Month: August 2016

Released: December 1977

Director: Steven Spielberg

Run Time: 135 Minutes

Rated PG

Composer: John Williams

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Cast:
Richard Dreyfuss: Roy Neary
Francois Truffaut: Claude Lacombe
Terri Garr: Ronnie Neary
Melinda Dillon: Jillian Guiler
Bob Balaban: David Laughlin

Interest in extra-terrestrial life has been around for decades.  In 1947, a mysterious object crash landed outside the city of Roswell, New Mexico.  While it was later determined that the object was used to monitor nuclear testing, that didn’t stop people from speculating that the object came from outer space.  In fact, when the military said that it was a “weather balloon,” a lot of people and conspiracy theorists got downright suspicious.  The idea that life could exist somewhere other than Earth invaded the imaginations of the United States and eventually, the world.  People really wanted to know if there really was extra-terrestrial life out there somewhere.  A lot of the movies that were released the following decade reflected that mentality and idea, the most famous of which was The Day The Earth Stood Still.  Alien invasion also started entering the picture and the whole science fiction genre took off.  It hasn’t slowed down one bit.  In 1977, a little known director named George Lucas released a small film that changed the way movies were made:  Star Wars.  Later that year, Steven Spielberg would release his own little sci-fi movie: Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Close Encounters opens in the middle of the Mexican desert, when a number of US government officials discover that World War II planes had appeared right out of nowhere in the middle of the night.  Meanwhile, in Indiana, an electrical worker by the name of Roy Neary is on his way to help fix a problem at a certain junction when he sees mysterious lights in above his truck.  His truck begins to shake and rattle, and then it all stops and the lights move on down the road.  Stunned and curious by what he has seen, he tries to follow the lights.  He then realizes that he’s not the only one who has seen this phenomenon and attempts to try and discover what it all means and why it happened.  The story in Close Encounters is really good.  This is not your typical science fiction film.  It’s kind of slow, but it’s more focused on the characters and how they are affected by certain events.  What makes this movie so interesting to me, is that there’s no villain.  There really isn’t.  The closest you’ve got is the US government, but here they are trying keep people away to prevent panic.  That makes sense.  At the same time, they are trying to find a way to communicate with the visitors instead of just blasting them out of the sky.  That’s what separates this movie from a lot of other science fiction pictures.  You see the same thing from different sides, and Spielberg manages to bring it together almost flawlessly.

Part of what really drives this film are the performances.  Richard Dreyfuss’ character of Roy Neary starts out as a regular guy who likes to do sculptures in his free time.  After his first encounter with the visitors, we see his mental state crumble because he becomes obsessed with finding the truth.  This obsession has such a clear and terrifying effect on his family that they leave him.  Richard Dreyfuss is a phenomenal actor and he puts everything that he’s got into this role.  Terri Garr plays Roy’s wife, who becomes scared of her husband’s manic behavior.  The late Francois Truffaut is fantastic as Lacombe.  His character’s a scientist, but he also comes across as very sympathetic as he understands why the people that had close encounters want to see what happens next.  There’s a lot of stellar performances here, even a brief bit from Lance Henriksen who would go on to play the android Bishop in Aliens.  Overall, the acting’s pretty solid across the board.

Now, I said earlier that the performances help drive the movie forward, but what really sells the whole thing are the visuals.  I’m telling you, for a movie that’s nearly 40 years old, the visual effects are astounding.  Why?  It’s all done without CG.  This was 1977, CGI really wasn’t a thing back then.  This is a very colorful movie.  The lights and ships are all very distinct and different from each other.  One of the coolest effects I’ve ever seen was when a young boy was getting abducted by the visitors.  The visitors arrived in this very ominous cloud and there were lights flashing in it.  It was spectacular.  They save the best sequence for last, when they finally make contact.  All the alien ships show up and fly around being totally cool.  Then the mother ship arrives, and holy smokes is that thing huge.  The special effects by Douglas Trumbull are second-to-none.  The scale is absolutely insane.  This is all set against the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.

