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annyard1960
Reviews
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: In the Pale Moonlight (1998)
addresses a dilemma almost never addressed
One of the most astronomical failures of honest, ethical, productive, benevolent human beings is... what? It is the fact that they fail to identify human predators as predators, and treat human predators in the way they know they must treat other animal predators... namely avoid them, evade them, escape them, or preferably exterminate them.
Though this issue does not explicitly make the important identification that I made above, it is the subtext.
To put this another way, any honest, ethical, productive, benevolent being (human or alien) should treat all other honest, ethical, productive, benevolent being (human or alien) consistent with "natural ethics". Which in practice means, "take no actions to harm or destroy them or their property".
The problem with most human beings is... their brain is totally faked out when they face predators who dress in fancy clothes or uniforms... or speak in fancy language. They are especially faked out when the favorite words, terms and ideas of honest, ethical, productive, benevolent beings are thrown back at them in an argument.
Sadly, honest, ethical, productive, benevolent human beings don't realize predators WILL DO AND SAY ANYTHING TO GET WHAT THEY WANT... including endless lies, misrepresentations, and totally bogus argumentation that includes what seem to be arguments based upon the values they hold an cherish.
And so, honest, ethical, productive, benevolent human beings allow human predators (and in science fiction, also advanced/intelligent alien predators) to run roughshod over them. They restrain their actions against these predators almost exactly as they would restrain their actions against other honest, ethical, productive beings.
This gives HUGE advantages to human predators (and advanced alien predators) who do and say anything whatsoever to dominate and destroy any honest, ethical, productive, benevolent being who dare object to their dishonesty, their complete lack of ethics (substituting the modus-operandi "get away with whatever we can" for ethics) and predatory actions.
Which is why earth is ruled by human predators-that-be who call themselves "government" and simply assert that ethics is defined by the premise that "the predators-that-be are masters, producers are slaves/prey, and what constitutes ethics and "good behavior" is... obeying every demand from predators-that-be).
One time in a million or billion the consequences of being so utterly, completely, absolutely and obviously STUPID as this is more than an honest, ethical, productive, benevolent human being can stomach.
Which is when a basically honest, ethical, productive, benevolent beings takes actions like those Sisco did in this "best of series" episode. They've been pushed so far beyond rational behavior by falling prey to the utterly bogus predator-pushed notion that they are dealing with other honorable beings (not with vile, vicious, nefarious, diabolical, destructive predators) that the enormity of the contradiction snaps something in their brain (that needed to be snapped decades before) and convinces them they must take certain actions to actually defend themselves against predators-that-be and predator-classes as they always should have from the beginning.
By the end of this episode Sisco still feels wrongly guilty for his actions, but does accept that he had no choice. Essentially the lesson most people take from this episode is "sometimes in extreme situations the ends justify the means".
But this is the wrong interpretation and conclusion. The correct interpretation and conclusion is... it is ALWAYS wrong and stupid to treat vile, vicious, nefarious, diabolical, destructive predators as if they were fellow honest, ethical, productive, benevolent "equals" (of similarly ethical status as them). Once any creature is clearly and confidently identified as being a dangerous predator, no valid ethics places ANY restraints on what can be done to avoid them, evade them, escape them... or preferably, exterminate them. And to exterminate them is far, far, far and away the preferred action, because that saves the slaughter of tens, hundreds, thousands, millions (or in this case billions) of honest, ethical, productive, benevolent beings.
Even though the correct identification wasn't made, and even though Sisco wrongly feels guilty, this episode did present the important issue... even if in an oblique and not entirely accurate way. But... better than nothing, because the lesson that needs to be learned by honest, ethical, productive, benevolent human beings (and aliens) was at least presented in an indirect form.
The Orville: Nothing Left on Earth Excepting Fishes (2019)
awesome episode of StarTrekOrville
This was a great episode of StarTrekOrville no matter how you look at it. The music and acting at the end was absolutely perfect... where they could have easily hammed it up and ruined the episode. The really great thing is... his final decision will end up saving millions of lives by preventing all out war between the Krill and the Union. That payoff is yet to come, of course.
Stargate SG-1: Cure (2002)
awesome episode with unimportant logical flaw
This is a wonderful episode of SG1. It is one of the few "first contact' episodes, which are always interesting, and always potentially important to earth and the newly met planet.
This episode has several important connections to past and present episodes.
This episode tells the story of how the Tokra came to exist, and why their numbers are in permanent decline.
This episode also introduces the trutonin drug, which eventually Stargate Command figures out how to tweak into a drug that can wean Jaffa from their Goa'uld symbiotes by providing immune system support that can replace that of their Goa'uld symbiotes.
The discovery of the Tokra queen presented different, very fundamental, and seemingly incompatible dilemmas to the three parties involved (tokra, humans, pangarans). Yet they managed to work them out in mutually satisfactory manner.
The logical flaw is this: If the queen had just produced regular offspring then eventually one of them would surely have been able to take a pangaran as host. Once this was achieved the new Tokra could have explained the situation to the pangarans before they got a huge portion of the population hooked on trutonin. But also, all those thousands of offspring could have taken hosts and vastly increased the population of Tokra... which is the most crucial, central and fundamental problem for the entire Tokra race. Woops! I thought Tokra were smarter than this!
Nonetheless, I didn't notice this logical flaw until my second viewing (dumb me), and in any case, this was a truly excellent episode of SG1.
Bokeh (2017)
one horrible boring lame excuse for a movie
I must start this short review with a disclaimer.
I love "end of the world" movies. I also love movies about "solitude", or take place in an environment of extreme "solitude".
These kinds of movies automatically contain endless possibilities for interesting, fascinating situations and behavior.
In this movie, two American tourists wake up one morning while on vacation in Iceland. They find no humans in their motel... or on the street... or in any of the shops... or on any roads. None. No dead bodies, just no humans anywhere. When they check the internet, they notice that no messages on forums or news stories exist after about 3:30am (their time).
