Weird Transformation Scene In Fritz Lang's "Woman In The Moon" (1929) (video)

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!

 

 

Weird Transformation Scene In Fritz Lang's "Woman In The Moon" (1929) (video)

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

 

 

Originally posted on 6/18/22

 

The Film Detective does it again with a nicely-restored special edition of the 1957 fan favorite THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS, which looks way better now than most of us have ever had a chance to see it.

Of course, the scratchy old prints on my local station's afternoon movie show sufficed for me as a kid back in the 60s. While very low-budget and admittedly hokey at times, the film gave me chills back then and still delivers on sheer entertainment value for those of us who grew up on these lurid sci-fi/monster thrillers.

BRAIN boasts a solid cast, with genre stalwart John Agar as scientist Steve March, who stumbles upon strange radioactive signals coming from deep within a desert mountain. Robert Fuller plays Steve's assistant Dan, years before he would become a TV icon in such shows as "Laramie", "Wagon Train", and "Emergency." 

 

Joyce Meadows vividly plays Steve bride-to-be Sally, who grows concerned when Steve returns from the cave without Dan and displaying strange, frightening new personality traits (including a wildly increased libido). This is because he's been taken over by Gor, an evil alien entity bent on conquering the world.

While Gor's appearance has evoked laughter from many viewers over the years--he's basically a giant floating brain with eyes--I've always had a fondness for both him and his counterpart, a benign floating brain named Vol whose mission is to capture the criminal fugitive.

Whenever Steve's body is ruled by Gor, it gives John Agar a chance to display maniacal, homicidal villainy as never before, which he seems to enjoy despite the pain caused by a pair of silver-painted contact lenses designed to make his eyes glow.

It was this indelible vision, and not the floating brains, that gave me such shivers as a kid as Steve/Gor gleefully blew up passenger planes and fried hapless victims with that sinister glare.

The film is skillfully and econically directed by Nathan Juran (aka Nathan Hertz), whose eclectic career also included such diverse titles as THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD and ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN. Camerawork and lighting are particulary good, as is a rousing musical score by Walter Greene.

The disc from The Film Detective offers some nice featurettes (listed below) including a recently-shot tour of the film's outdoor locations with star Joyce Meadows, who also appears along with other guests in the commentary track by leading film historian Tom Weaver. Weaver also penned the illustrated booklet on the career of producer Jacques Marquette. Viewers of the film can choose between full-screen and matted widescreen.

Good production values, amusing dialogue, and a few actual chills are some of the reasons why THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS should appeal to fans of low-budget 1950s sci-fi thrillers. For a film which, on first glance, looks like just another of those "so bad it's good" flicks, it's actually not bad at all.



THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS

Retail Price: $29.95
Release Date: 6-21-2022
Runtime: 71 min.
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Language: English
Closed Captions: English, Spanish
Color/BW: BW

SPECIAL FEATURES -

    Full Color Booklet with original essay by Author/ Historian Tom Weaver
    Full commentary track by historians Tom Weaver, David Schecter, Larry Blamire, and PLANET AROUS star, Joyce Meadows
    The Man Before the Brain: Director Nathan Juran - an original Ballyhoo Motion Pictures production
    The Man Behind the Brain: The World of Nathan Juran - an original Ballyhoo Motion Pictures production
    The film will also be included in a full frame format, 1.33:1
    Now including a special, all new, introduction by Actor Joyce Meadows!

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

LIQUID SKY -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/15/18

 

 

I first saw Russian director Slava Tsukerman's 1982 avant-garde cult sci-fi classic LIQUID SKY back in the early 80s when it came out on VHS looking a heck of a lot cheaper and dingier than it does on Vinegar Syndrome's richly vivid new Blu-ray/DVD combo set (scanned and fully restored in 4k from the 35mm original negative and packed with special features).

Now, the film still looks low-budget but the talent and imagination that went into transcending that budget are allowed to shine through.  The visuals are a feast of 80s proto tech and economical cinematic imagination, all day-glo and neon and glam-punk and New Wave and ugly fashion and jaded cynicism set to robotic industrial music performed on a Fairlight. 

The setting is an urban milieu where sneering androgynous scarecrows get made up as though for Halloween so that they can express derision to either clicking cameras or their fellow drugged-out dance club denizens.

Our heroine, tall blonde beauty Margaret (co-scripter Anne Carlisle, CROCODILE DUNDEE, DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN), is one such model so disaffected by her lifestyle that any hint of normality now seems abrasively foreign.

Margaret is a victim not only of the lecherous men she invites back to her apartment simply because they have drugs--making her a victim also of her own flagrant self-destructiveness--but of the equally-violent, overbearing, profane, drug-pushing dyke Adrian (the great Paula Sheppard of ALICE, SWEET, ALICE) with whom she shares both a penthouse apartment and a sick, abusive relationship.

The main attraction of LIQUID SKY for me has always been Carlisle's exquisite dual-role performance as both Margaret and her nemesis, a preening male model named Jimmy with whom Margaret shares a mutual loathing.  Carlisle pulls off the feat of creating two intensely interesting and perversely compelling characters whose split-screen interactions are always utterly convincing and scintillating. 

But the weirdness really starts when tiny aliens land their spaceship on a nearby rooftop and start feeding off both the heroin-enhanced brainwaves of Margaret's visitors and also the chemical reactions caused by their orgasms, which proves lethal to them.  Thus, anyone who has sex with Margaret dies.

In this world the most appealing characters, for me anyway, are the more normal ones such as Margaret's older friend Owen, whose genuine concern for her makes him the first alien orgasm casualty, and Jimmy's indulgent single mother (to whom he is utterly dismissive except when begging for money) who lives nearby and is visited by an eccentric German scientist on the trail of the alien ship. 

It turns out her apartment window offers a fine telescope view of the tiny spaceship, giving her a chance to vainly try and seduce the man while he keeps an eye both on the ship and the lethal sexual activity going on in Margaret's apartment.  There's a mundane charm to their scenes that's a stark contrast to the infinitely stranger things going on elsewhere.

Meanwhile, our wacky nihilistic misfits continue courting death, a condition hastened by constant drug use--they live to snort and shoot up--and sexually-transmitted disease, upon which dwells much of the film's symbolism. 

Their casual cruelty to each other comes to the fore when they get together in the penthouse for one of their tacky, drug-fueled modeling shoots, during which Margaret's deadly new sexual side-effect will shock even these jaded louts of their curdled complacency in a big way.

LIQUID SKY is a low-key slice of wildlife that doesn't explode like THE FIFTH ELEMENT or mesmerize like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.  It's simply the story of an aimless New Wave waif named Margaret numbly wandering through a harsh world of hurtful people and some weird little aliens who help her by hurting them.  And watching it is like a dark but colorful carnival ride through a combination art gallery and spook house. 

