[ S1:E12 "Fire" <<< Season 1 >>> S1:E14 "Gender Bender" ]
This episode, in which we meet Scully's parents, can probably be considered the first of many that puts Scully through the ringer. She and Mulder investigate what appears to be a straightforward case for once - a run-of-the-mill
serial killer - except that their lead informant is a death row inmate who claims to be psychic (kind of a Silence of the Lambs but with a twist). But, unusually, an up close encounter with the paranormal puts Scully in the believer's chair for once, contrasting with Mulder's rare skepticism, as he is convinced that this man - whom he was responsible for putting behind bars - is a fraud.
The psychic death row inmate is played to fantastic effect by veteran character actor Brad Dourif (who also appeared in an episode of Millenium, and cemented his reputation for playing slimy characters by portraying Wormtongue in Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Lord of the Rings) - almost to the point of taking the spotlight off of Gillian Anderson. I feel kind of bad now that I underrated the emotional impact of Scully's struggles in my recent analysis of this show, because, without any mention of alien abductions or government conspiracy, this episode manages to be as powerful as any I've seen during my rewatch yet - every bit the equal, if not surpassing, Fallen Angel.
Memorable quotes:
Mulder: Open yourself up to extreme possibilities only when it's the truth.
Mulder: Dana, after all you've seen, after all the evidence, why can't you believe?
Scully: I'm afraid. I'm afraid to believe.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Spoiler note: If you're like me and prefer to go into a movie without knowing too much about what to expect, in the hopes of being surprised, you might want to skip this review until after you've seen it. Otherwise, read on.
If there's one thing that disappointed me about Terminator Salvation, it's that it ended too early - it didn't go far enough to show John Connor sending Kyle Reese back in time to initiate the events of the original Terminator movie - which would have been an effective ending to the series. Of course, that left some room for yet another sequel, which is precisely where Terminator Genisys picks up. Jason Clarke is a scar-faced John Connor, leading the final battle against Skynet, which culminates in a hijacking of the time displacement device, which Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent through, back to 1984, to stop the Terminator that was just sent through to kill John's mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) before he was born.
But just as Kyle is about to hop the timeline, something goes wrong. If the first act of Terminator Genisys looks like it's shaping up to be a badass remake of The Terminator, and a reboot of the franchise, the second act plays out like a greatest hits of the first two Terminator movies (complete with state-of-the-art special effects), and finally addresses a long-standing plothole in the series - if the T-800 couldn't do the trick, why not send the T-1000 against a young Sarah Connor, instead of waiting until John is born? And this movie does it one better - the T-1000 is sent to take out Sarah while she is just a child! But it still doesn't succeed, and, contrary to expectations, what Kyle encounters in 1984 is a very different Sarah Connor than the one we saw in the first movie.
We still get Arnold Schwarzenegger as a sympathetic, reprogrammed Terminator - with a satisfying explanation as to its aged appearance, that becomes even more poignant when our leads, minus their cybernetic bodyguard (who is forced to take the long way), hop time to face the final confrontation in 2017 against a delayed Judgment Day (borrowing a thread from Terminator 3), by putting the kibosh on Cyberdyne Systems on the eve of the unveiling of Genisys - Skynet's newest alias, and the ultimate killer app to which the human population is all too eager to hand over control of their digital devices. And, of course, they'll have an all-new state-of-the-art Terminator to deal with - the newest upgrade, with similar capabilities to the T-1000, but unprecedented integration with its human tissue (and therefore greater intelligence and infiltration capabilities) via an army of nanomachines.
If the first half of this movie builds up to something of a time crisis of conflicting timelines, the second half unfortunately falls back into formula, treading ground that we've seen before at least twice already. But it's still more thrilling than any of the previous sequels it imitates. And while those other movies took the consistent time travel logic of the first movie and mucked it up, this movie does a very respectable job of repairing the timeline, even finally hinting at the genesis of the liquid metal technology, and the creation of an alternate time machine from which all these extra time-hopping Terminators originated from. The only remaining mystery is exactly who reprogrammed that sympathetic model 101, and why. But while the ending appears to be as conclusive as that of Terminator 2 (and we all know how that worked out), the movie closes with a piece of obvious sequel bait.
