A couple of random things
I’ve been thinking about two things a lot lately, and decided I’d do a little writing about them. The first involves language, the second involves writing and how to approach death, especially when it comes to killing a character.
Swearing. Whether we admit it or not (or just cuss like a sailor) we all do it. I’ve dropped more than my fair share of F-Bombs in my day. I’ve called out bullshit, taken the piss out of someone, pointed out how much of a dick a person is, and even heard an ex-girlfriend shout out “what is this, cunts only lane” while driving. They’re words, rather harsh words, that can be taken as an insult or as something rather rebellious and carefree (especially when you’re six and you say fuck for the first time).
Some of the rather vulgar terms, as my mother calls them, are really unnecessary. It’s become a lot clearer lately that there are certain words that are just unacceptable no matter the situation. And there are others that are completely mind boggling. A few I’m talking about with the latter happen to be “pussy”, “cunt”, “you act like a girl” (not really a swear, but the terms fit), and anything referring to the female genitals. The end result of the insult is that by calling someone one of those names is to equate that person to something feminine and therefore weak. Seriously? You think a cunt is weak, especially when it can squeeze something the size of a football through a hole the size of a golf ball and still manage to retain it’s shape. That’s not weak, my friend. Now balls, that’s weak. Ball (and the accompanying dick) happen to be strategically placed in such a way that one graze can incapacitate a man. Even the mere thought of possible violent contact to the family jewels is enough to make a man clutch his groin and roll onto the floor into the fetal position. As a comedian once said, there’s even nice bumper rails set up so that if one does go to kick a guy in the balls, there’s no chance of missing.
But there’s other words that are used which are really hurtful, and they come from two different places. One is from racist imperialism and colonialism that began the slave trade. The other comes from sexism that for years saw women as property and not human beings. The latter is bitch. The former is the N-word (I can’t even bring myself to write it, the word is so vile, also, I’m white, I really don’t have any attachment to the word and really shouldn’t). Both are used to degrade and dehumanize different aspects of our society (just think about how bad it must be for black women with regard to those two words). In some corners, those words are being reclaimed for the appropriate portions of society. This sudden reclamation does not mean it’s okay for the rest of us to start using them. For example I’m a white dude, and the use of the word bitch and n****r coming from me would not only sound weird but really offensive.
As to the other words, like fuck, shit, dick, asshole (it’s okay to use that, ’cause everyone has an asshole), and my personal favourite, douche-canoe… it’s said that someone who swears a lot lacks intelligence. I tend to disagree. I believe that someone who swears at appropriate times is actually a lot happier and a lot (mentally) healthier. Granted, there’s more to good mental health than swearing (because if that was it, I’d be the most mentally healthy fuckin’ person on the planet).
Now, with all of this, one has to remember, there’s a time and a place for a good swear. Just as Simon in Firefly stated “there is an appropriate time to swear”. Don’t just drop an F-Bomb for the sake of dropping one (though, at times, it feels really good).
When killing off a character
This has taken place a few times in different forms of entertainment media. Just ask George R. R. Martin. He’s probably killed more (fictitious) people than most mass murderers (with the exception of a few megalomaniacs and dictators). Naturally, though, there is a time and a place for a character to die. Often, that is done with great fan fare and suspense. Just look to the Death of Superman for that proof.
There’s been two deaths recently in comics that have had two very different reactions. Both came from DC Comics, both came from the Bat-verse. The first was Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne (please don’t get me to explain all of the ins and outs of how Bruce has a son with Talia Al Gul, it’ll give us both a headache). I never read the issue, but I read enough of the reaction. According to the bio for Damian Wayne (who is/was the current Robin) he was 12 years old. Which is already very problematic for having a 30-something adult male taking a preteen out in full costume to beat up very dangerous criminals. But the uproar was huge both before and after the issue came out.
The second death was Catwoman. Yeah, you heard right. There was no pre fan fare announcing it either (which leads me to believe that the “Catwoman” that was killed off was not Selina Kyle). Her death was really problematic, because it’s a continued aspect which really supports violence against women in media. Catwoman was tied up in a chair, and shot in the head by the Joker. Which is another of the many times a woman has been killed in a submissive manner, or killed off camera and her body found in a stereotypically traditional female area of a house (the kitchen, for those who are scratching their heads). It’s called fridging, and it began with an issue of Green Lantern, when then Green Lantern Kyle Rayner returned home to find his girlfriend killed and stuffed into his refrigerator.
Death is a really difficult thing to deal with, because it’s (supposed to be) permanent. Take a look at the deaths in the Harry Potter series. This was a book that was geared for kids and young adults and it dealt with death a lot. Harry’s parents death, Dumbledore’s death, all of the students who died in the battle at Hogwarts. Another example of a series dealing with a lot of death is Star Wars. Hell “War” is a word in the title, so you kind of expect a lot of death. One thing I liked about Harry Potter, was how death was handled. When Lily was killed, she was killed protecting her son, which is a far cry better than when most of the female characters in comics (both Marvel and DC) have been treated.
Yes, I know, a lot of male characters die too. But there’s a difference in how it’s presented. Superman died fighting Doomsday. Batman died fighting to the bitter end (pre DC Nu 52). Even when Batman had his back broken by Bane he was fighting right to the end. As was Damian Wayne. On the other side, when a woman is killed it’s usually in a position of submission or placed in an area that is stereotypical. Big Barda, killed in a kitchen off camera. Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend, killed off camera and put in a refrigerator. Catwoman, bound to a chair and shot in the head. Barbara Gordon, paralyzed after being shot just for answering the door. The only exception to this rule might be Flamebird from the recent Batwoman series. Bette Kane went off in costume, defying her cousin, Kate Kane’s warnings, Bette got jumped, overpowered, and put in the hospital. But she was fighting.
Too often, death is portrayed very differently for men as it is for women. And people often wonder why there’s so much violence against women in the world. If you don’t think media has any influence on that, you’re wrong. Media is a mirror of what our world is.
Fandoms
This has been going around Tumblr recently. Not the whole image, but each part of the image as different representations of each fandom. There’s a lot more, and if you’d like to check it out, click here. It’s okay, I can wait while you look it all over.
Done now? Alright, excellent!
This is something that makes me smile from time to time. Fandoms. People who really like stuff and rally around liking that stuff. And while doing fan art or writing fan fiction or cosplaying or going to conventions may be the dream of most fans, it’s not what all fans do. You can be a fan of something, and just watch the TV show, movies, or read the book (or in the case of music, listen to the music). There’s no difference between just liking something or surrounding your spare time in your life with something. There’s no difference in the level of appreciation a person has for something whether they collect it obsessively or if they just enjoy it from time to time.
