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Reviews
Star Trek: Discovery: New Eden (2019)
The first stale whiff...
Before the titles even began on this episode I had a feeling of over-familiarity with the set-up. It's the kind of episode that was done ad-nauseum during the Berman/Piller/Braga era of Star Trek. Imagine my zero-surprise then to see during the titles that Jonathan Frakes was directing (his second episode); yet another indicator that the ship is being steered back into the stagnant waters which killed Star Trek in the first place.
With a story by Akiva Goldsman (the prolific professional hack with a long list of stinkers to his name---and, to his credit, a well-deserved Oscar for A Beautiful Mind), this entire episode seems to have been devised from the ground up as a break from Discovery's refreshing take on Trek to placate slighted old-skool trekkers who find the overhaul a bit too radical.
Star Trek: Discovery has been a joy until now; a fresh breeze that wafted away the staleness of well over two-dozen seasons (more than 700 episodes) of its predecessors, and ignited a spark of excitement in me for a Trek show (though I, too, throw my lot in with the crowd who dislike the overly-zealous klingon redesign).
The revitalization of Star Trek on TV is still in its cups (and CBS seems ready to unleash a torrent of Trek upon us with its announcements of 3 new Star Trek shows to prop up its streaming service), so it's pretty disheartening to see a return to worn out old narratives and tropes in only its 17th episode.
That said... it is only one episode. Hopefully though it's not a sign of things to come.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
More Pathos than Petroleum...
Mel Gibson's final outing as Max Rockatanski comes in for a lot of undeserved stick. Following on from The Road Warrior--a film which created a much-imitated cinematic aesthetic of its own (I'm looking at you Waterworld and Steel Dawn)--Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome finds Max having to shoulder a mantle of responsibility he doesn't want.
Lacking any of the high-octane action of its predecessors until its final act, Beyond Thunderdome is a noticeably more emotional affair. This can perhaps be attributed to George Miller famously losing his passion for the film (after the death of his long time friend and producer in a helicopter crash while scouting locations for this movie) and standing aside to let George Ogilvie take the reins, though Miller would stay on to direct the action sequences. The pathos of characters like Pig Killer (enslaved for trying to 'feed the kids'-- a man whose life means less than swine) moments like Blaster's 'reveal' and Savannah's tell of the children escaping a 'Pox- eclipse' (especially the children chanting Captain Walker's final message, literally carved in stone, before he set out into the wasteland with 20 other survivors-- presumably the last adults--to seek help) and the arrival in the ruined dust-bowl of what was once Australia's Sydney Harbour, particularly tug on the heart strings.
Despite this, Beyond Thunderdome's action is still excellent. The Thunderdome sequence may be the most unique spin on gladiatorial combat ever conceived, and the final chase, though short and literally 'on rails' is still an exciting, brutal pursuit.
By introducing the children at the oasis and changing its focus, Beyond Thunderdome has come in for the same criticism levelled at Return of the Jedi: going cutesy. But the kids of Crack in the Earth become a responsibility Max has to shoulder, when--in their naive optimism--a small group of them leave in the night to find home, he follows them into the wastes to save their lives. In his choice, Max completes a character arc, from a vengeful husband and father, to aimless, selfish, burned-out drifter, to a man who literally leads a small exodus and whose self-sacrifice saves the others. Perhaps due to American dollars helping finance the flick, some goofy humour drips in--some slapstick skillet-to-the-face jokes, some schadenfreude moments (usually at Angry Anderson's character Ironbar's expense, though a poor spectator of the Thunderdome match also springs to mind as I write)--changing the tone somewhat compared to its beloved predecessor. I love this flick and genuinely think it's on a par with The Road Warrior. It has its own identity and emotional arc which I find really satisfying. Maurice Jarre's score is superb, from the clanging, jarring (no pun intended) percussion of the entrance to bartertown, to the orchestral strains of skyraft and the lament for Sydney Harbour, Jarre helps to heighten the emotional core of the movie.
All in all, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is a fitting end to Gibson's tenure as Max: it has heart, it has action, it has a few surprises (like the fact that Tina Turner can genuinely act) and deserves to be viewed in a better light.
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
More of the same, really... *mild spoilers*
Joss Whedon delivers his swan song in the Marvel cinematic universe with more of the same that made the first Avengers fun. Admittedly, although this is supposed to be setting up phase 3 leading to 2018/2019's Avengers: Infinity War parts 1 & 2, it is painted on a decidedly smaller canvas than its predecessor. Aside from a brief jaunt to a metaphysical realm for Thor, almost all of the action is earth bound. No Alien juggernauts or floaty asteroid realms here, folks. No Loki. And it really does feel like more of the same. The hordes of more or less identical Chitauri from the first flick are replaced by hordes of ACTUAL identical robots to serve as the cannon fodder. And fist fodder. And laser fodder, and lightning fodder--you get the idea. Some of the same beats are repeated, too, with the obligatory Avenger vs. Avenger smackdown in the second act. The interplay between the characters is where its heart is at, and is really Whedon's forté. There's a blossoming romance, some nice back and forth banter. The odd one-liner that's worth a chuckle or two. Like I said before: more of the same. My biggest complaint comes into the money shots; Whedon's whirlwind shots of all the Avengers standing together, facing down the faceless robotic hordes left me a little overwhelmed--there was so much happening so fast--debris flying, lasers shooting, lightning, bullets, arrows, people, robots-- it honestly felt for a moment like a Michael Bay Transformers flick overload assaulting my senses. And he's still doing those damn ugly dutch angles just to squeeze all the action into the frame sometimes. But did I enjoy it? Yes mostly. Even if I felt I had seen most of it before in the first flick (also, Superman Returns immediately came to mind when Ultron puts his plan into motion). Ultimately though, I am glad Whedon is handing over the reins, because you can feel that he's not as hungry with his second serving as he was with his first.
Oh, and btw, those rumours of a post-credit cameo for Spider-man were just pie in the sky, so you don't need to stay in the theatre until after the credits have finished rolling.
Event Horizon (1997)
Okay movie, but owes huge debt to better film makers
Paul WS Anderson has never been shy of inviting people to compare his work (unworthily) to Ridley Scott and James Cameron's time and time again, but Event Horizon, whilst starting off with an unashamedly barefaced 'homage' to Alien's blue collar vibe, owes more to John Carpenter than anyone else. Admittedly Anderson telegraphs this from the opening expositional text, which, like Carpenter's seminal Escape from New York, ends with the year it's set in before declaring that its future setting is actually (a very meta) NOW (something Neil Marshall would repeat in his EfNY/Carpenter homage, Doomsday). The whole flick could be summed up as '2010: Odyssey 2 meets Prince of Darkness' with a little Stanley Kubrick touch added here or there. So, no points for originality then, as Anderson begins his lifelong career choice of associating himself with better and more successful directors. But, despite all this, the movie isn't the train wreck it perhaps deserved to be. Most of the actors throw themselves into their (underdeveloped) roles and, aside from some wooden dialogue and ham-fisted exposition, do a mostly decent job. The special FX are passable, again apart from some ropey effects of liquid suspended in zero gravity. There's a few decent jump scares and a foreboding atmosphere actually more subtle than you would really expect from Anderson. Make up and gore effects were decent too. I'm not a fan of Anderson, and have resisted watching Event Horizon for years, despite repeated recommendations,. But having watched it now, I can happily say I found it his most watchable flick, even though as I write this it's now 18 years old. Is it great? No. Terrible? No. Slightly above average? Yeah, that's fair. But I suppose your work will be elevated too when you stand on the shoulders of giants.