Summer Movie Preview

It’s summer blockbuster time! As a moviegoer, I’m always on the lookout for smart SF&F films, where character development and action are well balanced, and CGI doesn’t stand in for plot. But these can be few and far between. Here are some that I think might make the cut…

Iron Man 3

Okay, I know this is out now, but I haven’t seen it yet. I saw The Avengers, but skipped Iron Man 2 because one movie starring a full-of-himself billionaire was enough — he worked much better for me in an ensemble cast. But from the trailers, this installment features a fallen Tony Stark who’s struggling to find his feet again. That’s a story I can get on board with. Add in the superhero setting and the wisecracks, and I’m there.

Movie Nostalgia: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Yep, it’s time to talk about the one with the whales. Welcome to our latest installment of the Nostalgia series.

I was a big Star Trek fan throughout my teens, and I saw all the movies, but Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was the only one I watched over and over. Knowing this, I picked it up for a recent re-watch with some hesitation. Would Leonard Nimoy’s clunky directing from Star Trek III carry over? Would the comedy hold up? Would the mid-1980s just be too dated as a time-travel destination?

(Spoilers ahoy!)

Movie Nostalgia: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

In this installment of our Nostalgia series, we’re looking at Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Klingons, the return of the Genesis Project, some poignant moments for the Enterprise, and Spock, oh my…

When I first saw this film, in my early teens and at the height of my Trek-mania, I thought it was the best thing ever. After all, it all revolved around Spock! I read the novel adaptation, too, which fleshed out character relationships and motivations more than the film version allowed. But I never went back and watched it again until just recently…and now I remember why.

(Spoilers follow, of course.)

Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I wasn’t going to blog this week, but…well…then I saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And I had to talk about it. So here you are. The blog will be on holiday for the rest of this week, returning next week. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Yule, and happy holiday of choice!

I’m starting with an unspoilery review. Spoilers will be lower down and clearly marked.

(Disclaimer: I didn’t see the film in 3D or with the much-discussed higher frame rate, so I won’t be touching on those aspects.)

I’m a big Tolkien fan, and I felt that Peter Jackson did a spectacular (though certainly not perfect) job with the LOTR movies. So while I was not thrilled to hear that The Hobbit was being broken into three films, I went to the theater prepared to trust Jackson again.

And…wow, did he deliver.

The Best Christmas Stories Ever

What are your favourite Christmas stories?

Even leaving aside the ones in the Bible, plenty of stories have been written about this time of year. Not surprising that it would be an inspiration to writers, given all the folklore and family traditions and emotional associations that are tied up in December 25.

I remember a pile of children’s books that my parents used to bring out every year. They were about shepherd boys and woodcarvers, drummer boys and miracles. Tomie A. de Paola wrote picture books based on The Legend of Old Befana and The Friendly Beasts. Barbara Robinson wrote The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. One picture book that I found as an adult, and bought because I liked it so much, was The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski.

Movie Discussion: Looper

Have you all seen Looper, the new Bruce Willis movie? (Also starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, of Inception and The Dark Knight Rises…a rather high percentage of the movies I’ve seen lately.) Let’s talk about it!

Before I get to the spoilers, here’s a capsule review: Smart SF action/drama, much better than it looks from the trailer. Makes a thorough exploration of its SFnal premise (time travel with very specific parameters). Best watched when you’re in the mood to be made to think. Don’t expect it to pass the Bechdel Test, though. If you liked 12 Monkeys, you’ll probably like Looper.

Here be spoilers…

Response: The Dark Knight Rises

I’m not a big comic-book reader, except for the occasional graphic novel. But I do like superhero movies, and all the hype around The Dark Knight Rises meant I couldn’t wait to see the conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

(No spoilers, unless you’re unusually sensitive.)

There’s some really good stuff here. The villain, Bane, could hardly be more different from the Joker, which enables him to mostly escape the long shadow cast by Heath Ledger — his imposing physicality dominates whenever he’s onscreen. His plot starts with a spectacular action sequence (yes, Nolan manages to surprise — not an easy feat nowadays) before a bit of a lull, then a series of events that escalates the stakes for Gotham well beyond what I expected.

Response: The Avengers

I’m a lightweight fan when it comes to movies about comic-book characters. I usually enjoy superhero movies, but all the backstory and history and in-jokes go over my head because I’m not a comic-book reader. That goes double for The Avengers, because I managed to miss all the lead-in movies except for the first Iron Man. After The Avengers became the next must-see movie, I read enough online to pick up the gist of who most of the characters were, but for the most part I was flying blind.

So how well does The Avengers work for a complete and utter newbie?

Book vs. Movie: The Hunger Games

The book is always better than the movie, right? Usually there’s no contest, or else the movie is different enough that they can’t be compared. (See Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, which was a sweepingly romantic movie and a very literary, non-linear book. See also: Philip K. Dick.) But once in a while they’re close enough that you can look at them both side by side. The Harry Potter series is one. The Hunger Games is another. (Edit: For another take on the book vs. the movie, see the YouTube video by Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency (found via The Mary Sue).)

Let me start by saying that the movie version of The Hunger Games is a very good adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s book. If you’re a fan of the book, chances are you’ll like the movie. If you discovered the movie first, the book will give you added depth without making you wonder how the story managed to change so much between the two media. Most of the major plot points from the book are still there in the movie; most of the character portrayals matched what I imagined from the book, as does the visual style.

Having said that, here are some pros and cons to each version of the story. Spoilers ahoy!

Movie Nostalgia: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

In this installment of the Nostalgia series, we’re looking at a classic science fiction movie — Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (or TWOK).

I will admit up front that I’m biased. Star Trek is not something I can be objective about — I have too long a history with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, as well as the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But hey, that’s why it made the Nostalgia list.

Still, it’s been a very long time since I saw TWOK. I’d been worried about whether it would hold up over time, but on watching it again this weekend, I was surprised. True, I got a certain amount of warm fuzzies from seeing the familiar characters and the Star Trek universe again. Okay, maybe a lot of warm fuzzies. But all that aside…turns out it’s an excellent movie. What exactly makes it good? Read on…