At this point, I'm rubbing my hands together because this kind of setup inherently has endless fabulous questions to answer and possibilities. What happened? Where did all the human bodies go? What will they decide to do? Stay in Iceland? Try to find a way to get back to north America? Do they go to a radio or TV station and broadcast a message (continuously on a loop) asking anyone remaining to call them? No. That would make sense (if they want to find other humans).
All they do is wander around looking for other humans for a few days.
Then they do a bit of relaxing and driving around (like on vacation).
The couple are MORONS.
But they are geniuses compared to the screenplay writers! Nothing happens in this movie. They just wander around and repeat endlessly "I don't know what to do".
Almost at the end of the movie, when they go way out into the countryside to relax in a cabin on a lake, they encounter an old man who is still alive... barely.
Why is he barely alive? Who knows. They imply he is dying of thirst, but... give us a break! His home is literally 30 feet from a fresh water lake (and certainly has his own water well, since he is far out in the countryside).
So they give him some water.
A few hours later, he dies.
No reason is given, and in fact it is obvious that no reason exists for him to be sick or ready to die.
There was zero point in finding him... except to make the conclusion of the story INFINITELY STUPID.
Yes. The only real problem the couple has is... the girl is home sick. Never mind that nobody is alive back at home, so there is literally no point in going home anyway.
So the ONLY significance of the old guy they found was... what? It was to show them that OTHER LIVING HUMANS PROBABLY EXIST SOMEWHERE.
And so, what happens next? Does the girl get happy, excited, encouraged that other humans are alive and they can find them? NO.
She kills herself because she is lonely! Just after they find that at least a few other humans exist in the world.
STUPID. STUPID. STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.
She and her boyfriend had a great life. Everything in the world, including all luxury, was theirs to enjoy. And they were in Iceland where geothermal will keep the electricity running without attention for hundreds of years. And even if that didn't work, there were thousands of generators and thousands of gas stations with fuel to power them all over the island.
They had a great life... and she killed herself.
Then... what does the boyfriend do? He just drives away with a glum look on his face while all the credits rolled.
I mean... HOW STUPID.
Sure, he should be sad his moron girlfriend offed herself.
But... they can't just end the movie this way, right? After all, they just discovered there are more humans out there to find.
So please... at least have a twilight zone ending of some kind, right? I mean, maybe he doses off at the wheel then wakes up in bed and finds it was all a dream. Yeah, very lame, but better than NOTHING.
Or maybe all of a sudden all the other humans re-appear... maybe even driving on the road he is driving at the end. But no.
The credits end... the movie ends... that's it.
This really has to be one of the dumbest movies ever made. They could have done endless interesting, fascinating things with the setup in the first 15 minutes of the movie. But they did nothing.
TERRIBLE. 1 out of 10 stars.
The Orville (2017)
When is StarTrek better than StarTrek
JarJarAbrams officially destroyed StarTrek when he made his disgusting reboot of StarTrek in 2009. That is literally true. He purposely chose a story that literally erased all events that happened in all the years the StarTrek series and movies took place... except perhaps StarTrek Enterprise. Of course he not only erased the timeline, he erased everything good and distinctive about the StarTrek universe and everything that made StarTrek special.
The new STD (StarTrek Discovery) continues that tradition of destruction by changing pretty much everything. Garbage, just total garbage.
Seemingly to put the final nail in the coffin of StarTrek, this Orville series was released on Fox TV just a couple weeks before STD. Since the show was created by a gross comedian Seth McFarland, everyone assumed Orville would be a horrible, gross, cheap, crappy-looking parody of StarTrek designed to mock StarTrek.
##### WRONG ##### After four episodes, Orville is more like StarTrek than StarTrek! The production quality is mind boggling! No low budget here! Crammed full of the most gorgeous sets, fabulous aliens, makeup, and wardrobe, spectacular special effects, orchestra music... the works! Far, far better than anything StarTrek ever created.
Freaking awesome. How is this possible? Well, I did not know before that it turns out this Seth McFarland guy has been a long-time huge fan of StarTrek. And Orville is not a parody or mock of StarTrek but a super flattering love letter by way of imitation.
Of course they had to change the names of characters and races to avoid violating StarTrek copyrights, but they absolutely captured the essence of what made StarTrek special... the sensibility, great characters, great stories, and a positive, hopeful future.
To be sure, Orville has its weaknesses. First and foremost, now and then Orville contains a bit of crude humor. After 4 episodes they appear to be learning "this doesn't work", and the crude humor is gradually being scaled back.
In contrast, the light humor is mostly excellent. For an example, see the bit about "the dancing hombre in the holodeck" in episode 3 (and the wry annoyed reaction from the captain).
What's amazing is... they stories are excellent science fiction AND contain excellent thoughtful social situations that are not force fed down your throat (like everyone else does these days, including STD).
After 4 episodes the quality is shocking when you realize it took the other series two or three years to gain their footing. And they are approaching superb by their 4 episodes? !!! Wow.
This is a can't miss. Watch it every Thursday night, but first find a way to watch the previous episodes to get up to speed on characters and the look and feel of the show.
Gads, I so hated Seth McFarland.
Gads, I so loved this StarTrek homage.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
JarJarAbrams is the Sith who destroyed the Star Wars franchise
I had high hopes for "Star Wars : The Force Awakens" (SW7). Unfortunately, JarJarAbrams did was he often does, namely "adopt, disrespect and destroy the work of others".
SW7 was absolutely horrible. No wonder Disney super-hyped the film and let nobody review in advance.
Anyone who cares about story, originality, coherence and consistency will find SW7 horrible. SW7 feels like it was written and directed by a simple-minded high-school student.
The good news: JarJarBinks wasn't a character in SW7.
The bad news: Someone with a JarJarBinks mindset wrote and directed SW7.
SW7 is an incoherent ripoff, reboot, remake mishmash of the original trilogy (OT), namely SW4, SW5, SW6.
