp. Grand. Beautiful. Striking. Complicated.... Everything Wolverine's SFX were not.

I am entirely happy that I am not a Vulcan. Those ~~torture pits~~ classrooms were like a nightmare come true.

For a Vulcan, there was an insane amount of emotion coming out of Spock/Quinto. It was undeniably subtle (raised eyebrows, significant stares) and perhaps even too much for series purists, but I loved the way they developed his half-human side. With Quinto making so much out of so little, it lead me to compare him to Heath Ledger's sublime performance as the Joker. Even though Joker was played with complete exaggeration and Spock was so minimalistic, I still got the same feeling watching Spock as I did Joker. Quinto isn't quite as good as Ledger was (yet), but he was pretty damn good.

I'd also like to mention, I was not a fan of Quinto's prior to the show. I saw some significant promise in his acting during the Elle arc, but due to the current meltdown of the Heroes writing staff in regards to Sylar, I lost interest in Quinto.

I still dislike the Kirk-in-the-convertible moment as much now as I did when I first saw it in the trailer. Yes, it establishes Kirk's daredevil-no-fear-no-holds-barred personality, but it just felt and looked so out of place.

I didn't have an opinion about Chris Pine as an actor, and generally have negative opinions about "hotshot" characters, but I ended up liking Kirk as he grew into his role. His smile makes me smile. Shocking, really.

Karl Urban as Bones stole almost every scene he was in. There's just so much neuroses and intelligence packed into every moment he was on screen, it was fantastic.

TYLER PERRY as the Admiral? -_- Seriously?! I can't take Madea seriously as the Admiral!

While my first glimpse of the Enterprise didn't do for me what it did for Ruth (so excited she texted me about it), I will say it was well orchestrated.

J.J. needs to take it down a notch on the lens flares, though I might not have noticed it had it not been talked about so much...but because I was looking for them, yeah. There were a lot.

Despite the excess flares, I still loved the clean, bright, white look of the bridge. The bridges of all the other Star Trek ships were grey with industrial-strength carpeting, and I always hated that. In BSG, the bridge looked like one wrong move would send you through an open grate or impale you on a jagged piece of metal. As J.J. says in the previous link, it *is* refreshing to see that yes, the future CAN be bright and shiny.

When Sulu forgot to release the parking break, it was ostensibly to introduce him as a total n00b, but that two minute lapse became the entire reason why they survived in the first place, and then established Sulu's piloting ability as he steered them through a crazy debris field. Much of the movie was creatively dense like this, fine-tuned with no wasted time or space, and brisk pacing that never felt rushed.

Also, hilarious points for the captain making a "parking break" crack at Sulu, and yet having it ACTUALLY be a parking break issue in nerd-speak. GREAT.

Uhura's time to shine was pretty good. While not as flashy as everyone else's moments, it still managed to be critical and strong. Anyway, she got more screen time than the rest of the supporting cast as it is, and her relationship with Spock, did give her character a surprising amount of dimension when you contrast her rejection of Kirk to her love for Spock.

Oh Olsen. You drew the red shirt card. You poor, poor fool.

Ridiculous skydive is RIDICULOUS!

I will admit, the martial-arts nerd in me went absolutely insane when I saw Sulu's retractable sword. Want plz. John Cho was pretty freakin' awesome in this scene.

Shiny!

I thought Chekov's accent was a little too contrived/comic-relief-oriented in the middle of such fantastic renditions of the other characters, but his time to shine was quite adorable. It was a great setup to have the original person manning the pad unable to get a lock and Chekov suddenly realizing he could do it. Great tension and showed off how good he is. Maybe math is useful. >.> To someone else.

Nero was unrecognizable as Eric Bana. Which is a good thing? Either way, not enough screen time, though rationally they gave enough backstory. His character was the one I felt least intrigued by, despite his psychosis and vendetta.

When Kirk is walking around ~~Hoth~~ the ice-planet and the first monster is running at him from far off, I love the use of the quick-zoom into the monster's face. Totally made me jump.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock. I never watched the Original Series, and even I felt how momentous that moment was.