As an example, I really love the Firefly series. I’ve got it on DVD and I watch it from time to time. I will chuckle at quotes from the show and there are characters I really like. But that’s it. Is my love of Firefly any different than someone who dresses like Mal Reynolds (aside from having more creative time than I do)? Or someone who draws fan art of the ship and crew (aside from having better art talent than I do)? Or someone who writes fan fiction (I’m still working on Rocket Fox, I have an excuse!)? I’d say not.
You can crank that up a notch with Tomb Raider. I’ve played most of the games, I’ve watched and own DVDs of all the movies. I used to collect the monthly comic, and now have the complete Tomb Raider omnibus sitting on my book shelf. I have action figures, I have posters. Okay, I don’t cosplay Laura Croft, I’m not sure I could pull it off (though, I think my hair is long enough).
I’m also a big fan of Star Trek. I have each series (except for the original series) on DVD, and yes that includes the animated series. All the movies. Several books, most written by Peter David, including the New Frontier series. I’ve played Star Trey Voyager: Elite Force and Star Trek Elite Force II. I’ve played Deep Space Nine The Fallen. And I currently play Star Trek Online. Yet, there’s still people out there who write fan fiction (okay, I did, I just have to find it, it’s a Star Trek/Hawkworld crossover), do fan art, cosplay and even those who do fan films (check Youtube someday).
The point I’m making can lead back to another point I made about fandoms, but this one surrounding the mythical “fake geek girl”. That girl or woman who reads or is into a comic of series to the point of dressing up as their favourite character. Yet, those examples are often called out as being fake by fanboys who bemoan the fact there’s hardly any women in comics (I wonder why!). The main point is that no matter how much of a fan you are of something, whether you just read the books, watch the movies, whatever, or if you go all out and research the backstories and the merchandise and all of the things you can find, you’re still a fan. One person’s love of a thing is no better or bigger than another person’s love of a thing.
For writers, artists and creators it must be pretty flattering to have that kind of attention. On the one hand, I’d love it, but on the other I’d be slightly embarrassed and rather shocked. Still, it’d be cool if some day, I could see this…
Star Trek: Into Darkness
I recently saw the latest in the alternate universe that is J.J. Abrams Star Trek series.
Action packed and a fun ride, but filled with problems.
There was a lot of references to Wrath of Khan. A lot. And before I go on, I’m gonna warn you now, there’s a few spoilers.
For spoilers, nothing to do with DC Comics (though the pic is cool).
Star Trek into Darkness deals with a lot of very close to home issues, that being terrorism. We see London attacked in the movie and a madman leading the charge to destroy as much as he can on his way to proving himself superior to Starfleet and the rest of the world. He’s introduced as John Harrison, but we later learn his real name is Khan Noonien Singh. We’re also introduced to Carol Marcus, who will be notable as being Captain Kirk’s ex-wife as introduced in Wrath of Khan.
Two major problems arise with this movie (and these don’t include the plot points of having Kirk die and brought back to life and Spock shouting KHAAAAAAN!). The first is the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan. Khan’s name is very South West Asian, and to be more to the point, very East Indian. Yet, here’s a Whitey McWhiterson cast as the role, only because Cumberbatch is really big in television and movies right now. Seriously, couldn’t have found an actual man of colour to play the role? Worried that it might have insulted sensibilities because a man of colour is playing the role of a villain? Or just white washing a role that is known so well in Star Trek universe? To be fair, the original Khan was played by Ricardo Montalbán, a Mexican radio and television star. He wasn’t East Indian either, but during the time of the 60′s when the original series aired, there was a lot of racist actions that appeared in television (the “chop suey” accent of Chinese characters, and let’s not go into how Nichelle Nichols was paid as a day worker, and the execs tried hard to limit her time, thankfully the writers ignored that). Still, we live in the 21st Century (or at least we’re supposed to) so how hard is it to put in the casting call “East Indian decent” for the role of Khan?
The second is the treatment of Carol Marcus in the movie. She’s a brilliant scientist but as soon as we see her, she’s objectified by Kirk. Spock makes mention that the Enterprise already has a science officer, which is odd, considering the crew compliment of the ship (seriously Spock, do you do all the science?).
But let’s skip past that.
Obviously, it’s a bit of a setup (and shout out) to events in Wrath of Khan where we learn Carol Marcus and Kirk used to be married and they have a son. However, it’s done rather cheap, like a last second thought. And the scene where Carol changes in front of Kirk so the audience has a shot of her in her undies…
What was the point of that scene? Really? It was obviously gratuitous, and objectifying of the character of Carol Marcus. And before someone says “but she’s beautiful”, please note that she’s also pretty hot FULLY CLOTHED! The scene had nothing to do with the plot except satisfy the perverted fantasies of a bunch of fanboys who wanted a bit of on screen wank time for themselves. If it doesn’t have anything to do with the plot, then toss it out. Was there a purpose that she had to change in front of Kirk? Not really, she probably could have found a small change room and change just as easily. If it was purely to have some form of nudity in Star Trek, then that’s stretching it. I really adhere to the Alfred Hitchcock school of nudity; showing less is showing more. That scene, if it really needed to be in the movie, could have been done with Carol Marcus seen in head and shoulder view on the screen standing behind a divider from Kirk.
Abrams has taken Star Trek and gone astray from what it originally was. Philosophical exploration was just as much a part of the franchise as was the action involved. The movies before Abrams came along even explored this concept, and they managed to do it in the heat of battle. In Generations the main point brought up is that time is the enemy with teeth that stalks her prey. Voyage Home was a big eco film, displaying that shit gets real if we keep screwing over the planet. Undiscovered Country was about change and that some people are very resistant to change. Those bits of philosophy were still able to breathe in the movie along with all of the action.
As for the current run of Star Trek films, they’re action filled and fun, but they are a far cry from Star Trek films and television shows of the past.
On the passing
The entertainment world lost two people recently.
Roger Ebert with his wife, Chaz Ebert.
The first came this afternoon, as it was reported that Roger Ebert, known as the man who had a critical eye on movies and was a spot light on cinema for decades, lost his battle with cancer. He was 70 years old.
Ebert was a film critic, but he had a love of movies and indeed loved some of the cheesiest movies out there. Because he saw them for what they should be; fun. Not only was he a film critic, but also a prolific writer, having a column with the Chicago Sun-Times, writing his own biography, and what many might not know, he wrote a screen play for a Sex Pistols movie project which unfortunately never got off the ground. In 2007, his fight with cancer lost him his voice, and he stopped appearing on television.