TECH SPECS:Vinegar Syndrome/OCN Digital Distribution 
Genre: Cult/Science Fiction
Blu-ray/DVD Combo (2 Discs)
Original Release: 1982 Color
Rated: R
1:85:1
DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
Running Time: 112 Minutes (Plus 160 Minutes Special Features)
Suggested Retail Price: $32.98
Pre-Order: April 3, 2018
Street Date:  April 24, 2018

BONUS FEATURES:

Director’s introduction and commentary track
Interviews with Tsukerman and Carlisle
Alamo Drafthouse screening Q&A with Tsukerman, Carlisle and Clive Smith (co-composer)
“Liquid Sky Revisited” (2017), a 50-minute, making-of feature
Behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage
Never-before-seen outtakes
Isolated soundtrack
Alternate opening sequence
Photo gallery
Reversible cover artwork by Derek Gabryszak
Multiple trailers
English SDH subtitles

LIQUID SKY -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

WAR OF THE PLANETS -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

(NOTE: Since this review was first posted at Bumscorner.com in 2005, the film has undergone more name changes--from its original title of TERRARIUM to WAR OF THE PLANETS and, in the U.K., LOST VOYAGER and EXODUS.)


"What's it doing?  WHAT'S IT DOING?"
"It's devouring her, Robert."

After crash-landing on an unknown planet, a crew of space colonists awaken from suspended animation to find that a hairy, carniverous beast has entered the crippled ship and is breaking into their cryo-chambers one by one, dragging them away.  Unable to move until their bodies overcome the effects of their 15-year sleep, they are little more than a human buffet.  Or, as one of the characters aptly puts it:  "We're the goodies behind the glass."

Thus begins WAR OF THE PLANETS (2004), an extremely low-budget thriller (shot on 16mm) written and directed by Mike Conway, who also photographed, edited, and scored in addition to playing one of the astronauts.  The credits are filled with various other Conways and also reveal that several of the lead actors took part in set construction, camerawork, still photography, etc.  Sheila Conway, who plays "Nicole", doubled as one of the mysterious aliens that also inhabit the planet.

The beast, who resembles a man in a Halloween gorilla costume, returns every five hours or so for a fresh victim.  The helpless astronauts struggle to revitalize their long-dormant bodies between attacks by doing isometric exercises as each character takes advantage of the opportunity to fill us in on their backstories, which are pretty standard -- the captain lost his family while gaining the stars, Nicole's dreams were the ticket out of her small hometown, Kim entered the space program after "an overdose, a suicide attempt, and a stint in the psyche ward..."  (Okay, maybe they're not all that standard.) 

During these scenes the cast gets to act from the neck up a la Richard Dreyfuss in WHOSE LIFE IS IT, ANYWAY?, with varying degrees of skill.  None of them are really bad, though -- the performances range from passable to pretty good, and the characters are likable enough to sustain interest.

When the creature inevitably returns, there is a fair amount of suspense as the crew waits to see who is next on the menu.  Noticing that the first three victims have been women, and figuring that a colony bereft of females might be at a bit of a disadvantage in the procreation department, some of the men valiantly start thrashing around and hollering to attract attention to themselves.  

But suicidal Kim will have none of that, and screams:  "Leave him alone, Sasquatch!  Come and get me, you hairy bastard!" and "It's me you want, you son of a bitch!"  I won't reveal what happens next, but let's face it -- if you find yourself in a monster movie, perhaps those are not the best things to say to the monster.

Eventually, however, the survivors finally regain their motor skills and manage to put a locked door between themselves and the voracious beast.  Later they are able to subdue him as well, at the cost of more lives -- but an autopsy reveals that he hasn't been eating them after all.  So why did he abduct them one by one?  Where has he been taking them? 

The mystery deepens when the astronauts venture from the ship to discover that it is surrounded by an impenetrable glasslike barrier, and their night-vision goggles reveal strange alien beings creeping around in the darkness beyond.  The most likely conclusion reached by the captain and what's left of his crew is that they are the subjects of some ghastly experiment -- but at this point, the only thing they know for sure is that they must somehow escape from the barrier and strike back at the aliens with whatever means they have available. 

Obviously, it's reasonable to assume that a movie called WAR OF THE PLANETS might contain elements similar to films like WAR OF THE WORLDS or BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, with entire civilizations waging spectacular war against one another, but what it all boils down to in the end is this small skirmish between the space colonists and the aliens in a remote location near Las Vegas.  (The original title was TERRARIUM.) 

The filmmakers do their best with a very low budget (originally $27,000, but with added special effects reportedly donated free of charge by former STAR TREK:VOYAGER and BABYLON 5 visual effects artists who became fans of the movie during a two-week run at a Las Vegas theater!), and despite the cardboard sets, videogame-level special effects, an uneven cast of volunteer actors, and some unintentionally amusing dialogue ("Your hair looks the same whether it has cryo-fluid in it or not" "That's what they tell me"), it's sort of a fun movie to watch if you're in the right mood. But I'd suggest renting WAR OF THE PLANETS before adding it to your permanent DVD collection or presenting it to that special someone on their birthday.  It's no ROCKETSHIP XM.

Buy it at Amazon.com

Here's our two-part interview with Mike Conway:
Part One
Part Two

 

WAR OF THE PLANETS -- Movie Review by Porfle

Was "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Inspired By "Lost In Space"? (video)

Star Trek's "V'ger" and Lost In Space's "Mr. Nobody" aren't that different.

In both stories, an all-powerful being yearning to evolve...

...achieves transcendence through love.

Both are reborn as newly self-aware space-dwelling energy beings.


("Lost In Space" Season 1 Episode 7 "My Friend Mr. Nobody", 1965)

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Was "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Inspired By "Lost In Space"? (video)

Was "You Only Live Twice" Inspired By "Lost In Space"? (video)

The Jupiter 16 space capsule hijack scene in the James Bond film "You Only Live Twice" (1967)…

...bears a strong similarity to the Jupiter 2 hijack scene...

...in "Lost In Space" Season 1: Episode 2 "The Derelict" (1965).

(Watch them both and see if you agree.)

Coincidence? Or inspiration?


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Was "You Only Live Twice" Inspired By "Lost In Space"? (video)

Did "Dr. Goldfoot" Beat "Bullitt" To The Car Chase? (video)

"Bullitt" (1968) is well known for its harrowing car chase through San Francisco...

...racing up and down those steep hills...

...and especially those dizzying point-of-view camera shots.

But another movie beat "Bullitt" to all of that by three years...

..."Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine" (1965)!