I would have been satisfied to see this movie finally close the series on a high note, but of course capitalism doesn't work that way. I don't hold much hope that yet another Terminator movie can improve on what this one accomplished, but it might be possible if they're willing to take some risks, like Terminator Salvation did, and not simply follow formula. I would kill to see another Terminator like the first one, but I fear that's impossible, now that the franchise has grown beyond the first movie's relatively small scope. But if anything, it's promising that this movie got so many things right, and nixed the tendency to push too far over into self-parody, and maintain a serious - if still sometimes respectably funny - tone (primarily with the characterization of the good Terminator). This is, in my opinion, the best Terminator sequel out there. It doesn't usurp the position of the original Terminator, which is still my favorite, but I thought it was even better than Terminator 2, for what that's worth.
If there's one thing that disappointed me about Terminator Salvation, it's that it ended too early - it didn't go far enough to show John Connor sending Kyle Reese back in time to initiate the events of the original Terminator movie - which would have been an effective ending to the series. Of course, that left some room for yet another sequel, which is precisely where Terminator Genisys picks up. Jason Clarke is a scar-faced John Connor, leading the final battle against Skynet, which culminates in a hijacking of the time displacement device, which Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent through, back to 1984, to stop the Terminator that was just sent through to kill John's mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) before he was born.
But just as Kyle is about to hop the timeline, something goes wrong. If the first act of Terminator Genisys looks like it's shaping up to be a badass remake of The Terminator, and a reboot of the franchise, the second act plays out like a greatest hits of the first two Terminator movies (complete with state-of-the-art special effects), and finally addresses a long-standing plothole in the series - if the T-800 couldn't do the trick, why not send the T-1000 against a young Sarah Connor, instead of waiting until John is born? And this movie does it one better - the T-1000 is sent to take out Sarah while she is just a child! But it still doesn't succeed, and, contrary to expectations, what Kyle encounters in 1984 is a very different Sarah Connor than the one we saw in the first movie.
We still get Arnold Schwarzenegger as a sympathetic, reprogrammed Terminator - with a satisfying explanation as to its aged appearance, that becomes even more poignant when our leads, minus their cybernetic bodyguard (who is forced to take the long way), hop time to face the final confrontation in 2017 against a delayed Judgment Day (borrowing a thread from Terminator 3), by putting the kibosh on Cyberdyne Systems on the eve of the unveiling of Genisys - Skynet's newest alias, and the ultimate killer app to which the human population is all too eager to hand over control of their digital devices. And, of course, they'll have an all-new state-of-the-art Terminator to deal with - the newest upgrade, with similar capabilities to the T-1000, but unprecedented integration with its human tissue (and therefore greater intelligence and infiltration capabilities) via an army of nanomachines.
If the first half of this movie builds up to something of a time crisis of conflicting timelines, the second half unfortunately falls back into formula, treading ground that we've seen before at least twice already. But it's still more thrilling than any of the previous sequels it imitates. And while those other movies took the consistent time travel logic of the first movie and mucked it up, this movie does a very respectable job of repairing the timeline, even finally hinting at the genesis of the liquid metal technology, and the creation of an alternate time machine from which all these extra time-hopping Terminators originated from. The only remaining mystery is exactly who reprogrammed that sympathetic model 101, and why. But while the ending appears to be as conclusive as that of Terminator 2 (and we all know how that worked out), the movie closes with a piece of obvious sequel bait.
I would have been satisfied to see this movie finally close the series on a high note, but of course capitalism doesn't work that way. I don't hold much hope that yet another Terminator movie can improve on what this one accomplished, but it might be possible if they're willing to take some risks, like Terminator Salvation did, and not simply follow formula. I would kill to see another Terminator like the first one, but I fear that's impossible, now that the franchise has grown beyond the first movie's relatively small scope. But if anything, it's promising that this movie got so many things right, and nixed the tendency to push too far over into self-parody, and maintain a serious - if still sometimes respectably funny - tone (primarily with the characterization of the good Terminator). This is, in my opinion, the best Terminator sequel out there. It doesn't usurp the position of the original Terminator, which is still my favorite, but I thought it was even better than Terminator 2, for what that's worth.