Spock-Prime wielding one small torch and fending off The Huge Monster was one of those, "Really?" moments, though I'm sure you could explain it with: the monster had no eyes and uses thermal/infrared sense to find prey on a planet that's entirely ice-covered and white and therefore a torch would be blindingly painful--wait, why am I getting into this? Moving on.

Simon Pegg! I love Simon Pegg! Unfortunately, he gets one or two featured scenes, and the rest of the movie has him shouting out Scotty's catchphrases at the end. Fan-pleasing, but Pegg is capable of so much more!

One of the best parts about this movie and the characters is that you could really see and understand how and why the individuals organically become a strong unit throughout the movie. Obviously there were still conveniences (Sulu's predecessor got sick. Oops. Scotty just happened to be on the ice world. Neat.), but I'm choosing to overlook it in favor of how well the cast worked together. When the crew managed to maneuver themselves in place to attack Nero's ship via amazing skill and cooperation, it just felt like there was a click, and everything was as it should be.

Red Matter. Mueller Device. If I ever see a floating red ball ANYWHERE in the world, I will run screaming for the hills. THANKS J. J. Abrams for single-handedly pioneering new paranoias and phobias. (At right, Giant Mueller Device hovering over a city and smaller Mueller prototype, from Alias.)

When the Romulan drill began descending on Earth, I freaked out because it was going after THE BAY AREA. Noooo!!!

Also note, Star Fleet Academy is located in San Francisco... apparently on Alcatraz or Treasure Island, according to the angle we saw it at. Judging by how close the shot was to Fort Point and the Golden Gate, I'm saying Alcatraz. So I just looked it up on the Wiki, and apparently it's located on the Presidio. Makes sense too, but I thought it pushed out too far into the water to be on the shore. (I guess I'll just have to see the movie again.) Either way, Nor Cal, represent! ;D

Seeing Kirk seeing Spock/Uhura together was one of those warm and fuzzy moments. (Ha, is that sick?) While this thread wasn't fully developed/explained at all, I still felt it was reasonable perhaps *because* it wasn't explained. Or maybe I just liked seeing Kirk being beat by Spock.

Honestly, the final battles were good, and they were fantastic eyecandy as everyone got their time to shine again and show the full crew they would be. It was basically dessert, giving everyone what they wanted to see. Not particularly thought-provoking or dense, but it was perfectly action packed and tied everything up quite nicely.

I did scream "Black hole means Run Away!" in my head four times though.

But in the end, when Spock Prime repeats the Star Trek Schpiel, I felt like it was the perfect ending. SEQUEL!

THIS is how you do Alternate Universe. Many things are changed, but the story doesn't just retcon events willy-nilly (*cough*Heroes*cough*). The explanation is "logical" and the alternate timeline's content is still strongly tied to canon. Hopefully Terminator Salvation can capture a FRACTION of Star Trek's alternate-universe-story success.

Whew. Now it's time to go watch the movie again...

-Manda

Astro Boy - Teaser Trailers 1 and 2

2009-03-25T20:23:00Z

I'm not often surprised when it comes to anime-to-movie adaptions. I've usually heard rumors and watched the build-up for years before release, but for once, I didn't see this one coming at all.

Astro Boy, literally the first Japanese anime TV series, first aired in the 60s. For the last decade, there was always the vague notion that an Astro Boy movie should be made, but I hadn't heard of any production actually moving forward. Then, to my shock, as I was hunting down new previews, I was presented with a two full teaser trailers and an October '09 release date! Not only is it being made, but it's well into production!

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Now, the first teaser trailer doesn't do anything except show Astro Boy flying around and give audiences a quick glance at yet another star-powered voice acting cast.

The second teaser trailer (embedded above) gives people a little more to chew on; instead of flying around the clouds and mountains, he flies around his futuristic city, and we get a half-second glance at a few some characters. We don't know much else about the movie, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

Astro Boy releases on Octoer 23rd, 2009.
Visit the official website.

Public Enemies - Trailer 1

2009-03-17T04:08:10Z

Hollywood is looking for the next great Hollywood star to follow after Tom Cruise and Will Smith--someone who can sell a movie on the strength of his name alone. My money is on Christian Bale.

After all, the man is a serious actor who saved Batman and looks like he's about to save John Connor as well. He also won a special place in my heart for doing the English voice for the character Howl from the Miyazaki movie, Howl's Moving Castle.