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Did "Dr. Goldfoot" Beat "Bullitt" To The Car Chase? (video)

Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) After "Star Trek: The Original Series" (video)

Grace Lee Whitney played Yeoman Janice Rand...

...in eight episodes of the original "Star Trek" (1966).

She would return as Rand seven more times in "Star Trek" movies and episodes both official and fan-made.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Star Trek: Voyager/ "Flashback" (1996)
Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (2007)
Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II/ "World Enough and Time" (2007)

For Grace Lee Whitney (1930-2015)
 

 

Originally posted on 1/27/19

I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

 

 

Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) After "Star Trek: The Original Series" (video)

TWIN SHATNERS: Five Different Ones (video)

If one William Shatner is good...

...then two William Shatners is great!

And we were treated to this at least five different times:


Star Trek: The Original Series, "The Enemy Within" (1966)

Star Trek: The Original Series, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (1966)

Star Trek: The Original Series, "Whom Gods Destroy" (1969)

"White Comanche" (1968)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)


Read our review of "White Comanche" HERE!




Originally posted on 12/29/19
I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

TWIN SHATNERS: Five Different Ones (video)

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 4.0 -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 12/20/08

 

When the original CATTLECAR--excuse me, "BATTLESTAR" GALACTICA came out back in the 70s, I was among those who regarded it as nothing more than a candy-coated piece of sci-fi dreck. So when the Sci-Fi Channel came out with this jazzed-up remake a few years ago, I stayed away, recalling that old line about a silk purse and a sow's ear. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. After watching this BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 4.0 four-disc DVD set, which covers the first half of the show's fourth and supposedly final season, I could frakkin' kick myself for not being glued to the TV set from the very first episode.

Simply put, this series kicks major ass on every conceivable level. Surely one of the finest series ever produced for television, it might even be the best weekly sci-fi series of all time. Every aspect of the show--acting, writing, production values, special effects, music--is consistently excellent. The show's producers, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, have somehow managed to combine riveting adult drama with the best elements of pure space opera.

As in the '78 version, the story begins in a distant part of the galaxy where a human civilization known as The Twelve Colonies is decimated by an attack from the Cylons. Less than 35,000 humans survive, escaping into deep space in a ragtag fleet of ships protected by the battlestar Galactica under the leadership of Admiral William Adama. Their goal is to reach the fabled planet of their race's origin known as "Earth" before the pursuing Cylons can destroy them.

The Cylons consist of both robotic warriors and several series of humanoid clones which are essentially immortal, since they can download their shared consciousness into new bodies whenever necessary via an immense spacecraft known as the Resurrection Hub. Much of the fourth season's drama revolves around a civil war between the more warlike Cylons and the ones who wish to end hostilities with the humans, while a small group of these humanoid Cylons, known as The Final Five, actually live and work aboard the Galactica and until recently were unaware that they weren't human.

Meanwhile, Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos) and President Laura Roslin (DANCES WITH WOLVES' Mary McDonnell) struggle to maintain military control over the fleet rather than hand it over to a group of civilian politicians headed by Vice President Zarek (original '78 castmember Richard Hatch). Religion plays a major role in the stories as well, with one-God proponent Gaius Baltar (James Callis) and his worshipful followers clashing with polytheists who maintain belief in Zeus and other gods. ("Gods damn it!" is a commonly-heard expletive on the show, second only to the ubiquitous "Frak!")

A major event which really sets the fourth-season storyline into motion is the disappearance of fighter pilot Kara "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff) during a battle with the Cylons. After being declared dead, she and her "raptor" ship suddenly turn up several weeks later, both without a scratch. Starbuck insists that somehow she's been to Earth and now knows the way back, but no one believes her at first--in fact, she's suspected to be a Cylon replicant. Eventually, however, the ultimate fate of the entire fleet will depend upon the knowledge that has been mysteriously implanted in her mind.

Having missed out on all the previous episodes, I had to piece together much of what goes on during this season on the fly. But it was definitely worth it. There's a wealth of intense human drama, not to mention political and religious intrigue, all interlaced within a rock-solid story arc featuring a fascinating cast of characters. The plight of the Final Five is especially compelling as they deal with the shock of discovering that they're not human and the constant fear of being revealed as "alien." The growing romantic relationship between battle-weary leaders Adama and Roslin is explored, and made more poignant by her terminal cancer. And the conflict between the warring Cylon factions is full of surprises.

As space opera, the series often reaches epic proportions. The battles between human and Cylon forces are depicted with some mouth-wateringly good CGI--not as sharp and weighty as model work, but with a sweep and grandeur comparable to STARSHIP TROOPERS and the opening sequence of STAR WARS III: REVENGE OF THE SITH--while the potentially distracting use of Shaky-Cam is handled well, giving the battle scenes a somewhat documentary feel. The show also boasts top-notch production design and excellent sets that create a believably realistic atmosphere.

Old pros Olmos and McDonnell head a fine cast that also includes BAND OF BROTHERS' Jamie Bamber as soldier-turned-politician Lee "Apollo" Adama, Tricia Helfer as the beautiful and mysterious Cylon known as Number Six, Michael Hogan as Colonel Tigh (who is not only Adama's most trusted officer but also a member of the Final Five), and the great Dean Stockwell as Cylon leader Brother Cavil. Another welcome presence is Lucy Lawless in an awesomely cool turn as D'Anna Biers, a Cylon who becomes the focal point of an intense standoff between the opposing forces which will determine the outcome of the entire saga.

In addition to the ten episodes in this set, the first disc contains a stand-alone movie called RAZOR which stars Michelle Forbes as Admiral Helena Cain of the battlestar Pegasus. Forbes, who played Ensign Ro on "Star Trek: The Next Generation", is outstanding in this gripping tale of a ruthless commander who resorts to terror and the execution of civilians to ensure the survival of her ship and crew. Both the broadcast version and the unrated extended version are included.

Each disc also contains numerous bonus features--commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes docs, deleted scenes, trailers, minisodes, podcast commentaries, video blogs, and more--offering hours of added material. The visual and sound quality are fine, with 1.78:01 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles are in English and Spanish.

As a longtime sci-fi fan, and especially as a diehard Trekker, I enjoyed the hell out of this set and will definitely start seeking out more of them. Although BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 4.0 ends halfway through the fourth season--to be continued in 2009--it does come to a satisfying conclusion. I can't wait to see the rest!

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 4.0 -- DVD Review by Porfle

SNOWMAGEDDON -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 11/7/12

 

There seems to be an entire category of movies on the SyFy Channel in which small Canadian towns double as small Northwestern towns in the USA which are menaced by some kind of supernatural (or super-natural) force, which resides or has its origin in a nearby mountain.  Bad CGI comes as a standard feature; giant tentacles are optional. 