Terminator Marathon
In anticipation of going to see the new Terminator movie in theaters (since I'd heard good things about it from a close friend), I decided to go back and rewatch the first two Terminator movies, as well as the third and the fourth that I had never seen before. Here are my thoughts on each of the movies:
The Terminator (1984)
It's easy to write The Terminator off as a brainless Hollywood blockbuster (mainly due to the success and reputation of its sequel, which often - and unfairly in my opinion - eclipses its predecessor), but I view it as one of the pinnacle examples of a brilliant sci-fi premise executed flawlessly. A cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger, perfectly cast in a role that facilitated his transformation from an award-winning bodybuilder to a movie star) is sent from a future ravaged by nuclear war, where (much like in the Matrix), machines have enslaved and all but exterminated mankind. The Terminator's single-minded goal is to assassinate the leader of the human resistance - before he is ever born, by targeting his mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).
And so, without any concern for propriety or maintaining a low profile, the Terminator begins its rampage through Los Angeles, like an indestructible bulldozer, recklessly killing anyone and destroying anything that gets between him and his target. Sarah Connor's only protection is a human resistance fighter sent back from the future like the Terminator - a man named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn, who, along with Lance Henriksen who plays a small role in this movie, also appears in director James Cameron's sequel to Alien), whose journey to the past initiates one of the great mindfucks of a time paradox in cinematic history - predating Back To The Future by a year! The Terminator's relentless pursuit of his target is thrilling to watch, and builds to a terrifying climax when the killing machine's true form is revealed. I unhesitatingly rate it one of the masterpieces of the science fiction genre.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Terminator was a pretty neatly-wrapped narrative (as time loops tend to be), but whenever the unavoidably inconsistent logic of time travel is involved, there is always room for retconning. So Terminator 2 starts by introducing a second Terminator sent back in time, this time to target John Connor himself (Edward Furlong) before the war (dubbed "Judgment Day"), while he was still a child. Linda Hamilton returns as the boy's mother, Sarah Connor, and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the Terminator - with a significant twist: this time, he's been programmed to protect John Connor, against an even more powerful killing machine: Robert Patrick's T-1000.
This movie is a lot more self-conscious than The Terminator was (for better or worse, depending on your perspective). Arnold's entrance is no less badass, but this time it conspicuously strives to be "cool", whereas the first one was just terrifying. And while it's a clever way to put a twist on the story, I just don't like turning the unstoppable killer from the first movie into one of the good guys. Here, you have the Terminator learning to smile and crack jokes (and minimize human casualties); and while I'm sure having one as your personal bodyguard fulfills every 13 year old boy's fantasy, the Terminator is just not as awesome when it's reduced to fulfilling the role of a pet, or a toy.
On the other side of the ring, you have this new villain who I think works out better in theory than in practice. Robert Patrick is sinister-looking enough, but he doesn't make as intimidating a villain as Mr. Olympia (Arnold) did. The idea of liquid metal is undoubtedly cool, but the effects just don't impress me as much as a cyborg with a creepy-looking robotic endoskeleton. In summary, The Terminator was a desperate struggle to survive in the face of overwhelming odds, whereas Terminator 2 is a face-off between two juggernauts - and the movie feels different as a result. Personally, I prefer the tension and the despair of the former to the action and spectacle of the latter.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
With James Cameron no longer at the helm, and over a decade since the last entry, Terminator 3 is bound to feel like a departure from the previous titles in the series. Nevertheless, it picks up right where Terminator 2 left off, and utilizes a similar formula (arguably rendering it obsolete - especially considering that it's not as good - except for the fact that it retcons T2's resolution, making another sequel about the war-torn future possible). Although, like the original, T2's ending was pretty conclusive - Sarah and John Connor trashed Cyberdyne Systems' headquarters (the company that produced the AI that precipitated Judgment Day), thereby changing the future and averting the apocalypse - in T3, a young adult John Connor (Nick Stahl) is living in constant fear that fate will, sooner or later, find another way to manifest itself. And sure enough, it does.