The music plays a very important part in this film.  Not just because of the background score by John Williams, which is absolutely fantastic, but it plays a huge part in trying to communicate with the aliens.  You have to listen to it to understand:

The last time I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind was when I was about 6 or 7.  That’s quite a long time.  What I did remember was the ending of the film with that huge ship and the conversations the people and the visitors using tones and music.  I remember it being very captivating.  Having seen it again about 27 years later, it’s still one of the most spectacular movies I have ever seen.  It’s not an action movie, but it is exciting.  There’s a level joyfulness and optimism in the movie that we really haven’t seen since.  Yeah, Star Trek featured an optimistic future, but Close Enounters asks what would happen if we were visited NOW.  I think the movie is just as important today as it was during the late 70s.  This is an astounding film in every aspect.  It’s one that you can watch with your family and your kids, even though you may want to plug their ears as there is some language in the movie, but it is SO visually distinctive that no one has made a movie quite like this before or since.  I can’t recommend this movie enough.  It has to be seen to be believed.  If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?  Get out there and rent or better yet, BUY it.  This is one of the rare movies that I don’t give a score for.  Why should I?  It’s so imaginative, fun, exciting and unique.  It gets it all right.  It’s a classic in every sense of the word.

“These are continuing voyages of the starship Enterprise.  Her ongoing mission:  To explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life forms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

60 years ago, a man named Gene Roddenberry created a neat little science fiction show called Star Trek.  Taking place over 200 years into the future, Star Trek featured a universe in which mankind was united in exploring the galaxy in a government known as the United Federation of Planets.  In 1966, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy,  James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, and DeForest Kelley starred as the main crew of the USS Enterprise.  The original series lasted only 3 years, but it left an amazing impression on the world.  It was very well received by fans from all walks of life.  Why was it so popular?  Why was it influential?  One of the most obvious answers, is that the show featured an extremely diverse cast of characters.  You had Uhura, who was African-American.  Povel Chekhov was Russian and Sulu was Asian-American.  The show came out in a time when people were not only fighting for civil rights, but we were taking on a global threat that was Communism, which included the Russians.  It was extraordinary to see such an ethnically diverse group of people unite on a ship like the Enterprise.  Not only that, but Star Trek would also feature some technology that wouldn’t come into existence until the mid to late 90s.  Cell phones, anybody?  Gene Roddenberry was ahead of his time.  He envisioned a future in which everybody came together for common cause, and such optimism was unusual in a syndicated television show.

While the cultural significance of Star Trek is very important, that’s not just what the show and subsequent franchise was about.  It was about exploration.  Not just the galaxy, but of ideas and philosophies; some of which are still significant.  The franchise took us beyond the stars and explored what could be.  After the original show ended in 1969, a decade would pass before we would see another Star Trek story.  When Star Wars was released in 1977, Paramount Studios used this an opportunity to craft their own epic space saga in a full feature-length film.  In 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released to audiences world-wide to an understandably mixed reaction.  While people had issues with the film, it was still an important piece of Star Trek history.  The game changed when Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released in 1982.  This was the film that fans were hoping for and it was a smash hit.  Star Trek has recently celebrated its 50th birthday with the release of the new Star Trek Beyond film.  While I would make a post specifically for why I love Star Trek, I believe it would easier for me to give you examples of why I love this franchise.  Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on Star Wars, but I also grew up on Star Trek as well, so I have feet planted firmly in both camps.  For this episode of The Best, I will be including not just the movies, but also some of the television series as well, since the franchise spans both TV and movies.  I will be featuring specific episodes from the original series and The Next Generation on the TV side of things.  This is The Best of Star Trek.

Star Trek: The Original Series:

Balance of Terror:

This is the first episode of Star Trek that featured Romulans, the off-shoot of Vulcans like Mr. Spock.  While they wouldn’t get a look at the actual Romulans until about half-way through the episode, the reveal was nothing less than shocking.  Featuring Mark Lenard as the captain of the Romulan warship, the episode high-lighted several concepts including bigotry in the 23rd century.  When the Romulans were revealed, one of the Enterprise’s crew members accused Spock of being one of the enemy, due to the physical similarities that the Vulcans and Romulans shared.  It was also a very intense episode.  It was by far, one of the best episodes of Star Trek.

