Entry for February 04, 2008: Movies, Super Bowl

I’d like to congratulate the New York Giants and the team’s supporters on their victory in Super Bowl XLII and offer my condolences to fellow fans of the New England Patriots. While the Pats didn’t get the perfect undefeated football season they had hoped for, the big game was a close challenge rather than a blowout for either side.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning successfully drove down the field, and his defensive teammates did an excellent job of keeping the Patriots from advancing and kept the overall score low. Unlike some more hard-core sports fans, I have no interest in gloating and am glad that the game was close and that the Northeast was well represented.

Backing up a bit, on Saturday, 2 February 2008, Janice and I had brunch at Fresco and ran some errands in Needham Heights, Massachusetts, which The Boston Globe reports is becoming a foodie town. It remains to be seen if the local population can support the various restaurants that I’ve blogged about. We also caught up on Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Batman, and decent romantic fantasy comedy Ella Enchanted.

We then met co-worker Ken G., who was in the neighborhood and brought over some DVDs. We watched noir comedy Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, which was based on a graphic novel. We were pleasantly surprised to like the movie, which starred Robert Downey Jr. (soon to be Iron Man‘s Tony Stark) and Val Kilmer (once Batman). I’d rate it about an 8 out of 10.

We grabbed dinner at the Ground Round before Ken left, and Janice and I watched a dog show. The next morning, after the usual City of Heroes game online, I met Thomas K.Y. and Beruk A. for a seafood lunch at Jasper White’s Summer Shack in Cambridge, Mass. We then went back to Thomas‘ place in Lexington, Mass., to watch a DVD of Day Watch.

The Russian modern horror/fantasy movie wasn’t as visionary as its predecessor, Night Watch, but I still thought the story of one man’s search for redemption and interpersonal connection amid a supernatural struggle among the forces of light and darkness was interesting. I’d give the subtitled film about a 7 out of 10.

We also checked out the dieselpunk/horror video game Bioshock and a few movie previews. As with the Super Bowl broadcast, Iron Man and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian look most promising. The other commercials during the game were lackluster in comparison with previous years, but at least Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers gave a solid classic rock performance at halftime.

Speaking of various contests, next time, I’ll blog about the U.S. presidential primaries!

Entry for January 22, 2008: Cloverfield

Friends, I hope you’ve had a good week. Among other things I learned in the “Writing for Multiple Platforms” class at work last week was the fact that I need to shorten my blog posts and update this more frequently. So, here goes.

On Friday, 18 January 2008, Janice and I had a good dinner at Stone Hearth Pizza, following my New Year’s resolution to eat healthier, locally sourced food. We also ate at Finagle a Bagel later in the weekend, but we mostly stayed in and continued catching up on movies.

Speaking of food and film, I enjoyed French postapocalyptic farce (not a term you hear every day) Delicatessen, and Janice watched computer-animated comedy Meet the Robinsons during one of my D&D3.5 “Vanished Lands“ sessions. On Sunday, I watched the New England Patriots and New York (actually, New Jersey) Giants win their respective football championships.

Yesterday, I met Thomas K.Y. to screen Cloverfield at the AMC Burlington cineplex northwest of Boston. Janice had to work. While I’ve been a fan of kaiju, or giant monsters, since watching the “4:30 movie” on Channel 11 as a child in metropolitan New York. Thus, the family-friendly imports of the 1960s and 1970s, in which men in rubber suits stomped through miniature Japanese cities, and the classic stop-motion fantasies of Ray Harryhausen defined my tastes.

Kaiju in Manhattan — Cloverfield monster

Cloverfield is closer in spirit to the original Gojira as a parable and horror film. Just as the traumas of postwar Japan spawned Godzilla and Gamera, and Cold War anxiety led to a wave of alien-invasion movies, so Cloverfield and recent zombie flicks reflect our feelings after the tragic terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, whose images it directly invokes. As a result, I had more of an emotional response than I did to 1990s disaster pics, such as Independence Day or the weak Americanized Godzilla.

While the handicam-style cinematography is a bit tiring, the street-level view of an unidentified monster and the bloody destruction it wreaks on New York is compelling. Of course, I wish that other cities besides my hometown would be trashed in fiction, but Manhattan’s skyline is an icon of modernity. As usual, military’s weapons do little good as crowds of civilians try to flee. The creature is depicted as a force of nature whose origin and motives remain mysterious.

Like many movies of its kind, Cloverfield takes its time introducing its doomed human characters. I felt that some of the protagonists’ decisions endangered them irrationally, even for a horror flick. Cloverfield has gotten mixed reviews but done well at the box office. Overall, I’d give it about a 7 out of 10. After the movie, Thomas and I had a burger dinner at Fuddrucker’s.

Next time: Genre and gaming updates!

Entry for July 10, 2007: SFTV and music

Friends, I hope that you had a good weekend. On Friday, 6 July 2007, I chatted with role-player Byron V.O. in St. Louis. Unfortunately, fellow “Holy Steel” teleconferencer Dexter V.H. was unable to join us in time, but at least I recorded the solid third-season premiere of the BBC’s revived Doctor Who.