One of the latest entries in this curious little sub-genre is SNOWMAGEDDON (2011), a movie whose title pretty much lets us know what kind of movie we're in for.  This time, a rustic burg in Alaska gets hammered by a series of unnatural disasters such as a storm cloud that shoots ice torpedoes which shatter into deadly shrapnel, gaping fissures bisecting city streets and gushing flames, and huge pointy things shooting up out of the ground to spear moving vehicles like shish-kabobs. 

The reason for all this is kept from us at first, lending the film an air of supernatural mystery that's mildly intriguing--until, that is, we find out that the secret behind it all is pretty freakin' dumb.  Suffice it to say that there's this kid named Rudy who plays a role-playing game about dragons and wizards, and he anonymously receives a strange snowglobe for Christmas with a tiny repica of the town in it, and whenever he winds it up, something bad happens.  Somehow, all of this is related to that RPG that he plays.  Why?  Don't ask me.

The destruction is depicted with some pretty good practical effects--the picturesque little town is trashed quite nicely--along with the usual fair-to-awful CGI.  Once the slush hits the fan, the action is split into different little suspense situations of varying interest, including two hapless shlubs trapped in a bus covered with downed power lines, stranded snowboarders who picked the wrong mountain to board, and a mother-daughter duo in a crashed helicopter. 

Good editing helps jazz things up a bit, but it's all just standard time-waster stuff that helps cheapo flicks like this fill in the space between the opening and closing credits. 

Once the kid finally convinces the grownups that his evil snowglobe is causing all the trouble--which, admittedly, might be a bit hard to swallow at first--they follow his sage advice on how to combat the supernatural menace.  Which means two things: one, they've really run out of ideas.  And two, his dad, John Miller (David Cubitt), must make a trek up the now-volcanic peak in order to do what the hero in the game does to stop the evil. 

The acting is about as good as you'd expect from this sort of thing, with Laura Harris (of the late, lamented "Defying Gravity") deserving better as Rudy's plucky mom, Beth.  The dialogue isn't any better or worse than required, save for the occasional eye-rolling exchange such as this:

LARRY: "That thing's straight from Hell itself."
FRED: "Calm down, Larry."
LARRY: "You calm down, Fred."

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  No extras.

Really, I can't add any more to this than you can already figure out from the title.  If the word SNOWMAGEDDON doesn't tell you exactly what this movie is all about and whether or not you'll enjoy it, nothing will.  Bottom line: it's a passable, tolerable time-waster.

SNOWMAGEDDON -- DVD Review by Porfle

STAR TREK: BEYOND -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 11/22/2016

 

Often I'll like a movie better upon repeat viewing, but rarely have I gone from "disappointed" to "delighted" as drastically as I did during my second look at STAR TREK: BEYOND (2016). 

The trouble is, the darn thing is just so dense, so packed full of action, dialogue, special effects, etc. which are all edited together like a Tsui Hark movie but without the light-fingered finesse.  To be honest, I missed so much of the story details and subtleties the first time around that much of what I saw seemed like a jumbled mess. (Plus, Zachary Quinto's Spock wig looks pretty bad this time.)

Not so upon second viewing, one free of the need to decipher the plot points that go sprinting past in competition with the constant barrage of sound and fury and motorcycles and demolition derbies with starships instead of jalopies.  (The wig still looks bad.)

 

 All of which, by the way, is fantastic and at times a bit staggering.  There's one sequence about twenty minutes into the film, in fact, that's so blazingly, heart-poundingly catastrophic for the Enterprise and its crew that it's pretty hard for the rest of the movie to top it--which it never quite does.  But it tries, bless its little dilithium crystal heart.

With this, the third installment in the Abrams-verse reboot (with its all-new altered timeline that keeps us from knowing what will happen next) Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk and crew have been out there on that five-year mission for almost three years and this Kirk, who didn't grow up with a father's guidance and is still maturing and feeling his way through life right before our eyes, finds the whole deep space experience repetitive and boring (or as he puts it in meta terms, "episodic.") 

But an alien woman's distress cry for help to rescue her stranded crew on a planet deep inside an uncharted nebula sends the Enterprise on a mission that will give Kirk more excitement and danger than even he could bargain for.  Not surprisingly, this involves yet another alien bad guy out for revenge, this time against the entire Federation for reasons we'll discover after lots of fighting and shooting and starships going boom.

 

Idris Elba guest stars as bad guy Krall, who resembles the reptilian villain from the sci-fi spoof GALAXY QUEST (which this movie resembles in other ways as well).  Krall wants a device in Kirk's possession and will do anything to get it because it's vital in his plan to destroy an entire Federation space outpost known as "Yorktown" which is home to millions of intergalactic citizens.

My favorite new character is the endearingly plucky Jaylah, played by Sofia Boutella who will be the title character in the upcoming MUMMY reboot. Here, Sophia looks great as an albino with long white hair and elegant ebony facial markings.  As another stranded prisoner of Krall's hostile planet, Jaylah forms a special bond with Simon Pegg's "Scotty" and supplies the Enterprise bridge crew with something vital: a derelict ship (her "house" as she calls it) that might, with Scotty's expert help, be coaxed into flight once again.

Each of the main characters is allowed ample screen time.  John Cho's Sulu, of course, gets to be the new "gay" character in the series, even though Sulu has always previously been hetero.  (Even George Takei is adamant on this point.)  It's not such a big deal, though--we see him greet his little daughter Demora in Yorktown and put an arm around his male partner (director Justin Lin), and that's it.

Spock and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) have their first lovers' spat, with an amicable yet painful breakup.  Anton Yelchin, tragically gone from us now, offers his charming interpretation of Ensign Chekov one last time.  And upon the main three--Kirk, Spock, and "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban)--the script dotes with disarming fondness.

For action fans, STAR TREK: BEYOND kicks plenty of intergalactic ass both on the planet, where Kirk, Spock, Bones, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura must rescue their captured shipmates from Krall and his army, to the Yorktown space-city itself once Krall launches his all-out attack involving thousands of prickly little drone ships that swarm like bees and utterly obliterate whatever they descend upon.  All of this goes by fast and furious, so this is where that second viewing comes in handy.

Speaking of which, director Lin of the "Fast & Furious" films does his best to emulate J.J. Abrams while not quite capturing a certain candy-counter, toy-store, Christmas morning kind of essence his predecessor seemed capable of injecting into these films. In my review of the first STAR TREK reboot I described it as a "grandly entertaining cherry-red fire engine of a space flick", something Lin doesn't quite pull off.

Still, he does a capable job and manages to keep the series on a high level.  What seems most problematic for many Trek fans, in fact, is that there's so much action effectively dominating the proceedings that no time is left either for meaningful character interaction or contemplation of the deep, intellectual themes Gene Roddenberry was known for in his original vision of the "Star Trek" universe. (At least in hindsight.)