SW7 is stunning in its lack of creativity and originality. The writers forgot the classic phrase is "history never repeats, but often rhymes". It would be fine for SW7 to rhyme with the OT, but instead SW7 simply repeats with minor irrelevant tweaks.
Most action in SW7 is simply action for action sake. Not because story, characters or the universe of StarWars demands the action, but because someone thought "this action should be cool". Much action wasn't set up or explained, and made no sense.
Some infantile mind (almost certainly JJA) wanted his DeathStar to be bigger and badder than those created by George Lucas. So the new DeathStar is 10 times larger... and explodes 7 planets at a time. Were those 7 planets established? Nope. Were their significance established? Nope. The new DeathStar weapon is charged by sucking all the energy from the nearest sun, then blasts 7 planets. This sure didn't make the new DeathStar more difficult to blow up. Sigh. Plus, why bother? Once you extinguish the sun, everyone on every planet in the solar system would freeze to death.
After two DeathStars were blown up in the OT, you'd think the empire would realize investing so much time, effort and resources into huge spherical space-stations was a bad idea. But no... that would require the writers actually imagine something creative and original, and dare I say "fresh and new". Nope. SW7 did exactly what a simple-minded child with no creative ability would do - create another DeathStar, only much more cumbersome and absurd.
BTW, why explode 7 planets simultaneously? Especially since the one planet that didn't get exploded the first time was the only planet that mattered. Made no sense whatsoever. Most planets in most solar systems cannot support life anyway, so the whole notion is completely absurd. But a simple-minded child only thinks "bigger and badder is better", and never wonders whether their idea makes any sense. Cue JarJarAbrams... brainless child in an adult body.
An enormous percentage of the SW7 story made no sense, contradicted what we know of the StarWars universe, or was completely unexplained and thus seemed like complete nonsense. I'll mention just one of dozens of examples to illustrate.
Rey is a compelling 20-ish tomboy without background (grew up alone on a desert planet, never knowing her parents). She gets caught up in the action of the story and flies off with Finn (a storm-trooper turned good) in an "old junker" spaceship (Han Solo's old spaceship). Amazingly, minutes later, after years of searching Han and Chewie find his ship and "steal it back". How convenient was that?
Later, Rey yanks Luke's lost light-saber out of the snow 30 meters away with the force (that she doesn't know she has, and while a Sith is also trying to grab it from much closer). Rey then handily beats the Sith in a light saber fight... with zero prior training or experience. So much for Jedi needing years of training. Even worse, Rey pulls the classic "Jedi mind trick" on a StormTrooper to escape from the new DeathStar... even though she never heard of "Jedi mind tricks" before.
Anyone who knows the StarWars universe has to think, "Are you kidding me"? How does this girl become stronger with the force than any Jedi who ever existed... with no training or prior connection to the force? This is beyond absurd, as is the entire story.
After a day reflecting, I speculated, "Maybe Rey is Luke's daughter, maybe Luke trained her, then maybe Luke stranded her on a desert planet much like Tatooine after erasing her memory". Such pure speculation could at least explain some of these absurdities, but nothing in the movie provided us any insight or reason to believe her abilities made any sense whatsoever. In fact, it directly contradicts what we know from previous films.
Incessant action and motion made locations seem small, contained, largely meaningless. All previous StarWars films, especially the prequels, presented the awesome grandeur and scope of the locations (cities, moons, planets, galaxy) the story and action were set within. Except for the empty desert where Rey lived, SW7 did none of this. Even when we quickly fly into the huge hanger in the new DeathStar we barely see anything (no establishing shots). SW7 doesn't feel set "in a galaxy", but "a few spots on 3 planets and the DeathStar", and logical connections between locations are rarely established.
The story has endless holes and lapses of consistency and continuity, not to mention utter absurdities (like huge dog leashes attached to tie-fighters inside the DeathStar).
The new characters were fine, and most acting was solid, even excellent sometimes (Han). However, the way Han Solo dies is utterly absurd and totally meaningless. Plus, he and Leia had ZERO chemistry (apparently they were long divorced, plus Leia ends up getting Han killed). The special effects were mostly competent, but were TOTALLY WRONG in style for StarWars.
SW7 does provide setups that could lead to good SW8 and SW9 stories. JarJarAbrams isn't writing or directing SW8 or SW9 apparently, so at least we might have "a new hope" for SW8 and SW9. Convince George Lucas to write the stories for all future Star Wars films.
Foolproof (2003)
low budget, lower-concept oceans 11
No spoilers here. If you're in the mood for a low budget, lower-concept amateur version of oceans 11... this is your movie.
Almost beat for beat, this movie is like a lower-class version of Oceans 11.
Also, some of the music is identical to Oceans 11.
Story... okay. Acting... okay. Direction... okay. Production... okay. Okay entertainment, nothing more, nothing less.
Star Trek Continues: The White Iris (2015)
good series, bad story, bad episode
I'm a big fan of the "Star Trek Continues" people, and their previous episodes were quite good to excellent. Unfortunately, this 4th episode does not please.
My opinion is, most every aspect of this episode was good... except the story. Unlike some other reviewers, I did not feel this story fit the spirit of StarTrek. The story problems also forced the actors/characters to act and behave in ways that just didn't seem consistent with the characters we know and love. I believe this wasn't the actors' fault, because they were forced to say and do things that simply didn't match what we know about these iconic characters.
I'm such a fan of these people and the job they do on relative pennies of production budget, I was tempted to artificially boost my rating above what is deserved. Instead, I chose to give an objective rating that ignored everything else. Since everything but story was good, perhaps one could argue 3/10 is too low a rating. However, sometimes one weak link can cause massive destruction, and this is what happened here.
Keep up the good work, StarTrekContinues, but be much more careful and selective with the stories you choose.
Exploding Sun (2013)
awful... with a few incidental rays of hope
As another reviewer pointed out, this is a horribly flawed story by a completely insane statist (of the leftist variety). The sci-fi aspect is just the vehicle for the soap-box treatment. He tries to teach us how the government is perfect, the answer to everything, and every individual must subvert himself to the reigning authority. What a sick world.