He was also a noted “raging liberal” by some. The Pulitzer Prize winning film critic was known to have his opinions on many different topics, outside of the film industry. Within the industry, he was critical of Hollywood for not producing films that the public wants to see. He was a huge supporter of indie films.
The White House offered a eulogy this afternoon, and Prime Minister tweeted his condolences. The Toronto International Film Festival gave a statement on Ebert’s passing, saying that Roger was like family. He was there from the festival’s humble beginnings.
The second person who passed away recent was Carmine Infantino.
Infantino was integral to the American comic book industry, helping to create some of the most iconic characters known. Many of whom still live on today. He is responsible for the creation of Black Canary, Batgirl, Wally West (Kid Flash), Iris West, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Gorilla Grodd, and Elongated Man, all for DC Comics. His artwork was a well known style, and his work was best known for his run on The Flash in the mid 1980s.
He also worked for Marvel Comics and Warren Comics, working on titles that included Spiderwoman, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Vampirella. Two of his comic covers, The Flash 123 and Showcase 4, remain two of the most iconic covers in comics. As they ushered in the Silver Age of comics, and in the DC Universe, the multiverse with Earth 2.
In 2004, he sued DC for the rights to the aforementioned characters.
In the late 1960s, Infantino became an editor and was instrumental in hiring artists who would also later become editors. He was responsible for hiring Denny O’Neill and Neal Adams, both of whom would help to reinvent Batman and create the team up of Green Lantern and Green Arrow, by creating the Hard Travelling Heroes stories. Infantino also brought in Jack Kirby to DC Comics, who would go onto create his Fourth World universe, as well as The Demon, Kahmandi and others.
Carmine Infantino was 87.
Innovation – the new buzz word
My hands can create light!
Before I go into my own new description (yes, I know I haven’t posted anything for a while, but I’ve got some things on my plate), take a gander at this video first from Jim Sterling at the Escapist Magazine. He talks about innovation in video games, and it’s something I want to point out more in usage of the term. But first, the video.
Innovation, as Mr. Sterling pointed out (getting past some of the more crass aspects of the man) has become an over used term. It’s the new buzz word. I remember when I worked in broadcasting how I began to loathe buzz words. Like “It’s on the back burner” or “it’ll climb to the top”. There were others, but in the decade since I worked in radio (more than a decade, actually), we’ve managed as a society to keep our buzz words to just one word phrases.
Now, we’re using innovation like it’s the next great thing, and I honestly don’t think that people really understand what the word means. The CEO of Apple uses it every time a new product comes out, like the new iPhone, iPad or computer system. Google’s done it. So has Microsoft, Sony, Blackberry, and on and on and on. But really, what they mean is “we’ve taken the thing our competitor made, and made it better” which isn’t innovation, it’s just lazy.
The same can be said for story telling.
I know there’s a few movies that have come out as reimaginings of the original (like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and Psycho) where someone somewhere has said the film is taking a bold, innovative direction. But it wasn’t innovative when you’re basically telling exactly the same story. In truth, the dictionary meaning of the word comes from innovate, which means at its root “to alter”, but also means to create as though for the very first time. I see lots of the former, but very little of the latter. And that’s part in parcel because that kind of innovation requires a dirty R word. Risk. And nobody likes risk, unless it’s the board game (and then, nobody likes having the weakest defensible point on the board, unless you have Australia).
In order to do something really new (or really innovative) one has to take a risk. Let’s be honest, nobody is doing that in any form of entertainment medium. Not video games, not movies, not comic books. At least, it’s very rare in comics. And those movies and video games that are really innovative, are usually passed over without so much as a glance by those who follow the mainstream (if anyone has some REALLY innovative movies they know of, leave them in the comments, it’ll give me more movie watching material later). There is one place where such things do take place, and that happens to be in books. But I also believe that books, printed and digital media, happen to have a leg up on the aspect of innovation. There are some really great books being published. Admittedly, there’s a lot of steaming piles of shit, too, but there’s a lot of good that’s being published. Not all of it is coming from the mainstream publishing houses, and even some is being self published.
For now, can we all agree to stop using the word innovation, because it’s getting tired with how badly it’s being misused.
My thoughts on movies at the Oscars
Sometimes, because it’s topical, people will ask me…
“Did you watch the Oscars last night?”
To which I often reply.
“No, because I could find better entertainment watching lint in my belly button.”
Often the one who asked will get this offended look (I don’t know why, really, maybe it’s because I just derailed all the conversation by saying “no, I didn’t and I think it’s shit”), so to ease their imagined pain, I’ll continue on with…
“Okay, who won the big four?” The big four in question being Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Movie.
Invariably,they’ll list off the winners, pointing to the movies that the actors, actresses and directors have been involved in, and always ask this one question…
“Did you see that?”
To which I’ll more often then not answer with…
“No, it didn’t look that interesting.”
Cue being offended again.
But in all seriousness, none of the movies really stood out for me. Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. One gives Canada a slight and both make those who live in the Middle East (and for the record, Pakistan is in South Asia) look all the more foolish. ”Let’s make another movie that makes (insert foreign people here) look like idiots and makes us look good”. Are we that starved for entertainment?
Life of Pi. Now you might think “well, Canadian author, lives in Saskatoon, you might like that, Tim”. I found Life of Pi a slog when I read the book, why the hell would I want to go through that again. Only this time, it’s a visual slog.
Les Mis. No. Just no. Oh yes, I know “but it’s historical, it’s about the French revolution”. First, why glorify the French one minute, then make fun of them later by saying they were a bunch of surrender monkeys (a term I’ve heard before). Second, no, it’s not about the French Revolution, that just happens to be the back drop. It’s about a police officer who is obsessive compulsive and can’t stop thinking about this guy who stole a loaf of bread. Yeah, sure, I know there’s deeper meanings than that, but in the end, it’s about a cop that just won’t let a case die.
“Lincoln’s history, it’s about a point in history, you like that”. Yes. I like reading about historical events. Key word: READING. Lincoln was just as much made up fiction as any other movie out there. And to be honest, I’ve read my history, Lincoln didn’t give one fuck for black people. Freeing the slaves was just the end result of crushing the economic power of the south because the south had all these slaves working for nothing. So there was no “all people must be equal” because that never took place until the last few years. And even then, it still hasn’t happened. All Lincoln did was make the Confederacy’s stock market come crashing down by making it so there could be no human trafficking any more.