Space Seed

This particular episode is special to many, many fans, because it features a villain unlike any other:  Khan Noonien Singh.  Khan was a genetically engineered super-soldier from the 1990s(Star Trek universe, of course)lost in space.  He was incredibly intelligent, fast and strong.  He was also believe that he was genetically superior to the rest of humanity.  Not only does Khan give Kirk a run for his money, he becomes a personal villain to Captain Kirk.  Ricardo Montalban was incredible as Khan.  The name of the episode is strangely prophetic as Khan would return in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  That was the first Star Trek film to be directly linked to an episode of the original series.  Khan has become one of the greatest villains in cinematic history.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

After the cancellation of the original series in 1969, and the release of 5 Star Trek films, production began on a new Star Trek series that takes place a hundred years after the original series.  The new show debuted in 1987 with a new cast of characters.  Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander Riker, Worf, Deanna Troi, Doctor Beverly Crusher and the android, Data would take the lead in the new series which lasted 7 seasons.  With better visual effects, sleeker ships and a larger budget, Star Trek: The Next Generation would prove to be just as significant and amazing as the original show.  While the first season was a little rough around the edges, it was still pretty good.  Season 2 is where things really picked up.

Q-Who?

When a show introduces a new villain, you would expect that villain to be memorable, hopefully.  In Q-Who?, the crew of the Enterprise-D is introduced to one of the Federation’s most devastating enemies:  The Borg.  The Borg come into play when the god-like Q flings the Enterprise 7,000 light years away from their current position and encounter a force that is pretty much unstoppable.  This episode is important for a number of reasons.  The Federation finally comes up against a foe that they’re not entirely certain they can defeat and one that conquers and assimilates entire civilizations.  This encounter impacts the series as a whole, and it has an effect upcoming episodes.

The Best of Both Worlds Parts I and II

These episodes are by far the most significant in the entire Next Generation series.  Why?  Because this story arc did things that few people have seen before in television.  The main hero of the series is captured and turned into one of the enemy, which was shocking for a lot of people, but The Best of Both Worlds Part I ended Season 3 on a cliff-hanger.  Nobody had ever done anything like that before in television history.  It was a huge risk, leaving people hanging for the conclusion, which wouldn’t happen for another few months.  People had speculated and had theories on what would happen.  When Season 4 opened with the conclusion of the story, it blew people away.  It was important for a number of reasons.  For one, it changed Captain Picard on a personal level.  He was essentially violated and stripped of his humanity, and that has a lasting effect throughout the rest of the series.  He HATES the Borg because of what they have done.  The feature film, Star Trek: First Contact essentially brings his relationship to the Borg to a head and to a satisfying conclusion.  When it comes The Next Generation, these are the two episodes that I like to watch over and over again.  They’re that good, and represent some of the best of what Star Trek has to offer.

While I’m sure some of you might be disappointed that I didn’t feature any episodes from Deep Space Nine, Voyager, or Enterprise, these are the most significant Star Trek episodes for me.  These are the ones that I found to be the best in the television side of the franchise.  Deep Space Nine, I think, will get its own post, because their is way too much going on in that series for a single post.  There will be more posts about Star Trek in the near future, so stay tuned.  The adventure is just beginning.

Released: May 2016(USA)

Director: Soi Cheang

Not Rated

Run Time: 121 Minutes

Distributor: Well Go USA

Genre: Action, Drama, Martial Arts

Cast:
Tony Jaa: Chatchai
Wu Jing: Chan Chi-Kit
Simon Yam: Chan Kwok-Wah
Zhang Jin: Ko Hung
Louis Koo: Hung Mun-Gong

About 11-12 years ago, a very interesting martial arts movie was released.  In Hong Kong, the film was released as SPL or Sha Po Lang.  The film was kind of a film noir crossed with kung fu.  It starred Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, and Sammo Hung.  It was considered to be one of the best martial arts movies of that year in Hong Kong, with Donnie Yen providing the fight choreography.  When I first saw it, I LOVED it.  It was an atypical kung fu movie that focused more on the characters and the story rather than the action.  Oh, there was definitely action.  It was some of the best action I had seen in years.  The fight between Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung was one for the ages.  It was THAT damned good.  But the fight between Yen and up-and-comer Wu Jing is one of the most memorable fight scenes I’ve ever seen.  The story was complex with the characters having a hidden agenda, and the finale of the film was shocking.  It was not something I was expecting.  So, jump forward about 11 years and we finally get a follow-up film…..of sorts.  The film?  SPL 2: A Time For Consequences or Kill Zone 2 as it’s called in the West.  Let’s see how this one stacks up to the original, shall we?

