Post Christmas Day Blues

Well it's that time in the Holiday season when you begin to feel a little down, the excitement of the presents and the family all together for the day eating turkey and the now traditional Doctor Who Christmas Special have once again all past.

Although I don't get as excited as I did when I was a kid I still feel a little blue once the big day passes as the new year always depresses me. All I can do is look forward to the new year and in 2012 I want to make it the year that everything counts. This will be the year things will go my way.

Happy new year

BATMAN LIVE REVIEW

Holy Stage Productions Batman! Yes it's the oldest cliche in the book when it comes to starting any review on a Batman production. A live stage production based on DC Comic's greatest hero, Batman, could have went to the camp tone of the sixties series with Adam West. However, fortunately it did not.

In fact the tone of Batman Live was very reminiscent of the Animated Series I loved so much from the 1990s. Not surprising as it was written by Alan Burnett, who had written for that wonderful show.

Batman Live has a lot of wonderful Circus Acrobats and a little bit of illusion in it, and although this might sound like it is moving away from Batman, several of the main parts are set in a circus and therefore it was great that the Live show was a new take on the origins of Robin. 

The aerial work with the stunts such as Batman flying with his cape open was fantastic. The fight sequences, apart from one with Catwoman, were brilliantly chereographed.

Performances all around were excellent, especially from the performers playing The Joker and harley Quinn. Very reminiscent of Mark Hamill's performance on the Animated Series and Harley Quinn was pitch perfect from the Animated series counterpart.

Joker was a touch more camp than the more recent Heath Ledger interpretation but I feel the one on the show feels true to how I see Joker as Mark Hamill's one is one of the definitive takes on The Joker. 

I found the story engaging and the aerial work fantastic. The computer graphics on the back wall worked great to move the story along.

A great show that every Bat fan needs to see.

Fright Night 2011 Review

A few years ago I saw a good chunk of an 80s horror film called Fright Night. What I saw of it I loved and I liked all the eighties ness of the film. It had a wonderful camp vibe to it that was just good fun.

A friend loaned a copy of the film to me a few months ago and finally saw it completely and loved it. Chris Sarandon was camp yet suave as the vampire Jerry Dandrige and I thought that Roddy McDowell was brilliant as the horror actor Peter Vincent, the 'vampire killer'.

This brings me to the remake which I was a skeptical about, then again there are just too many remakes these days. However, I have to admit I found that I liked the remake more than I thought I would. I found it  entetaining and eschewing the 'crapness' surrounding vampires at the current moment with the likes of Twilight. 

Now how does it rate in comparison to the original. I still think the original is t he better one of the two but the remake is definitely still worth a watch.

Anton Yelchin's Charlie Brewster seemed a tad too unlikeable at the start but I warmed to his version  as the film moved on, I didn't like how he treated his friend Ed, the new version of Evil Ed, at the start but he got better as he learned. Colin Farrell was pretty good as Jerry, a bit more 'blokey' with his beer and casual appearance in comparison to the camp suave of Chris Sarandon, which I loved.

David Tennant had a hard act to follow as Peter Vincent, who is now a Criss Angel type illusionist, and although I think he is a great actor I didn't warm to his Peter Vincent as much. There was a charm to Roddy McDowell that made the character enduring, a actor trying to be braver than he actually was and overcoming the fear. And he also had a wonderful camp style in the original. Tennant's Peter Vincent was a bit crude and scratching your balls just doesn't seem as funny to me than Peter Vincent driving off in the original thinking Charlie is a bit bonkers.

Overall I rate the Fright Night remake a Three out of Five.

45 years of Star Trek

45 years ago today the very first episode of Star Trek aired with the episode "The Man Trap". Although it was the sixth episode aired, the producers thought that this episode was the best one to launch the show on.

The pilot episode 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' actually aired two weeks later, which was actually the second pilot. Which is the pisode which introduced Kirk, Scotty and Sulu. Although Sulu was a physicist in this pilot and not the helmsman. It seemed a bit jarring to put the pilot third, given things like the uniforms being different, Sulu's position being different and a different doctor.

Although Spock was the only one who survived from the first pilot 'The Cage' a lot of what became his character was established here as well. In 'The Cage' Spock was very emotional and it was the first officer 'Number One' who was the logical one. When she was dropped a lot of her character traits were added to Spock and  that's how Spock became the icon that he is today.