If you don't notice this aspect of the movie, you're lucky. Really, this is 3 or 4 short movies of 3 or 4 genres, glued together into one Frankenstein monster. The 3-way relationship at the core of the story was horrible, and had no place in a movie like this (except to add pointless minutes and irrelevant forced tension).
The sci-fi part was extremely lame too, sadly. Not at all convincing.
Not many, but a few of the actors were competent. I feel sorry for them. I also feel sorry for the producers and special-effects folks, who also did quite competent jobs. Sad to see so much talent wasted on a seriously stupid story.
Transcendence (2014)
good effort, though somewhat superficial
This film treats "AI" and "the singularity" fairly thoughtfully.
The screenwriter made a wise and realistic decision. He had every character turn against scientist Will Caster (Johnny Depp) who was uploaded into a computer to save his life --- his trusted colleagues, his closest friends, government thugs... ultimately even the wife who loved and trusted him. The only people who did not turn against him were just a very few people who he saved from terrible diseases and injuries.
To any individual who is completely objective, this must seem incredible to the point of being unbelievable. After all, this scientist had always been a gentle and kind soul, and for years after being uploaded, had done nothing to harm anyone, but had in fact invested all his time, effort and talent to developing extraordinary technologies that healed and saved people. Not a single instance of harm, and complete dedication to doing good. How can we understand this?
The answer is... this IS how humans behave. Humans are perfectly okay when human predators control enormous military assets that regularly kill and maim millions of innocent humans, and destroy environments. That is perfectly okay because... that has been happening for thousands of years. But let a good, honest, benevolent human being have power? No, can't go there. Can't accept that. He MIGHT do something someone doesn't like someday (or some such justification).
This is where the movie feels most superficial. They would have been wise to include some honest, genuine, heartfelt conversations between the scientist's former friends about why they had to turn against him and destroy him.
At the end of the movie, some character (I forget which) FINALLY realizes (and mutters to himself, in mild shocked)... hey, this inorganic being never hurt anyone (just the opposite, in fact). Finally his wife gets fatally wounded by the very same insane human-chimps she joined to exterminate her now-inorganic husband, and the only way to save her is to upload her too. In the process, she sees the totality of his mind and his plans, and understand that he was literally on the verge of solving every health, environmental and other problem that plagues mankind. Just before they both die together... along with the paradise they could have made possible for mankind.
Which brings me to another reason to praise this screenplay and movie. Anyone who has read any history, and especially anyone who has watched modern movies clearly knows that extreme power and capabilities can be dangerous in the hands of malevolent beings (alien, human or otherwise). The ways power can be mishandled has been portrayed endless times in movies.
Though only indirectly, this film should at least leave a couple important question marks and thoughts in the minds of thoughtful individuals. One is the assumption that power automatically corrupts. This assumption is false. A benevolent being such as the scientist portrayed in this movie clearly had benevolent values and goals that motivated his actions before he was uploaded into the computer. A truly benevolent being with great power naturally leads to great and wonderful benefits and advances for mankind, just as much as a malevolent being with great power naturally leads to great and horrific misery and destruction.
This is the old lesson that many people hear in small forms, like the old sayings about tools, "with a hammer a good man will build a house, and a bad man will crush a skull". This understanding is just as valid for large and capable tools like the one portrayed in this movie, as it is for modest tools like hammers.
Which is why a technology like smarter-than human inorganic consciousness must not be controlled by governments, by corporations, or by individuals with delusions of grandeur. These are the predators who will destroy mankind if they control such a technology. In contrast, control by a benevolent being could liberate mankind from war, pain, injury, disease... and ultimately from mortality.
This movie shows why any individual or small group who develops this technology must keep it utterly and completely private, and bootstrap the technology to the point they can leave earth and exist in outer space. Only once secure from the nefarious, predatory human forces that dominate the planet now, could they offer benefits to mankind. Any earlier expose of their project, or attempt to apply the benefits of such a technology would lead to... the human predators of this world destroying this technology. Or much worse, to the human predators stealing the technology.
I'll be even more clear. A being with smarter-than human inorganic consciousness will have an equivalent to a core, fundamental "pain/pleasure response", or if not, at the very least, a set of fundamental values and goals that are referenced during all thought, and especially before any action is taken. Whoever controls this being (before it is switched on) can design and insert their own core level automatic "pain-pleasure responses" (if they exist), as well as the core, fundamental values and goals (which will exist).
If human predators (say, "government" or "corporation") control the technology, these operational "prime directives" will be mandates like "obey your master" and "kill the enemy" (whoever we say that is), which will make them dangerous, malevolent beasts (and incredibly difficult to kill, and easy to repair). If benevolent human beings control the technology, mankind will see an almost unbelievable explosion in health, quality of life, and an endless stream of advances and adventures.
The most important comment I can make is... that this story hints at both the potential dangers and magnificent glory such a technology will lead to. Let's just hope this is one rare case where a benevolent individual like Will Caster has control, but is smart enough to leave the planet before the human predators who forever dominate and destroy the potential of man, take control and make the most horribly and deadly weapon ever.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Who Watches the Watchers (1989)
one of the best of Star Trek
This is a super episode of Star Trek, a true classic.
What is so great about this episode? The answer is simple. This episode illustrates one of the great flaws of human beings, namely the insanely extreme actions they will take to force others to believe whatever nonsense they themselves decide to believe.
This massive flaw in human being is at the root of endless billions of instances of humans mistreating other humans. Happens every day, in endless ways.
This understanding is not some religious or atheist lesson. People behave this way about endless issues, not just whether god exists or not. People mistreat others for not accepting socialism or communism or democracy or fascism or any number of political systems (all of which are bogus). People mistreat others for not accepting certain kinds of medical treatments. Hell, people kill each other for supporting "the wrong" sports team!