The story begins as a young and pregnant women is abducted and brought to a warehouse.  A man with a weak heart is in the waiting room of a hospital waiting to see if the girl’s heart is compatible with his.  The girl is then brought to Thailand and placed in the “care” of a warden who is also tied to the underground organ trafficking ring.  In the same prison, a guard, Chatchai is trying to find a way to save his daughter’s life, because she has leukemia and needs a donor.  In Hong Kong, an undercover cop, Kit, has become a drug addict in order to infiltrate the Triads.  His goal is to save the life of a businessman who happens to be the only donor available for the man with the weak heart.  To go any further into the story would really spoil it, so I won’t do that.  What I will say is that like the original film, the story in SPL 2(I’ll only refer to it by that name) is surprisingly complex with quite a few interesting twists and turns.  It’s not very often that you have an action movie with a very compelling story.  It’s pretty good.

The acting in the film is uniformly excellent.  Everybody brings their A-game.  Simon Yam is phenomenal as the detective who sent Kit in to infiltrate the mob.  The character has a lot of depth and is surprisingly very sympathetic.  Zhang Jin plays the warden with a straight face.  This guy is not to be messed.  Jin is a phenomenal martial artist and actor.  Given his performance in Ip Man 3 and this one, I expect many great things from this guy.  He’s captivating to say the least.  Louis Koo plays the main villain, Hung Mun-Gong.  Koo has played MANY different roles over the course of his career, but never before have I seen him play such an incredibly evil person.  This is not the kind of guy that will flinch at murdering people of any age to save his own skin.  Not a nice guy at all.  I would never have expected it, but Tony Jaa is allowed to flex his acting muscles, and he is extraordinarily convincing as the prison guard who is trying to save his daughter’s life.  Considering that Tony Jaa is a father himself, that really helps ground his performance and makes him a compelling character.  Wu Jing is absolutely amazing as Kit.  Not only is he physically capable, but when you see how he reacts to certain situations, you really feel that his character is in some seriously deep trouble, and you root for the guy to succeed.  As I said, the acting is really freaking good, and when you combine that with a top-notch story, you have a very compelling experience.

Considering that SPL 2 features some pretty top-notch martial arts actors, you would expect the fighting to be amazing.  Amazing it is.  The first time you see Tony Jaa and Wu Jing mix it up in the prison, you kinda know what sort of action movie you’re in for.  Now, to be fair, the story and characters are front-and-center while the fighting is secondary.  The story needs to drive the action.  You have to get a feeling for the characters if you expect them to get out of a fight alive.  The fight choreography is fast and brutal.  Tony Jaa is in top form with his unique Muay Thai skills.  This guy knows how to move.  Wu Jing is fast and furious and goes toe-to-toe with some of the best martial arts actors out there.  He has a bit of a flashy style but it’s mostly grounded.  Zhang Jin is clearly a fantastic martial artist and he is more than up to the challenge.  He goes up against Tony Jaa and Wu Jing in one of the most bad-ass fights I’ve seen in a while.  The downside, is that Zhang Jin ends up using a lot of wire-work for his moves, and I don’t think he really needs them.  While it’s not overly distracting, it does bring the fight down a little bit.

I really, really wanted to like this one, and it come through.  It is by far, one of the most compelling action movies I’ve seen in years.  Is it as good as the previous movie?  Not really, but it’s only a sequel in name only, so comparing to the original is kinda strange.  Regardless of the name, this is an absolute blast of a film.  Tony Jaa is really at the top of his game right now.  Since his breakout role in 2003’s Ong-Bak, he has not shown any signs of slowing down.  He may have hit a few bumps along the way, but with movies like Furious 7, SPL 2, and the upcoming xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, Tony Jaa is finally coming into his own as an action star and actor.  So….do I recommend SPL 2?  Hell, yes I do.  This movie rocks.  My final verdict is an 8.5/10.