Though his popularity is growing by leaps and bounds, he hasn't hit Will Smith's stride of seven or so consecutive box office smashes (ignoring the recent Seven Pounds, which still didn't do poorly). Therefore, Bale has once again been cast with another fantastic actor to cement the movie's future as a must-see in this summer's Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp as a bank robber and Christian Bale as the cop who has to chase him down...

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Moving aside from the obvious positives of the movie (Depp and Bale), the costuming is solid and the timeliness of the story is striking. There's a "war on crime" being waged against John Dillinger (Depp), a bank robber who becomes a Robin Hood character who takes from the rich banks, but not the regular lay people: "We're here for the bank's money, not yours. Put it away."

If you read the the description on the official site, it describes the American psyche as an "American public who had no sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into the Depression." If the character of John Dillinger taking money from the greedy banks isn't fantasy escapism for most of America right now, I don't know what is. The best part is, this is all based on a true story.

A true story from the past, or the present? It's all so appropriate, it makes you wonder if Universal predicted the Recession. Hmm.

Public Enemies releases on July 1st, 2009.
Visit the official website.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen - Trailer 1

2009-03-14T21:15:45Z

Spoiler! They killed Megatron at the end of the first Transformers movie. When the house lights came on in the theater, I felt an overwhelming sense of confusion wash over me. What were they going to do for Transformers 2 without Megatron!?

Well, somebody figured something out because the Trailer for Transformers 2 has been released! (I wonder if the subtle subtitle "Revenge of the Fallen" means anything...)

]]> Like any good trailer, we have lots of explosions, wide, expansive landscapes and--

Wait a second, this trailer seems a bit familiar. I feel like I've seen these elements somewhere...

The destruction of Paris...

A murky underwater shot...

A calamitous crash through a mundane scene...

Shiny metallic title logo...

Oh boy. Did I call it or did I call it when I said: "The new G.I. Joe movie is a lot like the Transformers movie: a highly anticipated big-budget summer blockbuster based on an 80s cartoon series that was originally made for the sole purpose of selling toys."

Paramount has a formula and they're going to stick to it! So what if the G.I. Joe trailer and the Transformers 2 trailers "borrow" facets from each other? Paramount is just making sure that you know the G.I. Joe movie will be just as good as the Transformers movie. ("Buy tickets now.")

To be fair, the Transformers 2 trailer is twice as long as the G.I. Joe trailer, and we get twice as much of the Autobots and Decepticons than we do of the over-exposed Shia LaBeouf, which is all most of us really want anyway.

Transformers 2 opens June 24th, 2009.
Check out the official website.

Blood: The Last Vampire - UK Trailer

2009-03-13T05:45:34Z

It's time to take a break from all of the giant big-name blockbusters and take a look at something few have heard of.

Blood: The Last Vampire is an upcoming Japanese movie with a long history in Asia, first an anime movie, then a manga, novels, video game, and a reimagined 2005 anime series, "Blood+." Now, the story is making the jump to live action movie.

It's a vampire action/horror story, and the main character, Saya, is a centuries-old half-human, half-vampire school girl who hunts vampires. Think Wesley Snipes in Blade, but younger, smaller, Asian, and female. Okay, so maybe she's the exact opposite of Blade, but the vampire-hunting concept is there.

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What's really interesting about this movie are the international aspects of it:

The story is Japanese.

The director is French and directed the Jet Li movie Kiss of the Dragon.

Producer Bill Kong was the producer for the majority of the popular Chinese martial arts films that received significant American releases: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and more.

Lead actress "Jun Ji-Hyun" (now credited as "Gianna Jun" internationally) was the lead actress in the Korean movie "My Sassy Girl" that was a huge smash hit in Asia. (It was popular enough to receive a dismal direct-to-video American remake)

Despite the strong Asian influences, a significant amount of the movie will be in English, and there are quite a few non-Asian characters.

As for the trailer itself, aside from the cheesy voice over, the stylized imagery is quite striking and reminiscent of Hero. The action and wire work are pretty good, but the CG looks depressingly low-budget. This is problematic considering all of the vampire blood looks to be black and CGed, which could ultimately bring down every action scene--and considering this is a vampire-killing movie, there are going to be a lot of action scenes.