As for the former, I think these films contain a wealth of terrific character interaction, highly meaningful little moments that occur at scattered points throughout each installment in the series, some lighthearted and frivolous (old philosophical adversaries Spock and Bones get several choice exchanges), some deeply moving (such as Kirk's ruminations on his late father and how different are their career paths and goals as Starfleet captains). 

The latter, I admit, is pretty accurate--these films aren't always that thematically profound.  But neither was every episode of the original series.  And this is a brash young version of the Enterprise crew, impatient to go out there into that last frontier and raise some hell.  They don't want to stop and take the time to be all that thoughtful and contemplative, nor do they have as much life experience to be all that thoughtful and contemplative about.

There are different kinds of Star Trek and they don't all have to be alike.  This is Action "Star Trek."  For a change of pace, it suits this long-time Trekker just fine.

The 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo from Paramount Home Media Distribution contains a Blu-ray disc with the movie and special features, a DVD with the movie, and a code for downloading a digital HD copy of the film.  The Blu-ray disc contains a gag reel, deleted scenes, and the following featurettes: "Beyond the Darkness: Story Origins"; "Enterprise Takedown: Destroying an Icon"; "Trekking Into the Desert: On Location in Dubai"; "To Live Long and Prosper: 50 Years of Star Trek"; and tributes to the late Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin. 

STAR TREK: BEYOND is brand-spanking new and scintillatingly different, yet filled with welcome echoes of the past (there's a particularly poignant Spock moment, and an ending which recalls STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME in a big way).  With this latest entry in the rebooted series, what's old is new again, and I love warping off into the final frontier with this young crew that's so bursting with promise for the future.

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STAR TREK: BEYOND -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

FLIGHT TO MARS (1951) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 7/12/21

 

One of the best of the wave of fanciful space exploration thrillers that helped usher in the science-fiction-heavy cinema of the 1950s, FLIGHT TO MARS (1951) has been given a lush restoration and released on Blu-ray by The Film Detective along with some interesting extras.

With surprisingly good production values for a Monogram Picture (the studio best known for its lurid 1940s Bela Lugosi chillers), it still retains an endearingly corny B-movie atmosphere.

In such a setting, a historic expedition to Mars can still be manned by a team composed of stuffy old scientists, a brainy woman for whom science is a poor substitute for domestic bliss, her pipe-smoking mentor who is oblivious to her love for him, and a cocky reporter (Cameron Mitchell, THE KLANSMAN, THE SILENT SCREAM, THE TOOLBOX MURDERS) along for the ride who ends up the third corner in their love triangle.

 

One can hardly fault the story for getting so much wrong about space exploration since so little was known about it in 1951. Still, it's amusing when the crew must have the concept of a shower of meteors burning up in the Earth's atmosphere as "shooting stars" explained to them, and certain members are so dourly pessimistic about the mission's success that one crewmember refers to the ship as his "coffin."

Fans of this sort of entertainment will enjoy the ride from Earth to Mars (in the same spaceship interior left over from ROCKETSHIP XM, according to IMDb), including a thrilling crash landing brought off with obvious yet impressive model work.

Once on Mars, the crew encounter a race of intelligent men and women who live in a vast underground complex composed largely of colorful matte paintings that recall the best illustrations from science-fiction pulp magazines of the era, whose wildly imaginative stories seem to have provided much inspiration for this one. 

 

 

With the seemingly kindly Martian leader Ikron (Morris Ankrum, ROCKETSHIP XM) promising to help the Earth people repair their ship for takeoff, Dr. Barker (Arthur Franz, THE CAINE MUTINY, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS) and his crew soon discover Ikron's more dastardly intent--to take over their repaired spacecraft and use it to escape the dying planet and conquer Earth.  

It's here that the film's star, Marguerite Chapman (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN), finally appears as Alita, a Martian woman assigned to help Dr. Barker (and arouse the jealousy of the Earth woman in the bargain). After discovering Ikron's plan, she will side with the Earth people and aid in their attempted escape.

Again, production values during the Mars scenes are quite lovely in a pulp sci-fi kind of way, helped in large part by the use of Cinecolor. Costumes are attractive as well, with Marguerite Chapman an absolute knockout in her micro-mini uniform (Dr. Barker's lovelorn assistant Carol gets one too) and even Morris Ankrum looking spiffy in his stately Mars garb.

Societal norms of the time will either amuse or annoy various viewers (Carol regards Mars' domestic conveniences as "a heaven for women"), although the female characters are all noteworthy for their above-average intelligence.  

 

The film is aided immeasurably by the smoothly capable direction of Lesley Selander, one of the most prolific directors of all time who helmed most of the "Hopalong Cassidy" series as well as countless other westerns, while also venturing into other genres (THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST).

The Blu-ray from The Film Detective is restored via a 4K transfer sourced from the original 35mm Cinecolor separation negatives.  Bonus features consist of two new documentary shorts, "Walter Mirisch: From Bomba to Body Snatchers" and "Interstellar Travelogues: Cinema's First Space Race", an audio commentary by author/film historian Justin Humphreys, and a full-color insert booklet with essay, "Mars at the Movies" by award-winning author Don Stradley.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.

Despite a rather abrupt ending, FLIGHT TO MARS pays off with a final sequence that is exciting and suspenseful. The whole thing's as corny as can be at times, but that just adds to what amounts to one of the most absorbing and enjoyable space exploration yarns of the 1950s.




FLIGHT TO MARS

The Film Detective
Genre: Science-Fiction, Fantasy
Original Release: 1951 (Color)
Not Rated
Running Time: 72 Minutes
Language: English
Subtitles: English & Spanish
SRP: $24.95 (Blu-ray) / $19.95 (DVD)
Discs: 1
Release Date: July 20, 2021 (Pre-order now)
UPC Code:  760137572985 (Blu-ray) / 760137572893 (DVD)
Catalog #:  FBR1011 (Blu-ray) / FD1011 (DVD)

FLIGHT TO MARS (1951) -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

ARRIVAL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 2/19/17

 

There are at least two kinds of sci-fi movies that I love.  One is the slam-bang space opera with explosions in space, spaceships having dogfights in space, and/or space monsters destroying the world before returning to outer space.  These are awesome and I wouldn't dream of looking down my nose at them because they're just so much dumb fun.

The other kind of sci-fi movie I love is the kind that's good because it's just so much smart fun.  Movies such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, DEEP IMPACT, and CONTACT.  I love them because they present scintillating scenarios and ideas which are often both illuminating and, in the best cases, mind-expanding.  And they explore these things in relation to how they would affect humanity in the really-real world. 