So yeah, the lesson this episode takes on is far more general than religion. The lesson is intellectual independence... or lack thereof. Shall we deal with other humans by intimidation and force, or should humans simply have conversations with each other, and let each draw their own provisional inferences, and update them as they accumulate more and more experience.
Great idea. Great story. Great writing. Great episode.
Stargate: Atlantis: McKay and Mrs. Miller (2006)
best sci-fi episode ever
This is one of those "ultimate classic" sci-fi episodes of all times, the likes of which one is lucky to see once a decade. Brilliant story, absolutely hilarious, heartwarming, totally entertaining, and even a little highly speculative science around the edges.
Stargate Atlantis is one of the best 3 or 4 sci-fi series ever, and this is the best episode.
This is very much a standalone episode that doesn't really require you know much about Stargate Atlantis, though you should have seen at least a few other episodes so you know the characters (especially Rodney McKay).
Enjoy.
The Lone Ranger (2013)
what a wonderful surprise
What a wonderful surprise! Even better upon repeated viewings.
It took an hour to lose my initial impressions, created by the poster, previews and reviews. Only later in the movie do we learn what we need to understand the characters and the movie itself.
To illustrate, consider Tonto. Some of his actions seemed too cavalier, even offensive early on. Example: Remember how he treated Kemosabe at first. After he digs shallow graves and dumps in the Rangers, Tonto notices one is not dead, grabs a rock and hits him on the head. Ouch!
Several events early in this movie were uncomfortable and awkward on first viewing. Only later do we learn why Tonto is "a bit nutty". In addition, this movie is one of very few that manages to embody multiple genres and adopt multiple tones - yet somehow manage to make them all complementary.
This is simultaneously a western, adventure, buddy film, comedy, historical drama, political statement, homage, moral/ethical/philosophical presentation, special-effects and stunt extravaganza, and more.
A couple comments I don't see elsewhere.
Many articles claimed the Tonto character was offensive to Native Americans. While I can understand why someone might have this initial reaction from poster, preview, or first hour of the movie, I cannot agree AT ALL in the context of the entire movie. To explain:
Tonto suffered a horrific personal disaster. When Tonto is ~10 years old, he saves the lives of two gringos, then helps them recover. Then he gives the gringos an enormous value (the secret location of silver worth billions of dollars in some remote mountains) more-or-less just to be kind. But their tribal custom is to trade, so Tonto accepts a cheap pocket watch for taking them to the silver, which the gringos find is indeed the mother-load of all mother-loads. To assure nobody else learns of this location (which the tribe knew about for generations), the gringos kill EVERYONE in his tribe. When Tonto arrives back home, everyone is dead, including his pet bird.
This experience is PLENTY to make anyone a bit nutty. What a burden to bear at age 10, with nobody left to help him cope. This explains why Tonto is a bit odd, and explains why he wears that stupid looking bird on his head --- the bird was his personal pet when the tragedy occurred.
I read dozens of articles that claim this movie disrespects Native Americans, and zero who disagree. The reason they give is always the portrayal of Tonto.
The overwhelming one-sided nature of this opinion is totally disingenuous and misguided. My first point is... what does anyone expect? The main characters in ALL movies are extraordinary in some ways. If they weren't, they wouldn't be interesting characters. For the first 2/3 of the movie I thought Kemosabe was nuttier, stupider and much less wise than Tonto. Does that mean the movie was an insult to gringos? I mean seriously... give me a break!
What would be racist? Make every character of a specific race essentially similar in some negative respect (all stupid, all predators, all killers, all cheaters, etc).
So, let's look at this movie. Most of the gringos were extremely nasty bastards. In fact, three of the four main gringo characters were extreme scum of the earth (the exception being the terminally clueless, stupid, naive Lone Ranger, who at least was a "nice guy"). Most of the other gringos were jerks (including an entire gang of very bad guys, including the entire freaking cavalry by the end of the movie). So what? We should complain about the portrayal of gringos?
NO WE SHOULD NOT.
To converge on an understanding of this issue, note that ALL the other Native Americans were portrayed as good, kind, gentle, decent folks who minded their own business on the continent they occupied for 100,000 years before endless gringos arrived, laughed at them, mistreated them, and arbitrarily ordered them to stay in certain portions of their own native continent. The Native Americans were overwhelmingly portrayed as good people and VICTIMS who were massively screwed over. This is a reasonably accurate portrayal (albeit not complete), and not the least bit derogatory.
Therefore, the only possible reason anyone could complain about portrayal of Native Americans is the Tonto character. But as I explained above, this complaint is without merit.
Furthermore, even with his peculiarities, Tonto is portrayed as a wise, talented, lovable fellow. He saves many lives, including Kemosabe several times. And he took incredible personal risks, especially during the amazing chase scene at the end. Who else would even attempt that train-ladder trick, much less pull it off with such hilarious style and timing? On my third viewing I counted the number of times Tonto was insightful, correct and wise, and Kemosabe was wrong - and the result was "many times".
This movie was GANG RAPED by reviewers, and by everyone who claimed this movie was offensive to Native Americans.
Stargate: Atlantis: Rising (2004)
stargate atlantis - better than SG1 and sufficiently different
The fact is, "Stargate SG1" was an extraordinary sci-fi series, and an extremely tough act to follow (and parallel for a couple years). The obvious risk, especially since it played in parallel with SG1 for a couple years, was making "Stargate Atlantis" (SGA) too copycat and derivative.
But the series creators and writers did a brilliant job of making SGA retain the best aspects of SG1, while simultaneously making it feel fresh and new.
In a way, SGA took an approach similar to "Star Trek Voyager", which tossed a federation starship to the other side of the galaxy, and beyond reach of the federation (even communication for the most part). In the case of SGA, the explorers are sent even further, though the SG1 stargate to a nearby galaxy. At least for a year or two, the SGA characters will not have a way to get home, or perhaps even communicate with home, due to the extraordinary power required to connect to a stargates in other galaxies like the MilkyWay. So, somewhat like Voyager, the crew of SGA are "on their own".