Enter the new T-X (Kristanna Loken) - a female Terminatrix. She's a highly advanced model, taking on the best of the first two Terminators - a robotic endoskeleton underneath a layer of liquid metal - with added firepower and the ability to control other machines. This all sounds awesome, but I think it's gotten to the level of being a little ridiculous. (On that note, explosions are cool because fire, but I don't really need to see an entire city block demolished for no good reason - that's not entertainment for me). I don't want to be sexist - because women can be legitimately terrifying - but Kristanna Loken just isn't as intimidating as an award-winning bodybuilder can be. I feel like both she and Robert Patrick in T2 were trying too hard to imitate Arnold's emotionless, deadpan expressions that were so genuine in the original. It's a shame that they insisted on turning Arnold's Terminator into a sympathetic good guy - they should have just kept him as the villain.
Speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he returns in this movie in a role very similar to the last. His entrance is even more humorous this time, when he enters a ladies' bar and steals the clothes off of a male stripper (I am not joking). No explanation is given as to how the Terminators make it to the past, two movies after we were told that the time travel device had been busted after Kyle Reese and the first Terminator went through. Plot consistency is tricky to begin with where time travel is involved, but the more they tack on to the story, the messier it gets. If repeated time travel is an option (via a repaired or second machine, for example), then questions arise, such as, why send the T-X (or even the T-1000) to kill an informed John Connor rather than an inexperienced Sarah Connor, as was the target the first time? And why not send a bunch of Terminators instead of just one? You can tell the series has gone from "I have a great story to tell!" to "what kind of story can we tell to keep this franchise going?"
Terminator Salvation (2009)
You could be forgiven for thinking that, twenty-five years after the first film, there wouldn't be any new ground left to tread in a Terminator movie, but you would be wrong. Apart from a few glimpses into the memories of Kyle Reese (played in this movie by Anton Yelchin), the story of the future resistance hadn't really been told. And I'm not sure that it could have been told until we'd seen the experiences (that span the second and third movies) that make up John Connor (Christian Bale, this time around)'s youth, and inform his prescient knowledge of the key to winning the war. That, and we also had to develop the special effects necessary to tell the story first.
An interesting thing about the Terminator movies, if you examine them, is that, despite it being a story involving time travel, that spans the years 1984 to 2029, each one takes place predominantly in chronological order. From before John Connor's birth, to his childhood, to the moments preceding Judgment Day, and now finally we move forward into the future to explore man's resistance against the machines. Terminator Salvation ditches the stale formula the series had latched onto, which is probably for the best. It is, therefore, an unpredictable movie, that doesn't feel like a classic Terminator - although it has lots of respect for the movies that preceded it - and it is a good movie nonetheless.
It is, however, a bleak and visually desaturated movie. But I like that it tries to do its own thing, instead of struggling to capture lightning in a bottle all over again. Arnold Schwarzenegger's absence isn't even that painful, since the Terminators have little need to disguise themselves as humans in the future - and they look as terrifying as ever here! Also, this movie provides an intriguing and far more effective example of a sympathetic rogue Terminator (portrayed by Sam Worthington) than we've ever seen before. It builds to a shockingly clever and exciting climax, that respectfully pays homage to its predecessors, with all new, updated special effects. As a total package, it's not as brilliant or flawless as the original Terminator, but I think I liked it better than the fan-favored Terminator 2.
The Terminator (1984)
It's easy to write The Terminator off as a brainless Hollywood blockbuster (mainly due to the success and reputation of its sequel, which often - and unfairly in my opinion - eclipses its predecessor), but I view it as one of the pinnacle examples of a brilliant sci-fi premise executed flawlessly. A cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger, perfectly cast in a role that facilitated his transformation from an award-winning bodybuilder to a movie star) is sent from a future ravaged by nuclear war, where (much like in the Matrix), machines have enslaved and all but exterminated mankind. The Terminator's single-minded goal is to assassinate the leader of the human resistance - before he is ever born, by targeting his mother, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton).