The original piot had Jeffrey Hunter playing Captain Pike who, in comparison to Kirk, seemed more reflective and perhaps more cerebral. At the start he is thinking of resigning because of the stress of his command and losing crewmembers on a mission.

When I watch Pike I do see the prototype of what became Picard on the Next Generation. But he did not have the energy that Bill Shatner had when he played Captain Kirk. There is an energy Shatner brings to Kirk, even now at 80 Shatner still has the energy of a man half his age. He made Captain Kirk and to me will always be the real Kirk.

I am currently going through the Original Series again and this is the first time I have been watching them remastered. The new remastered effects add a freshness to the episodes but what I love is that they are very faithful to the original episodes and they don't take you out. The true gem of the remastered episodes is seeing the true beauty of Matt Jeffries' designed Enterprise. 45 years later and that ship is still a beauty.

Even though the JJ Abrams' movie is not my preferred take on Star Trek, it is wonderful that the movie is keeping the Trek flame alive and getting stronger once again. Star Trek in all its incarnations is a wonderful universe to be in and the scharacters and stories always inspired me.

So lets raise a toast to Star Trek. May it live long and prosper.

Quantum Leap Music Video

Well the modified music video is up for my tribute to Quantum Leap.

http://www.youtube.com/user/thestring5?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/wahvm_IFcro

I am happy with the positive feedback I get from friends and posts online about how much they love these music videos that I produce.

Editing is becoming something I am enjoying with each new project.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Too many classics are being rebooted or remade these days that I feel that a generation of cinemagoers will never appreciate the original. That is not to say that reboots and remakes are a bad thing but nine times out of ten they are usually inferior to the original.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a welcome reboot as I found myself really enjoying it. At one point when I first heard about it I thought it would be a remake of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes but it seemed to only take elements of the apes revolt against man. The story I found very engaging and I am not ashamed to say that I was rooting for the apes. Well, anyone who know Planet of the Apes knows what the eventual outcome will be anything.

One thing I was initially skeptical about was CGI replacing actors in make up. The make up  was so iconic for the original, which Rick Baker had developed upon for the Tim Burton remake a decade ago, to me was part of  the charm. There was something about actors in prosthetics that I felt would be lost in the CGI. However, it seems we have come along way in CGI and the CGI for the main ape character Caesar (as played by Andy Serkis) was incredible. The CGI brilliantly captured his performance and for the most part he felt real. 

Although there is still advantages, in my opinion, to having actors in make up for the apes for their later evolution if this rebooted series continues. But the main ape characters could be augmented by CGI and background apes could be CGI.  

Actors like Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter and Tim Roth made us believe that they were evolved apes rather than just actors wearing make up. Andy Serkis still gave a great performance as well.

James Franco was pretty decent in the lead human role of Will Rodman. It was great seeing John Lithgow on screen again playing his Altzeimer’s suffering dad and I felt he did an excellent performance. A cure for Altzeimer’s being the catalyst for the intelligent Caesar in the movie.

Well I don’t want to say too much on that part as I don’t like to spoil.

There are a lot of lovely references to the original Planet of the Apes. A few of the apes and characters are named after the actors and producer of the original series. A character is called Jacobs, after the producer Arthur P Jacobs no doubt.

And of course two of Charlton Heston’s classic lines are uttered in the film.

Of course it would be hard to top the original 1968 classic, it still stands up as one of the best sci fi movies of all time but this film is a worthy addition to the apes series.

I give it 4 out of 5.

The political impact of Planet of the Apes (My 2002 essay)

As I prepare my review for the latest Planet of the Apes movie, here is an essy I wrote for my HND Media class on the political themes of the original Planet of the Apes movie series.

The Political Impact of the Planet of the Apes Films on American Society in the 1950s and 1960s

In 1968 a film was released in the cinema, which made motion picture history. It made a breakthrough in make up and audiences marveled at the talking apes. However, what the film succeeded in was how it dealt with the political issues that where relevant in that time. That film was Planet of the Apes and in this assignment there will be an analysis of how the film and its sequels dealt with political issues, which were relevant and sensitive of the 60s.