Also, most Asian-movie-lovers had one particular question blaring in their minds: "Can Jun Ji-Hyun even speak English!?" This trailer answers that question--sort of. The lines we hear here are surprisingly intelligible, but like all good trailers, the absolute best pieces are called out for the preview, and says nothing of the entirety of the movie. Jun Ji-Hyun's English proficiency remains to be seen. I do have a feeling, however, that much of the movie is going to be her staring balefully at vampires before taking them out.

Blood: The Last Vampire doesn't even have an assured American release date yet.
Nor does it have an official American website.

I'm just interested in it because I'm an Asian nerd.

Star Trek - Trailer 3

2009-03-13T04:58:46Z

Considering the unbelievable amounts of anticipation surrounding Watchmen, it was only fitting that the third Star Trek preview would premier attached to it.

And it's packed with the good stuff!

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As in the trailer before, the Star Trek preview begins with distinctly un-Star Trek-y concepts: motorcycles and bar fights, though the driving drum beat has been replaced with a voice over setting Kirk's history.

Once you get beyond the first few moments, it's immediately apparent how much new footage is in the preview, and THIS is the footage people have been waiting for. Huge space elements! Battles and the requisite physics-defying orange fireball explosions that occur in space! New worlds! Amazing sets! And an imploding planet that looks a bit like the Death Star before it completely collapses! No 1/10000000000th size models hung with fishing line here. No obviously fake foam boulders in this movie, no no no. The movie has taken on the fantastic large-scale and diverse environments that the original Star Trek producers couldn't have even dreamed about.

Nerds are having a pretty good year this year, wouldn't you say?

Star Trek releases on May 8th, 2009. Visit the official website.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Final Trailer

2009-03-07T05:37:45Z

With less than two months to go to before the release of the Wolverine movie (and only days after I posted my first Wolverine Preview Review), Fox released the movie's final trailer which begins by extending the scene involving Wolverine's Adamantium infusion, explaining what's driving his actions, and adding new viewing angles of all the fighting and chaos.

But they didn't stop there...

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The real centerpiece of the trailer is the surprise footage we get of Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. Even though Tim Pocock (the actor playing Scott) looks unnervingly like Tom Cruise with those sunglasses on, it's a strong moment for the trailer as this movie continues to atone for the many glaring faux pas of the third movie. The producers made sure not to show any footage of Scott until the final trailer, leaving themselves one significant ace up their sleeve with which to surprise and wow fans.

The remainder of the trailer contains new footage of the rest of Team X, and a good look at Weapon XI. Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool steals the end of the trailer with some fantastic action moments, though Taylor Kitsch as Gambit continues to give him competition for the title of "most promising new character."

Unfortunately, the editors decided to follows the ill-advised pattern of the last trailer: Wolverine hanging off the helicopter, followed by a snappy remark from the Wolverine vs. Sabretooth fight. It was acceptable the first time around, but downright cheesy the second. Ignore the last fifteen seconds of the trailer, and you'll be fine.

Wolverine opens May 1st, 2009. For something different, check out the movie's myspace page.

Drinking Game: The Legend of Chun-Li

2009-03-05T22:52:46Z

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li should have been "Chun-Li: Death of a Legend." Chun-Li, the progenitor of all female head-to-head video game fighters has had her good name smeared by this horrific mess of a movie.

On Rotten Tomatoes, for the first 72 hours of its release, it had a solid 00% until both the The New York Times and Variety gave it vaguely positive reviews and bumped the percentage up to 5. That just goes to prove that reviewers, even Cream of the Crop reviewers, are regular human beings and subject to terrible taste as well.

So, in the spirit of making terrible movies palatable, I present to you:

The Legend of Chun-Li
Super Turbo Spinning Bird
Drinking Game!

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By the end of the game, you should be doing this...

Every time you hear Chun-Li lamely referred to as the "school girl", DRINK.

Every time M. Bison changes accents when he's speaking (Expert Mode: or
changes languages), DRINK.

Every time the cops comment on their sexual tension instead of the case they're supposedly working, TAKE A SHOT.

Every time Chun-Li's voice over attempts to explains what the hell is going on, DRINK.