And so, without any concern for propriety or maintaining a low profile, the Terminator begins its rampage through Los Angeles, like an indestructible bulldozer, recklessly killing anyone and destroying anything that gets between him and his target. Sarah Connor's only protection is a human resistance fighter sent back from the future like the Terminator - a man named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn, who, along with Lance Henriksen who plays a small role in this movie, also appears in director James Cameron's sequel to Alien), whose journey to the past initiates one of the great mindfucks of a time paradox in cinematic history - predating Back To The Future by a year! The Terminator's relentless pursuit of his target is thrilling to watch, and builds to a terrifying climax when the killing machine's true form is revealed. I unhesitatingly rate it one of the masterpieces of the science fiction genre.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Terminator was a pretty neatly-wrapped narrative (as time loops tend to be), but whenever the unavoidably inconsistent logic of time travel is involved, there is always room for retconning. So Terminator 2 starts by introducing a second Terminator sent back in time, this time to target John Connor himself (Edward Furlong) before the war (dubbed "Judgment Day"), while he was still a child. Linda Hamilton returns as the boy's mother, Sarah Connor, and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as the Terminator - with a significant twist: this time, he's been programmed to protect John Connor, against an even more powerful killing machine: Robert Patrick's T-1000.
This movie is a lot more self-conscious than The Terminator was (for better or worse, depending on your perspective). Arnold's entrance is no less badass, but this time it conspicuously strives to be "cool", whereas the first one was just terrifying. And while it's a clever way to put a twist on the story, I just don't like turning the unstoppable killer from the first movie into one of the good guys. Here, you have the Terminator learning to smile and crack jokes (and minimize human casualties); and while I'm sure having one as your personal bodyguard fulfills every 13 year old boy's fantasy, the Terminator is just not as awesome when it's reduced to fulfilling the role of a pet, or a toy.
On the other side of the ring, you have this new villain who I think works out better in theory than in practice. Robert Patrick is sinister-looking enough, but he doesn't make as intimidating a villain as Mr. Olympia (Arnold) did. The idea of liquid metal is undoubtedly cool, but the effects just don't impress me as much as a cyborg with a creepy-looking robotic endoskeleton. In summary, The Terminator was a desperate struggle to survive in the face of overwhelming odds, whereas Terminator 2 is a face-off between two juggernauts - and the movie feels different as a result. Personally, I prefer the tension and the despair of the former to the action and spectacle of the latter.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
With James Cameron no longer at the helm, and over a decade since the last entry, Terminator 3 is bound to feel like a departure from the previous titles in the series. Nevertheless, it picks up right where Terminator 2 left off, and utilizes a similar formula (arguably rendering it obsolete - especially considering that it's not as good - except for the fact that it retcons T2's resolution, making another sequel about the war-torn future possible). Although, like the original, T2's ending was pretty conclusive - Sarah and John Connor trashed Cyberdyne Systems' headquarters (the company that produced the AI that precipitated Judgment Day), thereby changing the future and averting the apocalypse - in T3, a young adult John Connor (Nick Stahl) is living in constant fear that fate will, sooner or later, find another way to manifest itself. And sure enough, it does.
Enter the new T-X (Kristanna Loken) - a female Terminatrix. She's a highly advanced model, taking on the best of the first two Terminators - a robotic endoskeleton underneath a layer of liquid metal - with added firepower and the ability to control other machines. This all sounds awesome, but I think it's gotten to the level of being a little ridiculous. (On that note, explosions are cool because fire, but I don't really need to see an entire city block demolished for no good reason - that's not entertainment for me). I don't want to be sexist - because women can be legitimately terrifying - but Kristanna Loken just isn't as intimidating as an award-winning bodybuilder can be. I feel like both she and Robert Patrick in T2 were trying too hard to imitate Arnold's emotionless, deadpan expressions that were so genuine in the original. It's a shame that they insisted on turning Arnold's Terminator into a sympathetic good guy - they should have just kept him as the villain.
Speaking of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he returns in this movie in a role very similar to the last. His entrance is even more humorous this time, when he enters a ladies' bar and steals the clothes off of a male stripper (I am not joking). No explanation is given as to how the Terminators make it to the past, two movies after we were told that the time travel device had been busted after Kyle Reese and the first Terminator went through. Plot consistency is tricky to begin with where time travel is involved, but the more they tack on to the story, the messier it gets. If repeated time travel is an option (via a repaired or second machine, for example), then questions arise, such as, why send the T-X (or even the T-1000) to kill an informed John Connor rather than an inexperienced Sarah Connor, as was the target the first time? And why not send a bunch of Terminators instead of just one? You can tell the series has gone from "I have a great story to tell!" to "what kind of story can we tell to keep this franchise going?"