The original Planet of the Apes was one of the most popular films of 1968. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and produced by Arthur P. Jacobs. It spawned four sequels, a short-lived TV Cartoon series, and a huge amount of merchandise. It also had one of the most memorable images of motion pictures of the 1960s; the half buried rotted Statue of Liberty at the end of the film.

The original film and its four sequels dealt with social and political issues, like Star Trek did in the late 1960s, which were of major concern in America at this time. It dealt with racial issues and class structures..

Planet of the Apes also appealed to many people because of its fantasy element and the representation of man’s continual obsession with life on other planets.  In this film audiences saw that life on other planets is not be as expected. People were fascinated by this world in which apes evolved from man and where man was the lowest form of life on this planet, the reversal of the human experience.

The phenomenon began as a book written by French novelist Pierre Boulle in 1963 entitled ‘La Planete des Singes’ or ‘Monkey Planet’. Boulle also had written the novel of ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’, which had enjoyed big screen success. 

Although Rod Serling had done the first draft of the script, it was Michael Wilson’s draft, which put the political nuances into play. Wilson himself was blacklisted during the McCarthy era and was accused of being a communist. Eric Greene, a film historian commented “Michael Wilson said film was more about the human predicament than apes.”

The film explored social and political issues. The fact that it is considered by many critics to be a political was not the producers’ intentions. The associate producer of the first two Apes films was Mort Abrahams, he stated that “Without saying it we were doing a political film. We never said it out loudly. At that time we had Vietnam and a political film was the last kind of film a studio wanted. The country (America) was having serious problems.”

Film historian Eric Greene also stated that with the assassination of Kennedy and Martin Luther king Jr. that were “a lot of shocks to America’s image and feel of it as a stable democracy.”

An interesting point behind the scenes was that there was a separation within the three ‘race’ of apes at lunchtime. The Orang-utans sat with the Orang-utans, the Chimpanzees sat with the Chimpanzees and the Gorillas sat with the Gorillas. The actors were not aware of this and actor Charlton Heston said that “there was no explanation for this.” Mort Abrahams stated that he didn’t think the actors were aware of this and that they just “went to their groupings.”

This was an interesting coincidence as in the original Planet of the Apes there was a Social class structure, which was relevant issue at the time. In the film the three types of Apes had different positions of power depending on their ‘race’. The Chimpanzees were the scientists and intellectuals, the Gorilla were the military and labourers and the Orang-utans were the politicians. 

In this society the Chimpanzees would do all the important studies and treatments of humans but they would never get proper respect. The Chimpanzees would always be looked down upon by the Orang-utans, like Dr. Zaius. One scene in the original film is when Doctor Zira and a fellow chimpanzee ‘vet’ are treating the injured Taylor. In this scene the male ape ‘vet’ asks Zira that “you were going to speak to Dr. Zaius about me.” He was upset that he was merely a vet in this society and Zira states, “You know how he looks down upon chimpanzees.” Subtle lines like these get the message across about the class system. 

This scene in the film is very much like the way people who were rich and had a lot of power would view people of lower classes and were not powerful, the rich would look down upon people who were not as well of. Also in the 1950’s and 1960’s racism was a major issue and people would, either look down upon the African Americans and they were given the jobs that ‘white’ people would not like to do, also black people were not allowed to use same toilets or buses or taxis as white people. This scene can make audiences think about how society had become at this time.

In the original film one of the most important scenes dealing with political nuances was the trial sequence. The trial was an inquisition against chimpanzees Zira and Cornelius and astronaut Taylor. Zira and Cornelius are being charged with heresy against doctrine, and that Taylor is a mutant that Zira and Cornelius created by experimentation. 

The prosecution also asks Taylor why were all apes made equal, Taylor argues “it seems some apes are more equal than others.” Taylor can see that the orang-utans have the most power and despite all the intelligence and discoveries made by the Chimpanzees that they have no power. The orang-utan prosecution also tries to prove that Taylor cannot think by asking him about their laws but because Taylor does not understand, which he freely admits, the prosecution says he does not know because he cannot think. The trial sequence was very similar to what happened during the McCarthy era, which Michael Wilson got blacklisted in and this also destroyed the careers of many actors and writers, as in those trials the accused never got a chance to defend themselves as the prosecution would not give them a chance to present their case. 