Django Unchained. Don’t even mention that it takes place during the Civil War “which is what you wrote about in Black Mask & Pale Rider”. Yes, the time period is the same, but there’s a major difference. My book had elves. Django Unchained was a slavery revenge movie. Also, QT has fallen out of favour with me as of late, because I’ve grown to realize he’s a bit of a dickhead. That’s right, he’s a dickhead. It’s cringe worthy watching him go on an interview show that has a panel of intervierers who are all black, and QT starts trying to sound black when he’s answering. Your white. And amazingly enough, QT, you’re white than I am. That’s a really hard thing to do, because I’m really white. And I think it’s inappropriate to try to sound black. Why? Maybe it’s because I’m not black, as I previously mentioned. Because I’m white. And shockingly, QT, so are you. It doesn’t sound cool or edgy when you do it, it just makes you sound like a twat.
Armour. No clue what it’s about. Silver Linings Playbook. Couldn’t care less. Or rather, I couldn’t care more, because as David Mitchell has said, saying couldn’t care less means there’s something that you can indeed care less about.
The only movies at the Oscars that I saw were Brave, Paranorman and Wreck-It Ralph. Because they entertained me. They took me away for a little while and made me feel good. Brave had a wonderful story, a girl who wanted to do her own thing, and it was Pixar so it had incredible visuals. Paranorman had the amazing stop motion affects, an interesting plot, and a twist where you found out the zombies were actually just wanting to chuck it all and finally rest. No brain eating for them. Wreck-It Ralph took me back to some of my old arcade playing experiences when I was younger. So there was a lot of nostalgia in that movie for me.
But those three movies removed me from reality for a brief amount of time and I was able to be entertained.
As for Beasts of the Southern Wild… I’m on the wait list at the local video rental store to watch it.
As for Seth MacFarlane… he can suck a bag of dicks. He’s crude, not funny, racist, sexist and the only thing he has going for him is that he’s a white guy, so he gets into all the best parties just for that. Which is complete bullshit.
31 Days of Ghosts: Zombies Revisited
Two days left in October, with tomorrow being the day of haunting, and I’ll end it off with two, yes two movies!
The title of this post speaks all about it. The movies focus on Zombies. And those Zombie movies are Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland.
I liked both. Both were awesome movies and I can’t pick one over the other. If you have to watch just one of those two movies, buck the system and say “I’ll watch both!”. Both movies are funny, both have a lot of action, both have really interesting characters, and, of course, both have zombies.
In Zombieland, we’re introduced to Columbus, who is the narrator of the piece. He begins with his Rules of Zombieland. Of which there’s a lot. Seriously. There’s a list. Columbus eventually meets up with Tallahassee. Tallahassee, as we learn is in the zombie killing business, and “business is good”. Following the hapless pairs adventures for a while until we meet up with Wichita and Little Rock. The latter which happen to be a couple of successful con artists.
Eventually, the four join forces to fight the zombie apocalypse, and become fast friends. Yeah, the movie’s not terrifying, but it’s good fun. End of story.
Also good fun is Shaun of the Dead. Believe it or not, it’s also a romantic comedy. As the zombie apocalypse becomes worse, Shaun and his friends have to come to grips with several truths as they attempt to hole up and wait out the apocalypse inside their (at least Shaun’s) favourite watering hole.
Both movies have a great deal of zombie kills, though Zombieland scores big in that area. Both have lots of laughs, though that tip goes more to Shaun of the Dead. If you have to watch one or the other, say screw it and watch both. The only question left is which to start with.
Why we need them
I’m gonna go way more in-depth with this later, but just some words I wanted to get off my chest.
I never could understand this feeling by many in print media, film, and other entertainment mediums why it was always felt that a product was no good without a white, male (most often straight) hero type character to be somewhere in the franchise. Whether being the main focus or being the one who helps out the woman/person of colour/lgbtq person. And with women and lgbtq, the white male hero was there to dispense advice because hey, he’s white and male and only white males know what’s good for people (unless they happen to be gay, but sometimes that includes even if they are gay).
Those types of stories are dangerous. Because they can foster an identity in different genders and races that this is the truth.
Racism and sexism is prevalent in our society; we are not yet in a post racial society, we are not yet in a society of equality. There are still things that foster this air of inequality, such as the entertainment medium. Our social media today allows us to report on the latest book or the newest movie at break neck speed. It can also display our bigotry at such incredible speeds as well. One such thing is the response to a character in the Hunger Games being black, and most of the tweets said there’d be more sympathy if the character was white. Now that was around the movie. As I myself have read, the description of Rue (the character in question), pretty much solidified that she was black (or, darker skinned). The tweeting of the lack of sympathy showed the absolute apathy and bigotry toward African Americans (or African Canadians).
We need people of colour, women of colour, women, LGBTQ authors and we need characters of the same design. Because once those authors and those characters become more prevalent in our entertainment media, then we’ll be taking a step forward. There has to be more Gail Simone’s and Dwayne McDuffie’s of the world to help bring about new and interesting ideas. With this new world of social media, marketing should be a lot easier. We should be able to inundate different sites with information about new, positive story ideas.
Instead, we’re merely being given the same, tired old stories as though the well has dried up. When a new idea does come along, it’s the most damaging and racist thing ever seen. Two examples of this are 50 Shades of Grey and the Save The Pearls series. One series paints an entire culture in such a bad, stereotypical way, while the other attempts to use reverse racism, siting that white people will be the oppressed and down trodden of the future. Amazingly, the latter won’t happen because we humans have the tendency to evolve with climate changes. As I’ve read, the plot of the book is that due to environmental damage due to over mining, over drilling and pollution, whites can’t survive as well in the new world thanks to huge holes in the ozone layer. Or something to that affect. But seriously, the book without reading it is really racist as it tries to make whites look like an oppressed minority. Which is pure fantasy.
However, enough of that.
People of colour, women of colour, women and lgbtq creators have a lot of really good ideas. We should look closely at those ideas and take them into account, instead of just brushing them aside or complaining that “the quota was already filled” (which is another statement of bullshit). Maybe if we took a look at more of their ideas, we’d have a whole lot more original entertainment to keep us going, instead of rebooting or re-imagining the same crap, over and over again.
All your favourite shows don’t exist
All of your favourite TV shows and movies…
…never really existed.
The reasons why?