Terminator Salvation (2009)
You could be forgiven for thinking that, twenty-five years after the first film, there wouldn't be any new ground left to tread in a Terminator movie, but you would be wrong. Apart from a few glimpses into the memories of Kyle Reese (played in this movie by Anton Yelchin), the story of the future resistance hadn't really been told. And I'm not sure that it could have been told until we'd seen the experiences (that span the second and third movies) that make up John Connor (Christian Bale, this time around)'s youth, and inform his prescient knowledge of the key to winning the war. That, and we also had to develop the special effects necessary to tell the story first.
An interesting thing about the Terminator movies, if you examine them, is that, despite it being a story involving time travel, that spans the years 1984 to 2029, each one takes place predominantly in chronological order. From before John Connor's birth, to his childhood, to the moments preceding Judgment Day, and now finally we move forward into the future to explore man's resistance against the machines. Terminator Salvation ditches the stale formula the series had latched onto, which is probably for the best. It is, therefore, an unpredictable movie, that doesn't feel like a classic Terminator - although it has lots of respect for the movies that preceded it - and it is a good movie nonetheless.
It is, however, a bleak and visually desaturated movie. But I like that it tries to do its own thing, instead of struggling to capture lightning in a bottle all over again. Arnold Schwarzenegger's absence isn't even that painful, since the Terminators have little need to disguise themselves as humans in the future - and they look as terrifying as ever here! Also, this movie provides an intriguing and far more effective example of a sympathetic rogue Terminator (portrayed by Sam Worthington) than we've ever seen before. It builds to a shockingly clever and exciting climax, that respectfully pays homage to its predecessors, with all new, updated special effects. As a total package, it's not as brilliant or flawless as the original Terminator, but I think I liked it better than the fan-favored Terminator 2.
Friday, July 10, 2015
The X-Files - S1:E12 "Fire"
[ S1:E11 "Eve" <<< Season 1 >>> S1:E13 "Beyond The Sea" ]
Scully gets jealous when an old flame of Mulder's from Oxford invites him to investigate the case of a pyrokinetic targeting members of British parliament, in a series of deaths that suggest spontaneous combustion. It's interesting to see Mulder working with someone other than Scully - someone who more readily believes his theories, and yet is a more toxic influence on him - and to see him in a position of vulnerability, as he is ultimately forced to face his childhood fear of fire. Mark Sheppard is incendiary in the role of the mad pyrokinetic.
Memorable quotes:
Arson specialist: I've seen fire bend around corners, seen it bounce like a rubber ball. Fire's got a certain genius, you know, a certain demon poetry. It's like it's got a mind of its own. But I've never seen one that can defy the laws of physics, not when you figure it out.
Mulder: Sooner or later a man's gotta face his demons.
Scully gets jealous when an old flame of Mulder's from Oxford invites him to investigate the case of a pyrokinetic targeting members of British parliament, in a series of deaths that suggest spontaneous combustion. It's interesting to see Mulder working with someone other than Scully - someone who more readily believes his theories, and yet is a more toxic influence on him - and to see him in a position of vulnerability, as he is ultimately forced to face his childhood fear of fire. Mark Sheppard is incendiary in the role of the mad pyrokinetic.
Memorable quotes:
Arson specialist: I've seen fire bend around corners, seen it bounce like a rubber ball. Fire's got a certain genius, you know, a certain demon poetry. It's like it's got a mind of its own. But I've never seen one that can defy the laws of physics, not when you figure it out.
Mulder: Sooner or later a man's gotta face his demons.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Unbreakable (2000)
I'm not the world's biggest fan of superhero stories. I don't have anything against them - they were popular enough when I was a kid growing up. But I never got really deep into the comic book scene. To be honest, I think vigilante warriors fighting justice in spandex is a little bit goofy. But I like when superhero stories address serious issues. My favorite superhero has always been Batman, because his story is dark and gritty - he doesn't even technically have any superpowers. I also like the X-Men, because the idea of a new generation of mutants, each with distinct powers (instead of one lucky guy against a series of wacky villains), is fun to think about, plus their struggle for acceptance among the normies has socially significant corollaries in the real world, which is cool.