The McCarthy era was brought about from a combination of communism and political fear was at an all time high in the USA in the early 50s. Politician Joseph McCarthy blamed the increase in communism on certain ‘subversives’ who had infiltrated the government at all levels and disclosing secret information

Another interesting point in the trial sequence is when the three orang-utans represented Seeing No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil. Dr. Maximus covered his eyes, the Judge cover his ears and Dr. Zaius was covering his mouth as Zira was speaking in the defence of Taylor. This was the result of an idea between Charlton Heston and Franklin Schaffner.

Mort Abrahams said “Science Fiction can be a way of presenting controversial material without it being attacked as controversial because it has been slightly disguised.” This was the same with the Original Star Trek as its stories dealing with political and social issues had to be hidden from plain sight so that NBC would not notice and therefore show Star Trek, which had dealt with issues such as racism, overpopulation and also each season had an episode which was influenced by Vietnam war.

Eric Greene also made another good point about Science Fiction, “you can hear all humans look alike to apes or hear human say ‘human see human do’ and you can laugh it off but at the same time you can let it sink in as to how far humans interact with each other.” Greene is referring to how the film makes audience aware of how people with power viewed people who were not in power.

These political addresses did not end here; many of the sequels had some political messages as well. In Beneath the Planet of the Apes one of the plotlines in the film was the gorilla army going into a war into the Forbidden Zone to wage war on the mutants in response to strange occurrences in the area. With this there was a scene in which a group of young chimpanzees are making a protest with Picket signs and then the military move them away forcefully as Dr. Zaius doesn’t want martyrs.

“It’s the sense of this unnecessary war that they are being drawn into that liberal youth is opposed to and what the intellectuals are opposed to but there is political backing,” Eric Greene comments, he also says that this is very much like those Anti-Vietnam rallies. This was definitely not as subtle as the address in the original film but still a very effective address, as it was a direct contrast to what happened in America at this time.

Escape From the Planet of the Apes was set in the present and appeared to be a lighter film, like a fish out of water story for apes Zira and Cornelius as they got accustomed to humans of 1972 and becoming celebrities. However, in the second half a human Scientific advisor wants the unborn chimpanzee killed to prevent humanity from being dominated in the future. The response of Doctor Hesslein about Zira’s unborn child is similar to how military would respond to an alien threat by destroying the threat before it can happen, in this case by killing a unborn ape before a race of talking apes can exist.

There is a change in this film as the Apes are now the heroes of the film and the humans have now become the antagonists in the series. Greene calls it an “inverse of Taylor.”

As it was set in the present Greene says that, “it shifted its focus away from the future to present and opens the door to a more direct address to America of the time.” There is a scene in the film in which Doctor Hesslein states how much time humanity has got, he states that “some day we will do something about pollution, someday we will do something about the population explosion. We think we got all the time in the world” to make his argument. The points he made in this scene were very relevant at the time because at this time pollution was a big problem and overpopulation was a concern because of the escalating population due to longer life expectancy and new babies being born.

The next Apes film was titled Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, released in 1973 and directed by J. Lee Thompson. This film brought the Apes saga down a darker road. It was set in a city in the future resembling an oppressive Police State. Even humans wore black in this time period to convey a rigid and unpleasant society.

The Apes revolt against humans was based upon the Watt Riots in 1965, a civil rights movement of black people that lead quite an impression on America. J. Lee Thompson said that at showing in Inglewood Black people were cheering at the film. Frank Capra Jr. also stated that Black people were very vocal and had acted as though the ‘revolution’ had come.

Eric Greene said, “In 1972 no studio would release a film in which the hero was the leader of the Watt Riots but that you can release a film in which your hero is the leader of an apes revolt.” Greene comments that this would make the audiences rethink how they view events of the time. This is one thing science fiction can do very well if it is well written, by taking references from actual events and subtly address to the audience the hardship and bitterness that black people received and what made them rise against their oppressors, by making the apes the oppressed in the film we naturally and following them then the audience can have a better understanding of the side of the riots that they normally never think about. 

The ending was re edited, the original ending had Caesar’s speech urging a militant call for revolution, to get a family audience so as the film would have a more hopeful ending. It still is the most violent of the Apes films. War, urban violence and racial violence influenced many of the films of 1972, like Dirty Harry and French Connection.