Movie Bob at the Escapist Magazine had a really good discussion on it (seriously, check the link), but every single television show and movie that has had some major fanbase existed in the head of…
Who is Tommy Westphall? Outside of clicking the link to find out, Tommy was a minor character on the hit TV series St. Elsewhere. In the final episode of the series, it was revealed that the entirety of St. Elsewhere, from the buildings to the doctors to the patients, existed in the head of this young autistic boy. That in and of itself isn’t that big, but think of this. Back in the 80′s, it was hugely popular to have characters from one TV series appear in another TV series. Hell, I remember people wanting to see Simon and Simon appear in an episode of Magnum P.I. As it happened, characters from St. Elsewhere appeared in Homicide: Life on the Street. It spirals from there.
Essentially, the universe inside Tommy’s head includes, but is not limited to:
- All Star Treks
- The Buffy-verse
- Firefly
- Aliens
- Predator
- Law & Order
- Doctor Who
- Red Dwarf
So all the shows you like and watch with a great passion…
Thank Tommy Westphall for that.
Fear of a Black [Panther] Film
I saw something and had to stop and read it. It was a quote from Marvel Studios’ co-president Louis D’Esposito.
“[Black Panther] has a lot of the same characteristics of a Captain America: great character, good values, but it’s a little more difficult, maybe, creating [a world like Wakanda]. It’s always easier basing it here. For instance, ‘Iron Man 3’ is rooted right here in Los Angeles and New York. When you bring in other worlds, you’re always faced with those difficulties.”
The blogger I read this from went on to say some interesting stuff. Originally from blackfolksmakingcomics:
thinks creating a fictional African kingdom like Wakanda is more difficult than, say, a fictionalized version of Afghanistan, the alien realm of Asgard, or the alien worlds that’s going to be in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film?
How exactly is creating a fictional kingdom on Earth harder than creating a fictional kingdom of deity-like beings or of alien creatures?
I’m not sure I’m buying that. I mean, it’s not that difficult.
“I want to recreate something created in comics in live-action.” Boom! It’s done. People do it all the time. It’s not rocket science. It’s movies. You can create anything your imagination allows you to. It’s not hard at all.
You can create beings who transform into giant monsters smashing up buildings. You can create robotic suits capable of traveling from Los Angeles to Afghanistan in mere minutes. You can destroy an entire metropolitan city with alien creatures with relative ease. You can create alien realms and dimensions. You can create a floating carrier base with more machines than humanly possible. But to create an African kingdom with real world physics? That’s impossible to you guys?
It’s not that hard. I mean, filmmakers have made fictionalized African worlds since the beginning of film. We have the talent and the technology to make it look and feel real. That’s not a problem, so I don’t know why Marvel Studio’s co-head would think that’s a problem.
The problem that they refuse to acknowledge is this:
Marvel Studios fears that a Black Panther movie will be classified as “a Black film.”
That’s … that’s it.
Considering Marvel likes to do origin stories to introduce a character, the fact that his entire origin story takes place in the African kingdom of Wakanda may be a hard sell in Marvel’s eyes. And to do that, you’re going to need a majority Black cast. There’s a belief in Hollywood that you can’t put more than three Black actors in a film in leading roles because the general perception is that it’d be seen as a Black film,
Todd McFarlane stated that the producers of Spawn turned Terry Fitzgerald (Wanda Blake’s new husband) into a White man and developed a White woman named Jessica Priest to be the killer of Al Simmons instead of Chapel (a Black man) largely because the studio didn’t want too many Black leads in the film. The first Blade move has Wesley Snipes, N’Bushe Wright, and Sanaa Lathan, while the other films only had Snipes in the titular role. Steel (ugh) had Shaquille O’Neal in the title role, Richard Roundtree as his uncle Joe and Irma P. Hall as his grandmother.
Remember M.A.N.T.I.S? Great television movie about a paraplegic doctor and brilliant scientist named Miles Hawkins (the last name, had the series continued, wasn’t a coincidence and he would have been in a crossover with a Milestone character who also shares that family name) who created an exoskeleton (the costume design was created by Hardware co-creator Denys Cowan) that not only restored his ability to walk, but gave him enhanced abilities.
Carl Lumbly, who later played Martian Manhunter in various DC animated productions, played Dr. Hawkins. Gina Torres, who’s known by many as Zoe Washburne from the Firefly/Serenity series and the voice of Vixen on Justice League Unlimited and Wonder Woman in the DC Universe Online MMORPG, played Dr. Amy Ellis. Bobby Hosea played reporter Yuri Barnes while Wendy Raquel Robinson (you may know her as Principal Regina “Piggy” Grier from The Steve Harvey Show sitcom and Tasha Mack on The Game) and Christopher M. Brown played a pair of African students who interred for Dr. Hawkins.
When the film became a series, only Lumbly remained. Everybody else was gone, replaced by different actors, all White. Much of the African elements removed from the series. And it was canceled with the lead character getting squashed by an invisible dinosaur. Critics noticed the changes made from the well-received pilot and the rather lackluster series, mostly savaging the lack of diversity the series had.
That said, it’s kind of telling that nearly 20 years after M.A.N.T.I.S. premiered, Hollywood still fears creating a serious action-adventure property with a predominately minority cast and the perceptions of it being a “Black film.” There’s no such thing as a “Black film.” There are comedies, dramas, thrillers, and adventure stories with a mostly minority cast, but they’re just comedies, dramas, thrillers, and adventure stories.
The whole thing about Marvel not wanting to make a Black Panther film because they can’t recreate the kingdom of Wakanda seems farfetched and weird to be believed. Guess that’s just Hollywood being strange and woefully ignorant again.
And I had to add in my own two cents, because I think it is an injustice when a good story doesn’t get made, just because it happens to be about black people. It’s sad that when something like this comes up the biggest concern is “will white people like it”. We aren’t in a post racial society that embraces equality when we try to consider how “white people” will view something if it has black lead roles or characters.
Anyway, here’s my take posted originally from timholtorf.tumblr.com:
Really? There’s a fear that a black lead cast would be seen as a “black film”? As though “black film” in it’s represented scare quotes would be seen the same as “Muslim”. That its something scary and different and people wouldn’t know how to treat it. Which is complete bullshit. Sure it’s a black film, but it’s still a film. It just has black people in it. People who eat, breathe, live, die, fuck and all other sorts of things (well, perhaps not fuck, unless it’s a porn).
I really don’t think it should be something feared, because that’s how it looks to me how Hollywood is approaching it. How long did Red Tails take to get made? Several years, and I thought it was awesome when I saw it. Does it have black people in it? Sure, but it’s also got fighter craft and air battles and explosions and other cool things. And it talks about history, a very real history that happened that should never be forgotten.