But, amid the current boom of superhero movies being pumped out of Hollywood, my favorites are movies like The Watchmen, and Kick-Ass, which aren't straight superhero movies, but somewhat meta, self-conscious looks at the superhero phenomenon. They examine humanity's desire for justice, and need for superheros, by cleverly exploring what it would be like if normal people took on the mantle of vigilante justice, and how that would play out. And that critical examination of human nature is more interesting to me than your average story about some dude zapped by gamma rays, who then has to juggle a social life (and romance) with saving the world from every megalomaniac-of-the-week he encounters.
Unbreakable is even more in that serious, meta-vein; it posits the question, what if the superheros in comic books were just an exaggeration of a rare phenomenon that occurs in real life? Enter middle-aged security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis), who, after miraculously surviving a fatal train crash with no injuries, begins to realize that he may not be so average after all. Though it takes some prompting from a lifelong comic book geek named Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who has a rare disorder that renders his bones brittle as glass, and who has spent years looking for his mirror image on the opposite end of the spectrum - a man with super strength.
In spite of the science fiction influences, it's a very down to earth story (no spandex or flying here), and David Dunn's melancholic search for a purpose in life is something that even non-superheros can relate to. Coming in the wake of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable is extremely clever, and sensitively filmed, proving that M. Night Shyamalan is a master director and storyteller, even if he did fall into a rut in the ensuing decade, and become too dependent on the shocking twist endings that his audience came to expect from him. But Unbreakable is as good as any of his movies, and a true cinematic masterpiece in my opinion, so if you haven't seen it, you should definitely give it a watch - whether you like superhero or comic book movies or not.
But, amid the current boom of superhero movies being pumped out of Hollywood, my favorites are movies like The Watchmen, and Kick-Ass, which aren't straight superhero movies, but somewhat meta, self-conscious looks at the superhero phenomenon. They examine humanity's desire for justice, and need for superheros, by cleverly exploring what it would be like if normal people took on the mantle of vigilante justice, and how that would play out. And that critical examination of human nature is more interesting to me than your average story about some dude zapped by gamma rays, who then has to juggle a social life (and romance) with saving the world from every megalomaniac-of-the-week he encounters.
Unbreakable is even more in that serious, meta-vein; it posits the question, what if the superheros in comic books were just an exaggeration of a rare phenomenon that occurs in real life? Enter middle-aged security guard David Dunn (Bruce Willis), who, after miraculously surviving a fatal train crash with no injuries, begins to realize that he may not be so average after all. Though it takes some prompting from a lifelong comic book geek named Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), who has a rare disorder that renders his bones brittle as glass, and who has spent years looking for his mirror image on the opposite end of the spectrum - a man with super strength.
In spite of the science fiction influences, it's a very down to earth story (no spandex or flying here), and David Dunn's melancholic search for a purpose in life is something that even non-superheros can relate to. Coming in the wake of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable is extremely clever, and sensitively filmed, proving that M. Night Shyamalan is a master director and storyteller, even if he did fall into a rut in the ensuing decade, and become too dependent on the shocking twist endings that his audience came to expect from him. But Unbreakable is as good as any of his movies, and a true cinematic masterpiece in my opinion, so if you haven't seen it, you should definitely give it a watch - whether you like superhero or comic book movies or not.
The X-Files - S1:E11 "Eve"
[ S1:E10 "Fallen Angel" <<< Season 1 >>> S1:E12 "Fire" ]
Mulder and Scully investigate a mysterious death by exsanguination, which Mulder links to reports of cattle mutilations. But when a simultaneous murder leaves an identical 8 year old girl behind, the truth - involving classified genetic experiments - is even stranger. Following in the footsteps of the Bad Seed, twins Erika and Sabrina Krievins are fantastic in this episode, proving that finding talented young actors can make or break a production that relies on characters in their childhood years. This is a fun episode.
Memorable quotes:
Scully: Mulder, why would alien beings travel light years to Earth in order to play doctor on cattle?
Mulder: For the same reason we cut up frogs, and monkeys.
Mulder: One girl was just abducted.