Every time a Chinese person speaks English when they should be speaking Chinese, TAKE A SHOT.

BONUS/EXPERT ROUND: Every time you see a reference to the video game--you may be too drunk by this point. Let us help you with a few details: white boots, hair buns, blue outfit, special moves--WATERFALL.

Happy viewing, because completely plastered is the only way you're going to enjoy this movie. Feel free to add your own rules. In fact, share them!

Disclaimer: I do not endorse spending over $3 for a rental on this movie.

Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince - Third Trailer

2009-03-05T20:54:25Z

I threw a total fit when I found out the Harry Potter movie was being pushed back to summer '09 and the atrocious Twilight movie was taking its place. The first and second trailers placated me somewhat, but the wait until July just keeps getting longer.

To keep the antsy Harry Potter fans (like me) in line, Warner Brothers finally released another trailer just this week...

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This trailer essentially picks up where the first trailer left off, and the tone boomerangs back to the darker focus of the first trailer (as opposed to the lighter second trailer) and we see much more of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

The cuts are fast--giving half-second glimpses of bits from the book--and as expected, the production value is high (after all, the books and movies print money). Quite a bit of the footage in the trailer is recycled from the first couple of trailers, but most of it is extended by a second or two. It's a clever trick used by editors, splicing in just enough new footage to make it seem like viewers are getting more than they actually are. It's the perfect technique for a movie like Harry Potter, as rabid fans will pick apart every millisecond, dissecting, discussing, criticizing, commenting, then ultimately clamoring for more.

We see bits of the Horcruxes, Narcissa Malfoy, Professor Slughorn, Professor McGonagall, and one of my personal favorite images of the trailer: Bellatrix appearing in front of a wall of fire. Fire and smoke have a strong presence in the trailer--two favorites devices of trailer editors as fire promises explosive action while the smoke does double duty as an obscuring element and as the stylized representation of the Death Eaters' version of apparation.

The scope, scale and detail of the sets look bigger than ever, and this particular book was one of my favorites. Once again, the movie will be released simultaneously in regular theaters and IMAX 3-D. Like the last Harry Potter movie, if you see it in IMAX, certain sections of the movie (almost assuredly the finale battle) will be presented in 3-D. Bonus trivia: Part of the reason HP6 was pushed back was to get it into more IMAX theaters; initially it was only going to see release in 40 IMAX theaters. Thanks to the move, it will now reach 100 IMAX screens.

Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince opens on July 17th, 2009. Visit the official site for trailers, images, and more.

Terminator Salvation - Second Trailer

2009-03-04T20:19:21Z

I love Christian Bale.

I can't stand McG.

When I heard Christian Bale was doing Terminator, my first reaction was a horrified "Nooo!!" After Terminator 3, I couldn't understand why on Earth Christian Bale would sign up to be on this sinking ship! However, series reboots are all the rage, and if anyone knows about saving a stagnant franchise, it's Christian Bale.

The first teaser trailer was less than reassuring, with static-filled glimpses and a bitter warning that perhaps there is no hope. No hope for mankind or no hope for a graceful end to the Terminator franchise?

Luckily for all parties involved, the second trailer was released....

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With the Governator nowhere in sight, we get our first real look at the post-apocalyptic world we're supposed to expect in less than ten years. The pounding backing track of Nine Inch Nail's "The Day The World Went Away," strong video cuts and Christian Bale's voice-over drive the intensity sky high. There are tons of amazing shots in the trailer--my personal favorite image is at 2:09 when the bike jumps the truck--and I have to admit, this preview totally sucked me in

Besides the undeniable sheen of millions of dollars and the Terminator name, the trailer is packed with dark metallic blue strongholds of humanity straight from The Matrix, physics-defying motorcycle tricks like in The Dark Knight and giant robot monsters ala Transformers. Emblazon Christian Bale's name across it and the trailer can't scream "Summer Blockbuster" any louder.

It didn't just stop there. For the "thinking nerd", the trailer promises a plot that will fill the niche Battlestar Galactica will vacate in a few more episodes: robots that think they're human.

As the trailer ends, it implores the audience to Forget the Past, and believe that on May 21st, the Terminator franchise is back.

Terminator Salvation opens on May 21st, 2009. Visit the official site for more trailers and content.