As for creating a fictional African nation, I agree with the above. How freakin’ hard would that be? There are several nations in the African Continent that you can choose from for research and history. And please, oh please, don’t decide to make the government of Wakanda corrupt and needing to be saved. Because that plays into a Western centric stereotype, that everyone outside of North America and Europe (outside of the old Soviet bits) is corrupt and evil. Saying it’s easier to make a film about a character in the States is basically saying you’re too lazy to create something new and different. Also, it’s really fucking bigoted.
So, this is year of the archer
Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games.
Merida from Brave.
Three characters who have been noted as being a part of year of the archer.
And Legolas from Lord of the Rings that most fandoms say started it all off.
Well, if that’s the case, if this is the year of the archer, why is it that one other archer was never really seriously talked about for a movie? Oh, there’s been discussion, hints and even suggestions. But nothing really serious. I think I may have an answer, and it’s rather disconcerting. This archer happens to be from another comic book company. That comic book company happens to be owned by Warner Brothers. For some reason, Warner Brothers just can’t do anything that isn’t Superman or Batman. Which is why I wouldn’t be surprised that a movie about Green Arrow would not amount to much at all.
It should be easy, really. The main origin of Oliver Queen, rich kid who has a lacking of morals, becomes stranded on a desert island, learns to rely only on his skill with a bow and arrow to survive. Comes back to Star City and assumes the role of Green Arrow. A second movie might kick off a romance with Black Canary.
But, I don’t really have faith that Warner Brothers could do it. I mean, they can’t get a Wonder Woman movie right, so why would I expect them to get Green Arrow right.
At least Green Arrow survives on in the cartoons and television series that get produced for other titles like Young Justice, Justice League Unlimited and Smallville. Those television shows did GA some justice.
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Science fiction versus Space opera
I’ve had this thought for a while, and it all began with the comment “Star Wars isn’t science fiction, it’s space opera”.
Now, before I’m blasted by the legion of Star Wars fans, you’d have to look at the definitions of the two genres. First science fiction, as read at wikipedia, is defined as thus:
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible (or at least non-supernatural) content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities. Exploring the consequences of scientific innovations is one purpose of science fiction, making it a “literature of ideas”.[1]
Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures.[2] It is similar to, but differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation).
So, that’s the definition of science fiction. What about space opera.
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to “soap opera“. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale.
Sometimes the term space opera is used pejoratively to denote bad quality science fiction, but its meaning can differ, often describing a particular science fiction genre without any value judgement.
So, technically, space opera is a sub-genre of science fiction. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that space opera IS science fiction. Thus, why I’m using the example of Star Wars. To use the opposite, I’ll use Star Trek.
Star Trek, for all of it’s rather Shakspearean concepts and scripts and stories, still puts in place the science of the fiction. How many times have we seen a discussion take place in stellar cartography? Or had a completely indepth discussion about the physics of microscopic life forms. Or even the fact that much of the ship itself (whether it’s Kirk’s Enterprise, Picard’s Enterprise, Archer’s Enterprise, Janeway’s Voyager, or Sisko’s DS9 and Defiant) is mentioned in scientific terms that can be related with. Those data pads that the crew is always reading information from? Interesting how they look like Kindles now.
Attempting to rewrite Star Trek in another genre would be incredibly difficult. Attempting to explain holodecks, the science of physics, biology and more would be extremely difficult to translate in fantasy. You could say it’s very much like a swashbuckler. But even that would only encompass a few of the episodes, and not many of the movies. I couldn’t see Legolas say “they’re taking the Hobbits to Isengard through a transwarp conduit”.
Star Wars, on the other hand, has something that Star Trek doesn’t. It’s vast, wide open, and just plain huge. While Star Trek had many stories plotted out across a wide range of generations, Star Wars had one long, sweeping epic. Sure, it was spread out over several generations, but the story always built up to the grand conclusion, which was what we saw at the end of Return of the Jedi. And even for as much science in Star Wars as there was (I’m ignoring midichlorians, as I know much of the fandom likes to ignore it too), the concepts were much more fantasy in their base forms. The script and story itself had a larger amount of drama. You could even argue that there was a great deal of difference between the first three movies (New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) as compared to the three prequels. The first three felt much more grand in scale than that of the prequels, though the level of drama was maintained. Even though the audience knew exactly what was going to happen by the end of the third movie.
If you were to attempt to rewrite Star Wars with a more fantasy feel, it wouldn’t be that hard. A mystical “Force” that a number of “Knights” can learn to wield or who have been chosen to wield, as the white knights defend the kingdom against the evil black knights. Each of these knights has the ability to use incredible magical powers and are expert swords men as they use specially granted holy swords, many which they created themselves. The basic gist of Star Wars.
The primary, basic concept of a space opera isn’t that it’s science fiction, but that it takes place in space. The second is that it must be a massive epic that manages to encompass drama more than it captures action. The focus isn’t so much on the science, but the characters and the events. Space opera did pluck concepts from westerns and sea faring tales. And even those latter plucked from different genres themselves.
While the reason space opera is a sub genre of science fiction, it doesn’t always mean it is science fiction.
What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?
The last song to get stuck in my head was the main song from The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is Halloween.
And it really didn’t matter if it was done by Marilyn Manson or from the actual movie, it was there. I will add, however, this was not entirely a bad thing. I don’t mind that song very much at all.
Here’s the original from the movie:
And the one covered by Marilyn Manson:
And I guess Panic! At the Disco did a version as well:
New Moon Release Party
I will admit it. I like, no love Twilight. I’ve read the books and they are fun books. Sure there are some parts that could have been better (like the sparkle) but for the most part it was a whirlwind relationship between a human girl a vampire boy. There are many other vampy romance novels where I’ve read with the same damn thing.
So last night Wal-Mart hosted the New Moon DVD release party. I arrived there about 10 pm and there wasn’t many people there which was good for me and my crowd controlled panic attacks.
When we arrived, there was a greeter there to let us know what was going on. Door prizes, cake, punch, posters. We could play the Wii or we could sit down and watch New Moon. I decided to look around for a bit. Noticing the merchandise they had out, I also decided it was time for a new purse. I picked out one with Edward and Bella on it. I also got my free poster which to my surprise had more goodies inside.
After that, Zach and I got some cake (yes we are back together 
) and some punch. We watched the people mingle about. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed but excited at the same time. More people were showing up, including some of the girls from my apartment complex.
There was also musical chairs which used the New Moon Soundtrack. I played one round and felt weird the entire time. I didn’t win, but I wasn’t upset about it. The girls who were with me in this game were pretty ruthless. The prize was a five dollar walmart gift card.