With ARRIVAL (2016), you get all that in addition to the kind of intensely emotional situations that can only exist in science fiction.

Upon the arrival of 12 massive egg-shaped spaceships which park themselves over various locations around the world, linguistics expert Louise Banks (Amy Adams, THE MASTER, SUNSHINE CLEANING, STILL STANDING) is pressed into service by the government to help establish contact with the aliens, an experience that will dovetail in ways she can't yet imagine with the tragic death of her daughter Hannah, whom we see in fleeting flashbacks. 

Director Denis Villeneuve turns this into a gorgeously-photographed dreamlike journey for her and us in which we're never really able to recover from the disorienting unreality of the situation. 

The hard-edged military protocol of the base camp adjoining one of the ships (embodied by Forest Whitaker's no-nonsense "Colonel Weber") and all the scientific mumbo-jumbo that's thrown around only serve to make Louise's entry into the mysterious craft and her attempts to communicate with its ultra-strange occupants seems even more breathlessly surreal.

Memories of her daughter keep haunting her throughout the experience, visions which are seemingly unstuck in time as Louise is drawn into the aliens' non-linear concept of past, present, and future.  Scenes of her inside the cavernous spaceship, interacting with her otherworldly counterparts on an increasingly emotional level, are among the most compelling and thought-provoking of any I've seen in any sci-fi film.

In addition to this ARRIVAL deals in a fascinating way with the catastrophic effects such an event would have on humanity on a global scale.  Much of this is conveyed by news reports of violent societal upheaval (without, for once, a bunch of CNN personalities playing themselves badly) and the growing paranoia of various government leaders who are inching toward war against the outworlders. 

The juxtaposition between the genuine desire for peaceful understanding and empathy shown by Louise and her science-expert cohort Ian (Jeremy Renner, "Hawkeye" in the AVENGERS movies) and the increasingly hostile attitude displayed by Earth's military leaders is jarring.

It also leads to some of the film's most suspenseful and disturbing moments, especially when a mutinous faction within Colonel Weber's own ranks devises a plot to sabotage the ship.

But despite the dramatic urgency of this global countdown to interplanetary war, much of the story is devoted to diligent cerebral research and detective work along with Louise's own intense emotional journey through the whole experience and how profoundly it changes her life. 

Amy Adams is a joy to watch as she fully inhabits the role of the pensive yet passionate Louise, with Jeremy Renner providing capable support as Ian.  Forest Whitaker (THE MARSH, PAWN, CATCH .44, HURRICANE SEASON), of course, is pretty much a national treasure by now and can do no wrong.

SPFX are as fine as modern CGI can devise, but it's the full-scale ship interior that's most impressive.  I won't go into the appearance of the aliens or the nature of their written language, which both Louise and Ian struggle mightily to make sense of, but both are sufficiently bizarre.  All other aspects of the production are first-rate. 

The Blu-ray from Paramount Home Media Distribution is widescreen with Dolby 5.1 stereo in English, French, and Spanish and subtitles in English.  Also included is a download code for a digital HD copy.  Bonus features consist of lengthy featurettes (over 80 minutes total) including "Xenolinguistics: Understanding 'Arrival'", "Acoustic Signature: The Sound Design", "Eternal Recurrence: The Score", "Nonlinear Thinking: The Editing Process", and "Principles of Time, Memory, and Language."

ARRIVAL is slow and thoughtful, but continuously fascinating--it never lags or loses interest for those serious sci-fi lovers who are truly along for the ride.  And the ending delivers the kind of thought-provoking yet deeply emotional payoff that should leave them contemplating certain mysteries of life, love, and the universe for some time to come.  


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ARRIVAL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

GHOST IN THE SHELL 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 9/27/14

 

Visually stunning and thematically complex, 1995's intensely cinematic GHOST IN THE SHELL (Anchor Bay, 25th Anniversary Edition) is the kind of dazzling, "hard" sci-fi that doesn't hit the screen very often, and when it does it's often in the form of anime.

While obviously influenced by such films as BLADE RUNNER and that other anime classic AKIRA, GHOST has its own style and ambience that are often mesmerizing. After a pre-titles action sequence that's like something out of a futuristic Bond movie, the main titles show our young heroine, Major Motoko Kusanagi, during the laboratory creation of her cybernetic body in a womblike pool of chemicals.

She then rises naked from it as a sort of placental crust cracks off her body, while Kenji Kawai's ethereal musical score begins to weave its web. And thus we're given a preview of the mind-expanding artistic potential the film will go on to almost effortlessly fulfill.

As with a lot of serious anime, the overly-complicated and sometimes hard to follow plot is mainly a springboard for wildly imaginative, often impressionistic flights of artistic fancy along with some thought-provoking ideas. Set in 2029, the story concerns two secret government agencies whose conflicting agendas will clash in potentially devastating ways.

Major Kusanagi of the Internal Bureau of Investigations is tasked to track down a mysterious villain known as the Puppet Master, a kind of sentient computer virus who can infiltrate the mind of any human whose cyber-enhanced brain is hooked into the system, taking over their will and giving them false memories.

Major Kusanagi is aided in her mission by a hulking, gray-haired mentor named Batou and brawny but easygoing Togusa, who all take part in a frentic chase scene early on which explores just how imaginatively this medium can be used in depicting bullet-riddled vehicular mayhem with the power to thrill in ways that live-action films rarely can. (THE MATRIX and THE FIFTH ELEMENT, on which this film is a distinct influence, come close.)

As the secrets behind the Puppet Master unfold (which I can't reveal without spoiling some of the film's most compelling surprises), GHOST IN THE SHELL offers a seemingly endless procession of eye-pleasing and mind-expanding sci-fi sights, sounds, and concepts. Every once in a while, there's a montage of images that the viewer gets lost in, or a deep, intimate conversation about mortality that can only be engaged in by a couple of cyborgs whose consciousness resides within cybernetic brains.

Kusanagi is particularly contemplative regarding identity since both her body and brain are almost entirely synthetic. Is she even human at all anymore? And since she's connected to the 'net like any other computer, her mind is vulnerable to being hacked by the Puppet Master at any time--if it hasn't been already.

How does she know her memories are real, or that what's she is experiencing at present is really happening? Her potential invasion and subjugation by an unseen force is one of the film's major dramatic concerns, which will eventually lead to an ending which, while somewhat unexpectedly low-key, is intellectually stimulating to say the least.

Directed by Mamoru Oshii (AVALON, ASSAULT GIRLS), the visuals are the work of animators from Production I.G. (BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, KAIDOHMARU, KILL BILL). The story is based upon Masamune Shirow's original manga. While I usually prefer straight cel animation to a cel-CGI mixture, the digital stuff is used sparingly--mainly for computer readouts and such--and the overall effect is just so eye-pleasing and finely-rendered that it's visually irresistible.