The long-running, time-travel television show has had regular rounds of turnover, not unlike my gaming groups. While Christopher Eccleston gave the good Gallifreyan a strong relaunch, I’ve grown to like David Tennant, who in these most recent episodes reminded me of the swashbuckling third doctor, Jon Pertwee.

While Freema Agyeman has been somewhat controversial as new companion “Martha Jones,” I thought she has been an intelligent addition in the episodes I’ve seen thus far. Granted, comedienne Catherine Tate was funny as the “Runaway Bride,” and we’ll see her again in Series 4.

I’m still catching up on recorded episodes of the BBC’s latest Robin Hood. I’d also like to mark the passing of science fiction author Fred Saberhagen, whose “Berserker” novels were favorites of my brother Peter and me.

On Saturday, July 7, Janice and I drove to various used bookstores in Sharon and Waltham, Massachusetts in an unsuccessful initial attempt to sell four boxes of used books that we got from Robert A.S., who recently moved to North Carolina.

We also caught an early matinee of computer-animated culinary comedy Ratatouille, which we liked. I would compare the Disney/Pixar movie favorably to Dreamworks SKG/Aardman’s Flushed Away, which also had clever rodents trying to find how to coexist in a society that mirrors that of humanity. I’d give “Ratatouille” an 8 or 8.5 out of 10.

Later, we watched some of the Live Earth concerts on Bravo and NBC. Thanks again to Steve M.R., who notified me of the events on his blog. A good mix of musical acts performed around the world for the worthy cause of raising ecological awareness and starting to change consumer behavior.

Speaking of music, in recent weeks, I also watched the tribute to the late Diana, princess of Wales, and to Paul Simon. Princes William and Harry organized a nice tribute to their mother, but the audio quality of the broadcast from Wembley Stadium wasn’t very good.

I thought that the best songs in the latter special were those with Simon’s old collaborator Art Garfunkel, a rockin’ medley with Stevie Wonder, and songs with South Africa’s “Ladysmith Black Mambazo.”

During the various Fourth of July concerts, I was glad to catch a few songs of Bebe Neuwirth, best known as Frasier Crane’s shrewish wife Lilith in Cheers and Frasier. Neuwirth was also the star of Broadway’s Chicago revival, which Janice and I later saw in Boston before the recent movie with Catherine Zeta Jones, so it made sense for her to sing numbers from various Bob Fosse musicals.

In a related genre, current pop favorite Amy Winehouse is a young British singer whose latest album harkens back strongly to 1960s soul. The song “Rehab” is as catchy and retro as Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” was last summer, with dark undertones but a sense of humor.

Of other current Top 40 music and video hits, I like Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (O.K., perhaps seeing her gyrate painted a la Goldfinger has something to do with that, but so does the beat), the “Black-Eyed Peas'” Fergie stretching a bit in “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and Carrie Underwood’s righteous fury in “Before He Cheats.”

As various games resume this week, I’m already making plans to screen Harry Potter [5] and the Order of the Phoenix with some of the local group this coming Saturday and Live Free or Die Hard [4] with visitor Ron J.K. on Sunday. I’ll try to post a review of those and more role-playing games in the coming week.

While my primary blog is part of my Yahoo 360 site, I have posted a few things to my MySpace page, including the results of a “What Superhero Are You?” quiz and a link to a preview of the animated adaptation of D.C. Comics’ Death of Superman.

Entry for May 14, 2007: Spider-Man 3 review

Friends, since several of you have asked for my review of Spider-Man 3, here it is. Thanks again to Ken G., who organized the gathering of about a dozen of his friends, as well as Thomas K.Y. and fellow co-worker Mark H., on Sunday, 6 May 2007! We met for an early matinee at the IMAX theater next to Jordan’s Furniture in Framingham, Massachusetts, and found moviegoers already in line. Warning: There are a few plot “spoilers” below.

The superhero sequel had some of the same strong elements as its predecessors: spectacular fight scenes and computer-generated imagery (New York City has never looked so good) and good humor and acting (co-creator Stan Lee and genre veteran Bruce Campbell make more cameos). I also liked the themes of compassion and forgiveness.

On the other hand, as with the “Batman” franchise in the 1990s, “Spidey 3” suffers from sequel bloat: too many villains (Sandman, the “new” Goblin, and Venom), too long a runtime of almost three hours, and an annoying romantic subplot. The alien symbiote Venom was added over director Sam Raimi’s initial objections when the studio wanted a more recently popular villain. When Peter Parker briefly gives in to his darker side, the effect is more silly than scary.

I’ve always had a problem with the casting of these otherwise excellent Marvel Comics adaptations. While J.K. Simmons is perfect as bulldog Daily Bugle editor in chief J. Jonah Jameson, I’ve always found Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst too dour as hero Peter Parker and struggling actress Mary Jane Watson, respectively. Thomas Haden Church was convincing as the shape-shifting Sandman, as was Bryce Dallas Howard as romantic complication Gwen Stacy.