Scully: Kidnapped.
Mulder: Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to.
Mulder and Scully investigate a mysterious death by exsanguination, which Mulder links to reports of cattle mutilations. But when a simultaneous murder leaves an identical 8 year old girl behind, the truth - involving classified genetic experiments - is even stranger. Following in the footsteps of the Bad Seed, twins Erika and Sabrina Krievins are fantastic in this episode, proving that finding talented young actors can make or break a production that relies on characters in their childhood years. This is a fun episode.
Memorable quotes:
Scully: Mulder, why would alien beings travel light years to Earth in order to play doctor on cattle?
Mulder: For the same reason we cut up frogs, and monkeys.
Mulder: One girl was just abducted.
Scully: Kidnapped.
Mulder: Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
The X-Files - S1:E10 "Fallen Angel"
[ S1:E9 "Space" <<< Season 1 >>> S1:E11 "Eve" ]
Mulder receives a tip from Deep Throat when a UFO crash lands in Wisconsin, and has an unprecedented opportunity to investigate before the military finishes cleaning it up. He also bumps into a UFO chaser and conspiracy theorist by the name of Max Fenig (Scott Bellis) - a minor and short-lived supporting character that I've always liked. This episode begins to hint at a wider world of conspiracy nuts who might be on Mulder's side, and lays a lot of groundwork for one of the show's major subplots - serial abductees. It also places The X-Files project in serious jeopardy for the first but not the last time, and casts some doubt on Deep Throat's loyalties. We're only ten episodes into the series, but this may be the best one yet.
Memorable quotes:
Max Fenig: Say no more, you're a cautious man. Trust no one. Very wise. After what happened to JFK, I understand completely.
Max Fenig: I'm telling you, it's like the Roswell coverup all over again.
Mulder: What makes you so sure there's something out there?
Max Fenig: Same thing that makes you so sure?
Mulder: You really believe that story?
Scully: That story happens to be highly classified.
Mulder: A highly classified lie.
Max Fenig: You really didn't think that would fool us, did you?
Mulder: I didn't think anybody was paying attention.
Max Fenig: Somebody is always paying attention, Mr. Mulder.
Mulder: Then what can I say? How can I disprove lies that are stamped with an official seal?
Section Chief McGrath: That will be all, Mr. Mulder.
Mulder: You can deny all the things I've seen, all the things I've discovered, but not for much longer. Because too many others know what's happening out there, and no one, no government agency has jurisdiction over the truth.
Deep Throat: Always keep your friends close, Mr. McGrath. But keep your enemies closer.
Mulder receives a tip from Deep Throat when a UFO crash lands in Wisconsin, and has an unprecedented opportunity to investigate before the military finishes cleaning it up. He also bumps into a UFO chaser and conspiracy theorist by the name of Max Fenig (Scott Bellis) - a minor and short-lived supporting character that I've always liked. This episode begins to hint at a wider world of conspiracy nuts who might be on Mulder's side, and lays a lot of groundwork for one of the show's major subplots - serial abductees. It also places The X-Files project in serious jeopardy for the first but not the last time, and casts some doubt on Deep Throat's loyalties. We're only ten episodes into the series, but this may be the best one yet.
Memorable quotes:
Max Fenig: Say no more, you're a cautious man. Trust no one. Very wise. After what happened to JFK, I understand completely.
Max Fenig: I'm telling you, it's like the Roswell coverup all over again.
Mulder: What makes you so sure there's something out there?
Max Fenig: Same thing that makes you so sure?
Mulder: You really believe that story?
Scully: That story happens to be highly classified.
Mulder: A highly classified lie.
Max Fenig: You really didn't think that would fool us, did you?
Mulder: I didn't think anybody was paying attention.
Max Fenig: Somebody is always paying attention, Mr. Mulder.
Mulder: Then what can I say? How can I disprove lies that are stamped with an official seal?
Section Chief McGrath: That will be all, Mr. Mulder.
Mulder: You can deny all the things I've seen, all the things I've discovered, but not for much longer. Because too many others know what's happening out there, and no one, no government agency has jurisdiction over the truth.
Deep Throat: Always keep your friends close, Mr. McGrath. But keep your enemies closer.
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