The Blu-ray disc from Anchor Bay and Starz is in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 English and 2.0 Japanese audio and English subtitles. The disc is barebones with no bonus features. The disc case contains an illustrated booklet with a Mamoru Oshii interview and two essays, "The World of Ghost in the Shell" and "The Impact of Ghost in the Shell."

Not a children's "cartoon" by any means (it, as they say, "contains violence, nudity, and adult themes"), GHOST IN THE SHELL lavishes the viewer with moments of beauty and contemplation which explore the emotional limits of animation while also generating explosive, edge-of-your-seat action. Like all really good science-fiction, it's both visceral and sublime.

GHOST IN THE SHELL 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

GHOST IN THE SHELL -- Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD Review by Porfle

Originally posted in 2017

 

Futuristic sci-fi thrillers such as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, BLADE RUNNER, and the more recent THE FIFTH ELEMENT used to amaze and astound us with their eye-popping visuals and stunning practical effects. Nowadays, such fare is so overloaded with CGI-generated artificial wonders jam-packed into every frame that we tend to get numbed by it all. 

GHOST IN THE SHELL (2017)--a live-action adaptation of the original manga by way of the excellent 1995 animated version--starts out that way, cluttered with too many whiz-bang visuals that don't always seem to exist in the real world, with the ever-present advertising motif of BLADE RUNNER taken to new extremes and a sort of architectural imagination gone mad.

As the film progresses, however, we settle in and adapt to this frenetic, plastic vision of the future, mainly because the theme of the story is technology gone too far--people becoming willing cyborgs for vanity and convenience and all connected body and mind to a central core--and the main characters are meant to feel alienated by it as well. 

Our heroine, Major Mira Killian (Scarlett Johansson) of the anti-terrorist group Section 9, is especially attuned to such feelings, being that she is the first successful fusion of a human brain with an entirely robotic body (i.e., a "ghost in the shell") and thus constantly conflicted as to how much of her humanity remains and what percent of her is pure machine connected to the company mainframe. 

Her inner conflict is heightened when her group's newest nemesis is a cyber-criminal named Kuze who can hack into any system including all cyborgs--meaning just about everybody to one degree or another--and service robots. 

His goal is revenge, which he wreaks to the extreme in some explosive action setpieces.  But exactly why remains a mystery until Mira and her team manage to fight their way right into his sinister clutches and discover the truth behind not only Kuze but their own organization.

Scarlett Johansson strikes the right balance between robotic demeanor and inner conflict, which she underplays until it's time to delve headlong into her action scenes.  These lack the angular inventiveness and quirky choreography of, say, THE MATRIX, but are still packed with satisfying excitement in their own way, replete with gunplay and hand-to-hand combat with sci-fi elements such as invisibility and advanced weaponry. 

"Beat" Takeshi Kitano (BATTLE ROYALE, VIOLENT COP) lends his considerable presence as Mira's boss, Aramaki, as does Juliette Binoche--who will always be Catherine Earnshaw of 1992's WUTHERING HEIGHTS to me--as Dr. Ouelet, the head scientist who created Mira and regards her as a daughter.  Pilou Asbæk is also good as Mira's partner Batou, a gruff, bearlike agent who's just a regular guy beneath it all. 

Mira's quest to find herself, to uncover suppressed memories of her former life and get to the truth of why and how she was created, eventually takes GHOST IN THE SHELL to a place that's both powerful and tragic, lending emotional depth to its final chaotic showdown between good and evil (traits which will shift their meaning considerably before it's over). 

The 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD set from Paramount is in 1080p high definition (DVD is widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs) with Dolby 5.1 stereo and subtitles in multiple languages.  The DVD contains the feature film only.  The Blu-ray disc contains the feature plus three bonus behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Visually and emotionally compelling, the live-action GHOST IN THE SHELL never quite reaches the sublime beauty of its animated predecessor but tries its damndest to do so.  In this, it succeeds in being a lively, thought-provoking, and often dazzling entry in the dystopian-future sci-fi genre which fans won't want to miss.


Street Date:      July 7, 2017 (Digital HD) July 25, 2017 (4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD) 
U.S. Rating:    PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, suggestive content and some disturbing images
Canadian Rating: PG, not recommended for young children, violence


Read our original coverage

GHOST IN THE SHELL -- Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD Review by Porfle

STAR TREK -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 5/19/09

 

As a self-described "Trekker" since "Star Trek: The Original Series" first warped into syndication, the prospect of this movie inspired in me feelings of both keen anticipation and dread. For years, many of us Trek fans have wanted a movie about the Starfleet Academy days of the original crew, but we wanted it to be true to the spirit of "Star Trek" while adhering to established canon.

Nowadays, however, such sentiments are likely to cause you to be labeled a "diehard Trek supergeek" and berated for being such a dour spoilsport nitpicking over details instead of sitting back and letting this flashy new thing carry you off on a wave of giddy delirium. Well, I don't mind being called a geek, but when other geeks call me a geek, then they need to shut up. In other words, you really can't point out the mote of dust in someone else's eye if you have an action figure stuck in yours.

Anyway, I went to see director J.J. Abrams' big, new, glittering, pulsating, eye-popping STAR TREK (2009) movie today, and I must say first of all that it is a grandly entertaining cherry-red fire engine of a space flick. Watching it is like getting up on Christmas morning and finding out that Santa Claus really went all out on your house because you were extra good that year. There's an endless parade of stunningly imaginative set design, amazing special effects, and some action setpieces that made me glad sci-fi movies were invented. The new USS Enterprise looks great on the outside, and the bright, snazzy interiors felt like home after I had some time to settle into them.

Best of all, there was actually a story buzzing around amidst all these cool state-of-the-art visuals. It involves an enormous Romulan warship that has elements of both (a scaled down) V'ger from STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and the Romulan warship "The Scimitar" from STAR TREK: NEMESIS, and a vengeful Romulan commander named Nero (Eric Bana) who is reminiscent of the vengeful Khan from STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN and the vengeful Romulan commander Shinzon from STAR TREK: NEMESIS. (An aside: the widely-reviled NEMESIS is one of my favorite Trek movies. Shows you what I know.) So basically, Nero is really pissed-off, he hates Earth, he hates Vulcan, he has a practically invincible starship that can travel through time and destroy worlds, and he's coming to get us. Check.

Meanwhile, we get to see young Kirk and Spock in their formative years, with Kirk a rebellious orphan born in battle and raised in Iowa, and Spock the half-Vulcan, half-human misfit who's unsure which path to take in life and must suffer discriminatory taunts from his full-Vulcan peers. Spock chooses to enter Starfleet (partly to spite the smug Vulcan tight-asses who patronizingly deem him fit to attend the Vulcan Science Academy despite his "inadequacies") while Kirk stumbles into it like a bull in a china closet.