However, Topher Grace, who was so good in sparring with Laura Prepon on That ’70s Show, was more snarky than menacing as Eddie Brock/Venom. As for James Franco as the tortured Harry Osborn/new Goblin, I liked him and think he would have done well as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels (along with Keira Knightly as Queen Amidala instead of Natalie Portman).

Overall, I’d give Spider-Man 3 about a 7 or 8 out of 10 — close to the first film, but not as good as Spider-Man 2, which had the best villain in Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus. Even a weaker Spidey, however, is better than many comic book adaptations, in my opinion (see also more discussion with co-workers Ken G. and Brian F.).

Why do genre movie series tend to peak at the second installment? Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, The Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, Superman II, X-Men 2, and now, Spider-Man 2 are all examples. Sure, there are some that barely get off the ground with a strong first installment but disappointing sequels (Highlander and The Matrix come to mind), and a few others don’t mature until later, such as the “Indiana Jones” or “Harry Potter” series.

My theory for the strength of certain sequels is that after re-establishing iconic characters, the second installments in many franchises have both the faithfulness to the source material and the freedom to expand upon their fictional universes. By contrast, the third and subsequent flicks tend to suffer from directorial excess (again, see the “Batman” franchise) or sacrifice fidelity to the tone of the source material for the sake of a larger audience. Having just rewatched Superman Returns this past week, I can only hope that Bryan Singer’s overly reverential reintroduction is followed by a strong sequel.

In the coming week, I hope to catch up on this blog with planned postings about travel, other entertainment, gaming, and work. In the meantime, as Stan “the man” Lee would say, Excelsior! -Gene

Entry for March 12, 2007 — 300, Captain America, and weekend

Friends, I hope you had a good weekend. On Saturday, 10 March 2007, Janice and I attended the Rhode Island Pet Show in Providence. We observed canine competitions in agility and breed, saw rare breeds of dogs and cats, and even saw a fashion show featuring dressed-up humans and animals.

After that, we went to the Providence Place Mall, which is one of the bigger shopping malls in New England. On Sunday, we took advantage of the warmer weather by going to our usual book shops in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I’m pleased to report that Pandemonium Books & Games in Central Square has avoided bankruptcy for now.

Janice and I also screened 300, based on Frank Miller’s loose recounting of the Battle of Thermopylae. I own several of Miller’s graphic novels, including cyberpunk samurai drama Ronin, his redefinition of D.C. Comics icons in The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, his work on Marvel Comics’ Daredevil, and gory noir Sin City, also recently (and faithfully) adapted into a movie.

300 is about how King Leonidas of Sparta and some of his troops defied Greek law and momentarily held a much larger Persian invading force at bay in a mountain pass in 480 B.C.E. The visual storytelling was excellent, including computer-enhanced imagery, muscular acting, and fluid fight choreography. Gerard Butler, Lena Headly, Dominic West, and David Wenham, among others, give solid performances, overshadowing the more stilted Troy (itself a very loose retelling of The Iliad).

However, as some critics have noted, 300 is more Miller’s epic version of the story than a historically accurate depiction of events. As one noted, it’s the sort of movie the ancient Spartans themselves might have wanted to make rather than the truth.

For example, talk of Western “freedom” and “reason” versus the superstition and decadence of the East is mere propaganda. Sparta’s warriors were among the best in ancient Greece because the city-state’s many slaves enabled its landowning men to spend most of their lives in a standing army (aided by the navy of Athens when they weren’t fighting it). Homosexuality was common (not that there’s anything wrong with that), soldiers wore armor by then and didn’t fight half-naked, and feuds and corruption were as common as anywhere else.

The Persian empire was cosmopolitan, had many Greek allies, and while fearsome, their elite warriors and nobles were not the inhuman monsters (riding rhinoceri and elephants, no less) shown in the film. The same goes for the traitor Ephialtes, who was a shepherd, not a hunchback. Miller commonly uses such grotesque and exaggerated images. The doomed Greek forces were probably outnumbered 10 to 1 rather than 1,000 to 1, but that said, I enjoyed the bloody spectacle, which I would give a 7 or 8 out of 10.

Miller tends to go over the top with violence and sexuality, and I’m not a big fan of his flirtations with fascism in Dark Knight 2, All-Star Batman, or 300. Ever since the Greeks, Europeans have viewed themselves as purer, freer, and smarter than the rest of the world, and as U.S. troops are mired in modern Iraq and Afghanistan, the descendants of the Persians in Iran and those of Alexander the Great in the West have much needless bloodshed to answer for. All people deserve freedom and peace.

Speaking of comic books and nationalism, the assassination of Steve Rogers/Captain America in Marvel Comics last week made real-world news before issues had even reached retailers! The issue itself is a decent recap by crime writer Ed Brubaker of the star-spangled superhero’s career over the past 65+ years.

Like D.C.’s death of Superman about a decade ago, such an event may get mainstream popular culture attention, but is likely temporary and is more a means of selling comic books than a social statement. Both liberals and conservatives in the U.S. have tried to read meaning into Cap’s death, and as with Marvel’s recent “Civil War,” each can still come away convinced its side is right.

Part 2 of my root canal is tomorrow morning, but I hope to post another update installment and more comic book reviews in the coming week.