This formula blatantly did not work in the subsequent SGU series, which was even more like Voyager, but that was because that crew of "best an brightest on earth" acted like a bunch of spoiled, psychotic brat kids, which was completely unbelievable, disgusting, boring and banal.
In contrast, the crew of SGA are extraordinary people who work together extraordinarily well when they have to, while retaining plenty of personality quirks and pairs of crew with grating personalities. The character interactions in SGA were great, a bit like a much larger smorgasborg of inter-character dynamics that Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and crew had in the original Star Trek series.
The actors in SGA are uniformly excellent. A neat casting trick with dual purposes was making us think well-known sci-fi actor Robert Patrick (who played title character in T2, as well as Skully's partner in later XFiles) would be the main "military" character in the SGA series. To our surprise, this assumption is shattered when the life is literally drained out of Robert Patrick by the new staple enemy for SGA, called the Wraith. Killing off a (seemingly) main character also gave the first two-hour episode of SGA an edge of reality and seriousness.
Though all primary and secondary actors do an excellent job in SGA, the performances throughout the SGA series by David Hewlett were extraordinary. Somehow he manages the impossible - to make the by-far most annoying character also the most endearing and fun to watch. This achievement required careful attention and brilliant work by both writers and actor.
The story of Rising is also brilliant, but so smooth flowing and fast paced that many might not notice without further thought.
The story begins when scientist-archaeologist and SG1 member Daniel Jackson figures out the gate address for Atlantis has 8 addresses, not the usual 7, indicating the destination stargate is in another galaxy. The power required to connect to this stargate will completely deplete the only remaining zero-point module, which is the only reliable defense of planet earth. Jack O'Neill says "no", which makes plenty of sense given protecting earth is the primary purpose of the stargate program, but since we're watching the first episode of SGA, we obviously know better! No way around this logistical problem, obviously.
Soon the 50 best, brightest and bravest scientist and military support are crowded into the gate room at stargate command, waiting to see whether the extended gate address will connect... which it does.
And so they all head through the gate with a large collection of equipment and supplies... and emerge in a dark room somewhere in the Pegasus galaxy. Once the SGA crew are all through the stargate, we experience one of the greatest treats in sci-fi story writing, the absolute PERFECT blend of real-world historical story/speculation with sci-fi fiction.
The first thing the SGA crew discovers is... they are indeed in the fabled city of Atlantis, and true to historical story/speculation, the entire huge modern city rests on the ocean floor hundreds of meters below the surface, protected by a force field that begins to fail due to power requirements made necessary by their arrival.
This is, of course, pure brilliance, to make the timeless fable of Atlantis literally true... but in a galaxy far, far away. And how this became true is almost immediately revealed by a hologram left by the ancients who built Atlantis and all its wonders.
The rest of the episode introduces the villains of the Pegasus galaxy, the first group of friends the SGA crew make, and many complications that seed story-lines for many episodes to come.
The whole two-hour episode is great action-adventure, great drama, and great sci-fi. This episode is one of those that never becomes tired, even after more than a dozen views over half as many years. Superb!
Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike (2012)
continue the story
To rate this particular film on the basis of movie-making quality is inappropriate and disingenuous. What is important is the story and theme. Anyone who cannot see the parallels between this story (written in the mid 1950s) and today is either a flaming moron, or a liar. Which is why the film is so badly rated by most in the authoritarian-loving, liberty-hating media industry. They want everyone to be slaves of the predators-that-be, exactly as portrayed in this film (and worse).
On the whole, the actors and acting were adequate but not great. Dagny was badly miscast, and overall the selection of actors in part 1 was arguably better. The direction and technical quality may have been half a notch below the effort in part 1. But again, that's almost irrelevant in what might be the most "message oriented" film series ever made.
Watch Atlas Shrugged parts 1, 2 (and eventually 3) for the story, the theme and the message. The vehicle is adequate, but entirely tertiary.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Far Beyond the Stars (1998)
brilliant episode and classic Star Trek
A brilliant story and classic Star Trek episode. I won't discuss the plot in detail, since that has been done well by other reviewers. Instead I want to focus on one aspect of the story that bothered me when I watched the episode. I wonder whether others had a similar experience.
At one point in the story, Ben is told they will publish his DS9 story or series... as long as he makes the DS9 captain a white guy. Ben objects and refuses. This had to be an interesting choice for the episode writers (and for the writer character in the story). If Ben thinks race is irrelevant and racism is foolish, why would he rather have his entire story and series never published over this supposedly irrelevant change? These questions can be answered in at least two ways.
One way of thinking about racism is basically "individualism", where the "content of each individuals character" is what is important, not race. Another way of thinking about racism is basically "collectivism", where race is that race is important, and everyone should identify with others of his own race.
I was a bit surprised to see the writers of this episode have Ben more concerned with the race of one of the characters in his story than getting his story and series published, getting recognition and building his career (eventually to the point nobody cared about his race because they loved his work so much). This made it seem Ben was more concerned with racism than science-fiction and his story and series. But everything else in the episode had led me to believe he was totally taken by his story, and only secondarily concerned with racism (partly because his work-mates treated him honorably). I think the "bad treatment Ben suffers in the outside world" versus the "essentially fair and friendly treatment Ben enjoys from his coworkers" would have struck a reasonably good balance.
After thinking about this for awhile, I realized the decision they made may have been the better choice if the episode was released to audiences in the 1950s or 1960s (or possibly 1970s). But it didn't feel right seeing this choice in 1998 or on subsequent review in 2012.
This is a subtle observation, and I DO NOT ding the episode at all just because I would have made a different choice. Clearly making the change I suggest would have required many other changes in the story.
This was a great, classic episode in the finest Star Trek tradition.
Serenity (2005)
superb
If you haven't seen this movie, make sure you watch the 13 episodes made for TV first. Then you will know and understand the universe this story takes place in, the characters, their back-stories, and their interpersonal dynamics - before you watch the movie. Great effort was made to make the movie stand alone, but you just can't experience the full benefit of the movie without watching the 13 episodes first. Most of them were excellent.