We see Kirk cheating his way through that fabled Kobiyashi Maru test, meeting Spock under less-than-friendly circumstances, hitting on Uhura, and being whisked into a frantic mission to rescue the planet Vulcan from oblivion even though he's been suspended from duty, thanks to an obliging Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. Once aboard the Enterprise, of course, it isn't long before the young hot-shot proves himself Alpha Male #1 and is sitting in the captain's chair. But first, he must get forcibly ejected from the Enterprise in an escape pod, meet both Scotty and the original Leonard Nimoy version of Spock on an ice planet, get beamed back aboard the Enterprise during warp, and fight to the near-death against Spock to prove the emotion-prone Vulcan unfit for command.

Just how much of this sticks to that pesky "Star Trek" canon that us diehard supergeeks are so nitpicky about becomes irrelevent as soon as the time travel factor enters the equation. Nimoy's "Spock Prime" is there to remind us that whatever happened between the moment the TV series first became a gleam in Gene Roddenberry's eye to the last time Patrick Stewart said "Make it so" is now part of a different timeline that has gone on its merry way into history. Thanks to the Romulan villain Nero and his temporal meddling, we now have a Star Trek universe in which most of the old characters are still there but in which anything can happen.

This rules out what many of us have wished for over the years--a retro-Trek origin story that accurately sets up the later adventures with a steadfast adherence to continuity--but maybe by this point it's not such a bad approach to take. I certainly don't like the idea of ignoring the old fans who have been loyal to Star Trek for all these decades and courting new ones who don't care about its history. Indeed, if it weren't for us the show would've died back in the late 60s and we wouldn't even be discussing it as a big-budget summer blockbuster here in the 21st century.

But after seeing this modern reboot, and being, frankly, dazzled by it, I must say that J.J. Abrams and company seem to have had the old fans well in mind every step of the way. There's an awful lot about this movie that can only be appreciated by viewers who are already familiar with the characters and their history. And seeing all the little details fall into place, even if the fit is a good deal different this time around, is a satisfying experience.

As a film, STAR TREK is killer entertainment that starts out with a bang and doesn't let up. The pre-titles sequence is awesome, with the USS Kelvin under the command of Captain George Kirk going up against Nero's ship in a hopelessly one-sided battle while his wife is in sickbay giving birth to their son James. Later, there's a thrilling parachute freefall involving Kirk and Sulu over the planet Vulcan which leads to aerial hand-to-hand combat atop a drilling platform suspended miles in the air. (In one of several nods to the original series, Sulu even gets to display his fencing prowess here.) The space battles which occur throughout the film are intense, action-packed, and beautifully rendered. And as in Spock's demise in WRATH OF KHAN and the destruction of the Enterprise in THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, there are a couple of major death scenes here that are stunning and totally unexpected.

Perhaps the most important element in this film's success or failure is in the casting. Chris Pine captures the brash arrogance and boyish likability of James T. Kirk without doing a full-on Shatner impression, while Zachary Quinto seems to have been born to play the young Spock. Other actors--Zoe Saldana as Uhura, John Cho as Sulu, and Simon Pegg as Scotty--convey the essence of their characters while bearing little resemblance to their predecessors. As Pavel Chekov, Anton Yelchin manages to actually make me like the character for the first time ever, giving the proceedings a hefty dose of highly-effective comedy relief. Ben Cross and Winona Ryder aren't great as Spock's parents, but they're pretty good, and Bruce Greenwood makes a fine Captain Christopher Pike. Best of all, however, is Karl Urban as Leonard McCoy. He inhabits the role as though somehow possessed by the late DeForest Kelley, and it's a real pleasure to watch him forming an instant kinship with Kirk, developing his adversarial relationship with Spock, and saying things like "Dammit, I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" for the first time.

Somehow, though, I didn't find the film all that cathartic at the end. Maybe repeated viewings will change this, I don't know. It just didn't seem to do that "climax" and "denouement" thing as successfully as an adventure of this magnitude should, leaving me somewhat less than ecstatic after the fadeout. It could be that this hyperkinetic, visually intoxicating thrill ride lacked the kind of deep, emotional resonance that previous "Star Trek" movies have always had to one degree or another. Maybe these revamped characters and this rebooted universe are so new and unfamiliar that they aren't yet capable of making us feel the old magic. Maybe the emphasis on flash and sensation gives the whole enterprise a slightly superficial quality. Or, most likely, maybe we'll just have to wear this new pair of shoes for awhile before they start to feel as comfortable as the old ones.

STAR TREK -- Movie Review by Porfle

THE OUTER LIMITS: SEASON TWO -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/18/21

 

Currently watching: THE OUTER LIMITS: SEASON TWO (1964-65). This was one of the finest horror/sci-fi anthology series ever, produced by Leslie Stevens and "Psycho" screenplay author Joseph Stefano.

I remember watching these when I was a kid and more often than not being scared and/or profoundly intrigued by these mind-expanding episodes and their imaginative monsters.

Season two is said to be inferior to the first but so far I'm thoroughly enjoying it and finding that many of the episodes I remember most fondly come from this season. 

 

So far I've watched "Soldier", "Cold Hands, Warm Heart", "Behold Eck!", "Expanding Human", "Demon With A Glass Hand", "Cry of Silence", "Invisible Enemy", and "Wolf 359", with another old favorite "I, Robot" coming up next.

Sci-fi author Harlan Ellison wrote "Demon With A Glass Hand" and "Soldier", and won a settlement from James Cameron for the ideas Cameron lifted from them for his "Terminator" films. "Soldier" also greatly influenced the Kurt Russell movie of the same name.

Stories range from standard sci-fi (beleagured astronauts on Mars face an unseen killer in "The Invisible Enemy" with Adam West) to intense ethical crises (the intelligent robot on trial for murdering its creator in "I, Robot") to the just plain weird (Eddie Albert and June Havoc as a couple trapped in an isolated farmhouse by killer tumbleweeds in the horrific "Cry of Silence").

 

Lots of interesting actors pop up all over the place in these episodes (many would later appear on "Star Trek"). The special effects look a bit hokey at times but the technicians were working under the limitations of a rushed TV budget and, considering this, their work remains impressive, often frightening.

At its best, the show is both intellectually stimulating and nightmarish, the noirish black-and-white photography adding to its rich atmospheric quality. Even the lesser episodes are examples of a standard of television drama and production the likes of which have rarely been achieved.

THE OUTER LIMITS: SEASON TWO -- DVD Review by Porfle