After that, I walked around walmart with Zach, we had to look for some other stuff while we were there. About eleven people started to get antsy, by this time there was only an hour left for the movie release. I wasted time walking around, talking with a few friends. Then I discovered the quiz table. I jumped in line and waited my turn.
Question one: Who sits in the middle throne of the Vultri? Answer: Aro
Question two: How much does Bella pay for the motorbikes? Answer: Zero
Question three: Who’s funeral did Charlie attend? Answer: Harry Clearwater’s
Question four: What color roses were not in the Cullen’s house? Answer: Purple
Question five: Who told Edward about the funeral? Answer: Jacob
These were just some of the questions that I came across. After my third turn, I managed to get all five questions right. My prize was an aluminum water bottle with Edward on it. Happily, I walked off with my prize.
Sorry for poor quality. Hands were a bit shaky
Finally, we stood in line waiting for the movie to come out, by this time more people had showed up. There were three lines total. Cullens, Wolfpack, Volturi. I was in Cullens, maybe 25th in line. When I turned around I saw the line extending all the way to the door.
It had finally kicked in that it was almost time for the movie release.
About 11:15, they began doing door prizes. I was one of the lucky ones who won a five dollar walmart gift card. Which of course went to pay for my movie. The surprise win of the night was Zach winning a twenty-five dollar gift card which also went to pay for the movie. I got the ultimate fan edition, which came with all the special feature and another DVD called Twilight in Forks.
Surprisingly, I had a lot of fun and was thrilled when the movie was finally released at 12:01. Now I just have to wait for June 30th, when Eclipse comes out in theaters.
Keep it real and rockin’
Tim’s Views: Christmas Movies – L.A. Confidential
Yesterday, the movie for this festive time of year was Max Payne. Today, it’s equally gory with a film noir set in the 50′s with L.A. Confidential.
Based on James Elroy’s novel, the movie dives into the cesspool of slime and disgust with L.A. cops in the 1950′s. It all begins with the beating of inmates that the media dubs Bloody Christmas. The story continues as it revolves around three cops, played by Russel Crow, Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey. Crow is the mindless muscle, Pearce the boy scout who wants to stop the bad guys, and Spacey is Mr. Hollywood. As the three begin investigating a series of murders, they uncover dirty cops, and a crime ring that includes the Captain of the Homicide division, a dirty newspaper pusher and a prostitute dressed to look like Veronica Lake.
At first Pearce and Spacey work together thinking Crow’s character is one of the dirty cops, but after Spacey is killed off by the mastermind, Crow begins to help out Pearce, proving he’s more than just muscle and can think after all.
The characters pull off great performances as they at first make you hate them, with the excpetion of Guy Pearce. That hate turns to admiration, even if toward the end of the movie Pearce’s character actually comes off less than admirable. It captures the aspect of film noir nicely, and instills those images of old hard core detective novels.
This movie is a must see for anyone who likes suspense thrillers with a twist. Don’t take my word for it, though. Get it, rent it, buy it. Check it out for yourself. If this is your type of movie, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Tim’s Views: Christmas Movies – Max Payne
Okay, so Christmas movie may not be correct, but movies that have Christmas in them might be better suited.
For anyone who right now thinks that the movie is anything like the video game, stop right there. The only similarities with the film and the game are that Max Payne was a New York cop turned rogue as he investigates the murder of his wife and child. Leaving the plot of the game, let’s deal with the plot of the movie.Oh, and forget about seeing bullet time, that’s for the game. The effect is only used once, and quite poorly.
Max Payne begins with a scene of Max falling to his supposed death into the river as his voice over talks about dying with the other scum. Then it switches to a pair of cops moving to the cold case section, where Max Payne works.
And then things get weird.
A world of drugs, Russians, tattoos with the symbol of the Valkyrie, seeing demons and angels, and a strange underworld.
Max follows the clues as a Russian woman is killed, his old partner and a series of drug pushers and thugs on the streets. It all comes back to a drug created by a company called Aesir, and the drug they created for military testing called Valkyr.
The movie’s pacing is, at times, slow at best. Long shots that are supposed to make you feel sorry for Max, but instead, Mark Walberg comes off playing a feelingless psycho, as bad as the criminals he’s trying to stop. In that way, the story is a little old and tired, if not over used.
In the end, the killer is identified as a former soldier that the drug Valkyr was tested with. The drug was part of a test to create the perfect soldier (like we haven’t seen that before). On top of the Norse god usage, Max follows the clues to a night club called Ragnarok, a busted down warehouse, which is actually a front for the main operations of the rogue soldier and his men. But of course, he really isn’t the killer. 
In fact, it was an old friend, a former cop working as head of security at Aesir company.
Lots of gun fire, few explosions, and at times, slow in pace. For anyone hoping that this movie would be something akin to the video game, you’ll be highly disappointed. For those just wanting to see a paranormal version of a Dirty Harry film… well, this isn’t exactly that, but it’s close. Without the cheesy one liners.
Zodiviews: My Sister’s Keeper
It’s very rare that a movie touches my heart so much I fall to pieces half way through. Even now as I type this with tears in my eyes, I realize how much this movie has made an impact on me. Not just me as a person, but me as a mother.
My Sister’s Keeper is an amazing heartfelt story about a girl named Anna who wants to be declared Medically Emancipated to make decisions over her own body. She sues her parents to achieve this. It goes on to tell the struggles that Kate’s sickness has caused. Everything from being sick in the hospital, to issues at home. But this isn’t all about the bad times, there are plenty of good times, and even some laughs.
In this movie, a mother makes a decision to become pregnant again, to save her first daughters life. The baby however is engineered to do just that. Everything about the second child would be a perfect match. Part of me wanted to scream at the television and tell the mother that she couldn’t do it. But the other half of me questioned, what would I do to save my child’s life?
The answer was simple. I would do anything.
While some point during the movie, I had a hard time keeping the tears back, other times I had to pause it because something was said or done that made me crack up so hard that I would miss parts of the next scene.
The Actors and Actresses did an amazing job in this tear jerking drama. Camron Diaz played the mother Sara, grief stricken, at even at times a little psychotic. Abigail Breslin was Anna, the savior sister and Sofia Vassilieva plays Kate the sick sister who tries to live a normal life.
This movie is truly a wonderful work, I’m looking forward to reading the book; My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I was amazed by the movie, I’m sure the book will only add to understanding of what it is like to live, laugh and let go.
I would also like to take a moment now to discuss how you can help. Please take a few minutes to donate and even spread the word about cancer amongst children. With just a little bit of help, these kid can live to see another day.