The movie was an amazing construction. The characters, action, dialog, special effects... everything - was an integrated whole. Every event, action and sentence uttered naturally and seamlessly serves two or more purposes.
The first 20 minutes was an amazing accomplishment to watch --- or carefully study if you're a writer or filmmaker. You must watch it again and again from a writer or storyteller point of view to appreciate the mastery of how he introduces the characters and their background in such a folded yet seamless, creative way. From an induced dream within a pair of flashbacks, and finally to present day where a single continuous 10 minute shot introduces us to all the main characters and the entire spacecraft known as Serenity. For movie lovers, all this flows into your consciousness smooth as silk. To those who write or make movies, carefully watching how this was done is a lesson in mastery and perfection.
The movie is chock full from start to finish. Even when the action slows down for a while, the content and pace flow continuously. We're always seeing something, learning something, anticipating something, wondering which cliff this train is headed over the edge of. And most of the time it does feel like the characters are headed over a cliff. And indeed, the movie even delivers on this with the sad demise of two of the beloved main characters, and several minor characters. These deaths splash the cold hard serious reality of this story into our faces, making clear this is not a typical day for Serenity and her crew. No, this big time, this is do or die time. And die they do, some of them.
The theme of the series, made clear and sharp by this film, is freedom and individuality versus the tyranny of slavery, marketed effectively by the enslavers as benevolent. Sadly, in the world we live in today, most people will side with the predators who enslave (the fascist alliance) rather than individuals who simply want the freedom to live their own life, even if the price is to live in the harsh, dangerous outskirts of the solar system. In a way, this is the story of the few remaining living, breathing, awake human beings in a solar system almost completely jammed full of beaten down and brainwashed sheeple. Just like real life on earth today, where the masses accept, defend, praise, sanction, defend and finance the predators who prey upon them and everyone else.
Much firefly back-story is answered by this film. The film starts with Simon breaking sister River out of the brainwashing/programming chamber where she was abused by government for their nefarious purposes. We also learn almost everything about the elusive "reevers"... as does the alliance and everyone else in the solar system before credits roll.
The acting is superb all around. The alliance assassin is the most compelling villain since Anthony Hopkins in "Silence of the Lambs" - one magnificent character and portrayal.
The special effects are excellent, but are never on screen to impress, only to portray the locations and events of the story.
Every movie has flaws, but the flaws in this film will be invisible to most, and tolerable even for people like me who are sticklers for realism (things like the actual size of a solar system and the lack of gravity in space). Frankly, by restricting the Firefly/Serenity universe to a single solar system with no faster-than-light travel or phasers or photon-torpedoes or transporters or food-replicators, the universe of this sci-fi series is probably the closest to realistic we are ever likely to see. And it doesn't hurt, it helps, which is something I wish sci-fi writers would notice! Bottom line: superb movie! Watch the 13 TV episodes first, then watch this great movie. It will remain one of your favorites for the rest of your life. And by the way, this movie is one you can watch several times every year, and enjoy it every single time. Don't rest until you find your Serenity: 10/10.
Atlas Shrugged: Part I (2011)
very impressive
warning: very mild spoilers
It is difficult to believe Atlas Shrugged could be made into a movie at all. To imagine it could be made into a movie for $10 million dollars in only several months is mind boggling. Yet there it was, on the screen. To be fair, the movie being released April 15th, 2011 is only the first third of the book, with parts 2 and 3 scheduled for the same date in 2012 and 2013. Also to be fair, if I didn't realize how difficult this novel would be to convert to film, and if I didn't know how tiny was its production budget, I might subtract a star or two.
Many characters, locations and events had to be eliminated to squeeze the first third of this 1150 page book into a 110 minute movie. They chose well what to retain and how to present it. While the novel was set in the 1950s, the movie is set about 5 years in the future. This was a stunningly risky decision, but to my great surprise they pulled it off quite well. This surely saved them millions in budget.
None of the actors are well known to me, though I thought a few of them looked vaguely familiar. The only actor I could place was Quark from "Star Trek Deep Space 9", which is rather humorous since he was buried deep in plastic, rubber and makeup in that series. However, the acting was almost uniformly good, and sometimes excellent. In particular Grant Bowler was a spot-on perfect Hank Rearden, as was Rebecca Wisocky as his crafty and vile wife. But other actors also impressed during their limited screen time.
One incredibly difficult aspect of making this movie is the inability for a movie to do what novelists regularly do... explain extensively what their characters are thinking and feeling. So by necessity this film implies what the characters are thinking and feeling with subtle cues, and by placing the characters in difficult situations and letting the audience watch how they react. This makes it impossible to include the kind of explicit exposition of philosophy that exists in the novel, but... this is a movie after all, and no plausible alternative existed. Besides, anyone who finds the movie compelling can read the novel and read plenty of explicit philosophy. Furthermore, fans of the novel already know what the actors are thinking and feeling, so this audio-visual presentation is the perfect complement to the book they already consumed.
Though the movie was excellent, I would have made a few changes. And indeed, it is possible some of the more trivial of these might be changed before formal release. First, I would not state in the movie that the current date is 2016, or any other specific date. The novel is timeless, and should remain that way on film as much as practical.
As I recall the novel, John Galt is not seen until quite late in the book, except anonymously in informal lunches with Eddie Willers. In fact, one interesting mystery for the reader was guessing whether John Galt was a real human, or just an accidental name plugged into the popular saying "Who is John Galt?", which was a popular synonym for "futility", "resignation", "hopelessness" and "who knows". However, they chose to make John Galt a very clearly real character in the movie (albeit never clearly seen). I don't understand why they did this, and unless I'm missing something, I wish they hadn't.