This was the last Apes film to have any political nuances. The final instalment Battle for the Planet of the Apes was basically made with a younger audience in mind; it was just an adventure film. The same can be said for the recent Tim Burton ‘re-imagining’ of Planet of the Apes, as there was nothing political in the new version.

Planet of the Apes was one of the most profitable and memorable film franchises of 20^th Century Fox. They have been viewed on many levels, as an action adventure, a marvel in make up as well written stories, which were very clever. The political observations the film address, where relevant observations at the time of release. Racism and class were more serious in the 1960’s than they are today but still important issues to address to future generations. The issues were latent in the film but it was clear that the ape society mirrored human society very much at a much primitive age, so audiences can relate to the apes, the characters of Zira, Cornelius and Dr. Zaius were so compelling and so believable that you can believe these characters are really apes and you don’t laugh at them. Planet of the Apes was an adventure film, a great science fiction film but the fact that the film has very realistic characters and latent political undertones and memorable last shot of half buried Statue of Liberty Planet of the Apes, after 34 years, is still a true classic of cinema and will always be for many years to come.

REVIEW OF SUPER 8

I will admit that I have not been JJ Abrams' biggest fan. I always referred to him as an over rated hack who had no original ideas but still got called a genius. Maybe it's the way the media builds him up on this that creates the image that I don't share. Or maybe it's because the Trekkie in me didn't totally agree with his take on "Star Trek", which alough was a great movie I had some gripes he changed to make it more marketable to the mainstream.

With Star Trek XI I admitted that a great film was made and perhaps I was too harsh JJ Abrams and the same can be said about Super 8. It is a very good film which captures a classic era of cinema that I thought was lost to the mainstream of today. Abrams sticks to good old school and never loses sight of the characters amongst the visual effects. The kids are all excellent in this film and through their eyes we get a hearwarming story in this movie.

There seems to be a love for classic cinema as there is a vibe from this film that reminded me of films such as ET and Close Encounters, both Spielberg classics that Abrams is obviously trying to emulate. In fact I would say that perhaps Abrams tries so hard to replicate the Spielberg vibe that this film does not feel as wholly original as it should have.

This is why I don't call Abrams a genius, his ideas seem to be spins on things that already have been done but what I do admire about him is that he uses old school techniques and has a love for making something good rather than just firing it on the conveyor belt to make a fast buck, a problem I have with a lot of marvel comic book movies these days is the assembly line feel they have to promote The Avengers movie. I am glad Abrams makes movies he believes work on an emotional element.

The performances are work well in this film and I was plesantly surprised with this movie. Is it the best ever film I ever saw. No. But I do think it is helping me relent a little towards Abrams. Just a little.

4 out of 5

THEY'LL MAKE A FILM OUT OF ANYTHING THESE DAYS

I can't believe my eyes, I just simply cannot believe it. They have made a film based on a the game Battleship. I was told about the trailer and I simply had to look at it.

I could not believe it but there it was, a film based on the Hasbro board game and it is starring Liam Neeson, who seems like he could lend some credibility to this. It looks like decent fare from the trailer but it looks like it is going to be in the same vein as those awful Transformers movies.  I do hope I will be proven wrong though.

I wonder if we are going to have some omnisicent voice calling out "B12". Another shouting out "A10"
Remakes, reboots seem to be the thing now in Hollywood and I ccan't help but wonder if there actually is an original idea left in Hollywood these days.

The only I am wondering about Hollywood now is, how long till Monopoly The Movie is out. Now that could be a great epic.

Music Video in Progress

My latest music video is still in progress. As usual it is a very slow process, as editing always is. But I have to say I really enjoy doing them. I find it relaxing but when it comes to music videos, or more specific Fan Music Videos, finding good clips is the part which takes the longest. Finding clips which go with the song choice is the key to making these something more special.

Deciding to vary the content a little the current video is on Quantum Leap.

It is looking good so far.

First Contact

Well this is my first ever blog. So to anyone who is following me or will be following me. Welcome.

Here I will be writing about my likes and thoughts I have at the time. I will be posting up reviews of films both new and older classics.

Every so often I will be posting anniversary pieces that I hope you enjoy reading.

So Enjoy

Enterprise 1701