VHS vs. BETA

In praise of…Tom McCarthy

mospeaker — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:24:59 +0000

For my money there are two stand out performances in the final season of THEGREATESTTVSHOWEVER — The Wire — one is Clark Johnson, who delivers the most dead on portrayal of a newspaper man I’ve ever seen. The other is Tom McCarthy’s weaselly (is that a word?) turn at a brown nosed reporter. Even disregarding his other work as a character actor (whatever that means), it is a safe to say that the guy can act. However, great actors don’t always make great directors, but McCarthy is certainly an exception to that rule, if it is one.

His first two films The Station Agent and The Visitor have several things in common; they both deal with themes built around isolation and loneliness, but more importantly the concept of a surrogate family. In some cases revisiting similar themes could spell trouble for a director’s second film, but McCarthy is such a good storyteller that even if you immediately realize the commonality it is quickly disregarded as you get completely wrapped up in The Visitor, especially Richard Jenkins. The phrase “subtle, nuanced performances” is pretty overused these days but I’m not sure how else to describe the kind of performances Tom gets out of his actors. He seems so in tune with what he wants and doesn’t want from his actors and is able to convey that and bring it out in such a beautifully understated fashion.

Anyway, this is merely my feeble attempt at shouting into the cyberwebwiki abyss that I for one am grateful that Tom McCarthy is making films, and feel very encouraged, in particular these last two years, by the state of (“independent”) American cinema. (Don’t even get me started on Ronnie Bronstein’s Frownland, I’m saving that for another blog entry.)

The jig is up, J.J. Abrams.

mospeaker — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:04:49 +0000

I’m no Hollywood insider that’s for sure, far from it really, 2044 miles to be exact. But something smells fishy in J.J. Abrams’ neighborhood. As a fan of LOST my mind has been blown on occasion as to how ingenious the writing is and how we never seem to quite know where things are going. It has at times seemed honestly too good for TV. And the narratives have contained elements of the stuff I love in a sci-fi/mystery — time travel, alternate realities, mysterious character reveals and on and on. But recently after seeing Star Trek and the season finalé of Fringe I’m starting to feel like we the viewers are getting some definite recycled story lines and plot devices. I don’t know how involved Abrams is in the development of each of these shows and movies (obviously he was very involved in Star Trek), but I would be as clueless as Rose and Bernard (what happened to them, btw?!?!?) to assume he doesn’t have his hand in all of them to some extent.

We all know what LOST is all about: time travel, alternate realities, parallel universes, scientific anomalies discovered in secret that allow the aforementioned, and secret locations that allow travel to and from these dimensions. During a recent viewing of Star Trek I’m thinking, hmmm, this seems familiar; Spock traveled back in time from a parallel universe to warn the younger Spock by using a method of time travel he invented through a scientific discovery. Oh well, whatever, the movie was good, well done. Then last night I’m watching the season finalé of Fringe (which is good but honestly sometimes downright silly), and low and behold guess what the story hinges on, yes you guessed it: time travel, alternate realities, parallel universes, scientific anomalies discovered in secret that allow the aforementioned, and secret locations that allow travel to and from these dimensions. Come on, Abrams, seriously? I had given you so much credit for originality and now each project just rips off your last project. Not to mention, (FRINGE SPOILER ALERT) the big William Bell reveal is…Spock? WTF? And I thought last weeks blatant Star Trek references (sandwiched in between the Star Trek previews and promos) were lame. I do love seeing Nimoy working again, but I’m hard pressed to believe that he was cast because he was the best guy for the role.

Ok, I’ll admit this is all a hell of a lot better than watching According To Jim (I’d rather douse my eyes with hot sauce), but I can’t say I am not disappointed (how is that for a double negative). Just don’t be surprised at the climactic end of LOST when Jacob turns out to be William Shatner.

People don’t ask me all the time…

mospeaker — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:37:22 +0000

“Hey Ted, what’s new in sci-fi films?” To which I don’t reply,
“Funny you should not ask…”

A couple of years ago I stumbled across a short film, or what should really be called more of a portfolio piece, called Tetra Vaal. It was included on the complimentary DVD that used to come with each issue of RES Magazine, the incredibly-awesome-while-it-lasted publication that is now M.I.A. I was mesmerized (try to watch it only once), it’s sort of a third world robocop but with a surreal documentary look and feel. You can check it out on youtube. The effects are seamless and have a gritty, humanistic realism about them. Remember the vibe we all loved so much in the original Star Wars and Blade Runner? Yeah, Neill Blomkamp does too. So I was excited to see his first feature, produced by none other than Peter Jackson (hint: this means pay attention), is hitting theaters this August. It’s called District 9 and the trailer debuted on the apple site yesterday. The trailer is also showing in front of Wolverine from what I understand, and I shall test that statement later tonight!

Also definitely of note is Duncan Jones’ Moon starring Sam Rockwell. Admittedly, I will watch anything with Sam in it. Seriously, even Charlies Angels, but this one is another very encouraging first feature from another filmmaker who is nostalgic for the sci-fi my generation grew up on. If District 9 is in the mold of Blade Runner then Moon is a sort of blend of Kubrick’s 2001 and Castaway, only with 2 or 3 more twists (and no volleyballs). I had the pleasure of seeing this at the Atlanta Film Fest and loved it. Incredible performance by Rockwell, solid writing, and incredibly well done visual effects and sound design. Nothing fancy, just really patient sci-fi realism, if there can be such a thing.

The other things these two films and directors have in common is that they are interested in telling stories that tap into deeper issues like identity, exsitence (Moon) and (gulp) political sociology (District 9). Granted, I haven’t even seen District 9 but i have a good feeling. So it’s exciting that there is at least the possibility of a new crop of sci-fi filmmakers that are trying to bridge the gap between Jedi and Phantom Menace. Because whatever happened in the time in between those two films rained a suck storm all over George Lucas. But maybe we should be thanking him for sucking so bad the last 10 years, otherwise these directors might not be trying so hard to perform cinematic CPR on the genre in order to revive what we lost in the 70′s and early 80′s — imagination.