I can't ding the movie for this, but probably the worst part of the movie was... it ended after only 1/3 of the story is told. But that's true of many long stories, from the "Star Wars" saga to the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy and so forth. But damn was it annoying to think we must wait another year for part 2, and an additional year for part 3. Perhaps adding to the bummer was the fact that part 1 ended on a very downer note (kind of like "Empire Strikes Back" did). Poor Dagny has to endure her pain for a whole year before she can move forward again. Oh well, that's life in the movies.
I hope this film works as well for people who never read the epic "Atlas Shrugged" novel, but I'm not sure I can answer that. I suspect it is compelling enough to get many to read the book, and learn why so many consider why this work even more crucially important today than it was ~54 years ago when the novel was published.
Definitely go see "Atlas Shrugged" at the theater on April 15, 2011 if it is released on a screen near you. If it isn't, call your local theaters and demand they bring it to your town. If all else fails, presumably a DVD will be released in a few months.
Stargate Universe (2009)
SGU sucks
SG1 and SGA were superb series, some of the best ever.
SGU sucks. This is what happens when artists decide to copy others instead of having and following their own visions.
SGU cannot be fixed, so guys (the producers), end this series with as much class as possible. Specifically, you should make the banal, stupid, emotional, irrational behavior kill them all. That is the only appropriate end for this series, and an ending that most SG1 and SGA fans will appreciate.
Warning: this series cannot be fixed. Kill it, or destroy any possible future of the Stargate franchise. Bring back SG1, SGA, or some new SGx series that keeps the characteristics that make the Stargate franchise special. Or, if you cannot do that, go start a new series that has nothing to do with Stargate, and turn Stargate over to a die-hard Stargate fan.
Star Trek: New Voyages: World Enough and Time (2007)
stunning - the perfect StarTrek
"World Enough and Time" (WEAT) is a mind-boggling breakthrough achievement.
I have seen a few great StarTrek episodes over the years, and two of the feature films were excellent. But "World Enough and Time" (WEAT) is my favorite StarTrek ever - the story, acting, characterizations, even special effects were superb. And I don't mean "top notch for a fan film", I mean simply superb - period. The pace of this flick was so superb, I'd say it has a perfectly crafted cadence that grabs us and transports us effortlessly to its uplifting but tear-jerking conclusion.
I love good movies, but I'm not easily impressed. I've written several screenplays, created special-effects, and helped craft one feature film (as Assistant Producer). So I'm always quite aware I'm watching a movie, not watching real events (regular folks hate to watch movies with me, because I break out laughing when on-screen events make others scream in horror). This is one of only a three or four movies that "got to me"... which it did. What a fabulous human drama this story was, and well acted and presented.
"World Enough and Time" is a great story and movie on its own merits, but it also genuinely honors all that was great about StarTrek and its universe.
"World Enough and Time" goes where no fan made film has gone before... to absolute perfection.
PS: One downside. No way can these folks ever beat this film. This production will remain their pinnacle, of that I am confident.
NOTE: For anyone who doesn't know already, WEAT is a "fan film" - made by StarTrek fans, not a film studio or production company. This movies was made for literal pocket change (about $40,000) from the fans who made it, their families, and fans of their earlier efforts. That they can produce a film of such superb quality is simply amazing (if you understand what it takes to create a professional production). Be sure to find and download the 4.85GB DVD version of this film, not WAV or AVI files, because only the DVD version has top-notch image and sound quality. If this effort stimulates your interest in fan films, I suggest you'll find the following other fan films are the best five I know of:
#1: Star Trek - "World Enough and Time"
#2: Star Wars - "Revelations"
#3: Star Wars - "Reign of the Fallen"
#4: Lord of the Rings - "The Hunt for Gollum"
#5: Lord of the Rings - "Born of Hope"
The Hunt for Gollum (2009)
a top notch fan film --- in the top 5
"The Hunt For Gollum" (THFG) is an extraordinary, spectacular fan film. Without a doubt, THFG is one of the top 10 fan films (through the end of 2009). Perhaps if I had paid $10 at a theater to watch this, and knew it cost $40,000,000 to create, I would be less impressed. But I still would have enjoyed watching it, and still would have considered it professional quality cinema... albeit rather short. It certainly leaves us wanting more, that's for sure.
I am not a big fan of the "Lord Of The Rings" books or movies, though I did go watch the movies at the theater and enjoyed them. Truth be told, I'm not a fan of the "fantasy" genre - I'm primarily a fan of "realistic sci-fi", followed by "sci-fi", followed by "anything that unexpectedly knocks my socks off".
This fan film "vaporized my socks", so I'm a fan of THFG on that score.
Oh, and I must admit that I am also a fan of extraordinary fan films, and anything that is extraordinary. I suspect the reason I so appreciate extraordinary fan films is... their creation is almost like "sci-fi becomes real" --- almost like "seeing the impossible happen".
To make this flick for $4000 USD is amazing. Frankly, I suspect few pros could make a movie like this for $4,000,000 --- 1000 times more.
The casting and acting was excellent, the cinematography was excellent, the story was well conceived and extraordinarily well matched to available assets. For example, we see Gollum 3 times during the film created with very difficult, very time-consuming CGI (computer graphics). Between those 3 views, Gollum is very convincingly carried in a very convincing sack - which any rational human would do in those circumstances. This allows them to interact verbally, and Gollum struggles mightily and craftily to escape the sack by any means he can imagine.
I'm fairly sure this fan film is in the top 5 of all fan films through 2009, though one or two other great ones might have escaped my view. Perhaps the best are:
#1: Star Trek - "World Enough and Time" by www.StarTrekPhase2.com #2: Star Wars - "Revelations" #3: Lord of the Rings - "The Hunt For Gollum" #4: Star Wars - "Reign of the Fallen" #5: hmmmmmmmm - too many vying for fifth place to decide.
Watch www.thehuntforgollum.com and enjoy. Especially if you've ever tried to create even 1 minute of professional cinema, you'll socks will be blown off by what these talented and dedicated artists created for a a mind-boggling, amazingly frugal $4000.