Another one to donate for is Make-A-Wish foundation. I have worked personally with Make-A-Wish in helping a child to donate items to a sick child. In 2003 when I worked for EB Games, we had a pair of Make-A-Wish people come into the store and asked me if I would be able to donate to help them get a new system and a few games for a little girl in Children Hospital of Philadelphia.Seeing as I wasn’t the store manager, I quickly called him and he gave me the okay to assist these women in getting the items they wanted for the little girl.
On the Make-A-Wish site there are numerous ways to donate. Please take a moment to check it.
Keep it real and rockin’
A chapter ends on a horror
This weekend, the television debut of the movie Rust, starring and produced by Corbin Bernsen of L.A. Law fame, is taking place. For a few people, this event will hold some very deep meaning.
Wind the clock back to 2005. Montreal blogger Kyle MacDonald begins trading with a red paper clip. His goal is to trade up to a house. The world watches as the small town of Kipling, Saskatchewan trades movie roles in Bernsen’s upcoming film Donna on Demand for a two storey house. The deal is sealed, and life begins to shine anew in the small Saskatchewan town. There’s an economic prosperity, as Bernsen comes to the town and casts several locals in the film. But Bernsen wants to come back, as there was something about Kipling that touched him. He promises to return, and does, with a script that was written with Kipling in mind.
Fast forward to 2006. RCMP surround a small, abandoned farm house outside of Kipling, Saskatchewan, as a Canada wide manhunt comes to a conclusion. Police have tracked the notorious pedophile, Peter Whitemore, and his two victims, a 13 year old boy from Winnipeg and a 10 year old Saskatchewan boy. In the trial after, it is revealed that Whitemore repeatedly raped each boy, kept one on a leash and demanded that they call him master. Both boys lives, but would have to deal with the emotional scars for years to come.
And the community of Kipling is left with a physical reminder in an abandoned farm house.
Fast foward to 2009. The weather is cold, the wind is raw, but a movie crew and residents of the town gather around an abandoned farm house outside of Kipling. The scene is to film the house burning to the ground as it is part of an emotional event for one of the characters in the film. The character in his youth, burned the house his family were in, killing them all.
The same house that Peter Whitemore held two boys hostage, is about to be completely destroyed forever. At the time, Corbin Bernsen did not know the full details of the case surrounding Whitemore. He notices one boy watching, and says “Pretty exciting, huh?” The boy responds with an enthusiastic “Yeah.” It’s later mentioned to Bernsen that the boy he spoke to was in fact one of the boys Whitemore held hostage in the very house that begins to light on fire.
The emotional scars will always remain, years after the physical ones are gone. But the complete destruction of a house for the filming of a movie would be the start of that healing process. Not only for two boys, but for an entire community that had grown used to the house that no one talked about.
Zodiviews: Push
Push is a great movie, with a balance level of action and drama. There are the occasional funny line between Cassie (Dakota Fanning) and Nick (Chris Evans) and tense moments where the bad guys meet up with the good guys and just chat a moment.
The basic plot of this move is government experiments on supernatural abilities. No I’m not talking X-men or any sort of comic style heroes (though it does have a comic that may or may not explain the movie or events leading up to the movie) I mean supernatural abilities that do exist, but are often debunked by scientists. A subject (Camilla Belle) gets loose and it’s up to a rag-tag group of people with these powers to be able save said subject, and pull the wool all over the governments eyes which is led by Henry Carver (Djimon Hounsou,) a Pusher who works for the Division. All of this while fending off and hindering Chinese mob family.
You have several main groups of powered rogues. Watchers, Movers, Pushers, Sniffs, Stitches, Bleeders, Shadows and Shifters. There are several more within the movie, but these are the main ones that you see you.
Watchers see the future, movers move things with telekenetic power, pushers make you believe lies are actually the truth. Sniffs use mental imprint imaging to locate people, Stitches can bend and break you with just a touch. Bleeders emit a shrill scream that bursts your blood vessels as well as any breakable objects near you, Shadows can hide anything from Sniffs and to a point even from watchers. Shifters can change objects to look like something else.
Push makes you think of what things would be like if people had powers like these but multiplied to deadly levels. Of course in the wrong hands and you get groups like Pop Father and his gang like family.
Surprisingly enough, the movie doesn’t take place in a normal American setting. Instead it is set in Hong Kong. The reason for this is because there are a lot of people and it’s easy for the ones with abilities to hide. It is a great setting they’ve used. They show the rich lush side and the poor squander side that inhabit Hong Kong.
The ultimate goal is to keep what patient zero has in her possession from getting into the hands of the government know as Division. It is to pretty much save everyone who has abilities like these from being dragged into being made a super army.
However, being thwarted by the Pop Father and his 80′s shades wearing brats proved to be a good twist. Pop Father has two bleeders and a watcher who is much stronger with her ability than Cassie. That is until Nick is wiped. Pop Father doesn’t take to kindly to her connection loss and sees her as a disgrace to her family.
The secondary goal is to get Cassie’s mom who is like a super watch out of the experimental centers and prevent Nick, Cassie and everyone they get to know along the way from being killed. Oh yeah and the love interest who is able to warp minds to believe what she wants them to be, has it done in return, making you wonder if she was a liar all along.
Push is a great suspense movie, and keeps you trying to guess what is going to happen, and how things are going to change. Though I am probably one of the few people who will spend the money to own it. A lot of people claimed “What the hell was that?” and “This looks like Heroes.” Most review sites gave it a two out of 5. I guess they were expecting much much more.
The combat scenes are entertaining and well done. There was more than once where I flinched because of how painful the fights were without the power, add the power and you could see the pain it could cause.
The special effects were great. Movers sort of showed off a prismatic shield, or a ripple in the air when something was moving or being blocked. But they also added what it would be like to do a fight where you are using that power and the hits were stronger than before. Pushers had their eyes change, like a super dialition that allowed them to literally be windows of the soul.
The ending left me wanting more, and hoping that they make a sequel to find out if the rest of the goals are met. Though this may not be the case since it did “flop” in box offices. When I first seen the previews, I knew that I wanted to see it. I’m a fan of Dakota Fanning and have seen all her movies, visually watching her grow up. She plays an amazing roll which shows almost a transition from doe eyed little girl with big dreams to a smart mouth teen who makes your mouth drop from shock when she says shit.
Story line in general was well written and well played. I enjoyed it even if it might be a bit slow for some people. You can read the full summary/synopsis of Push on IMBD. There are lots of spoilers, you were warned.
Keep it real and rockin’
<3
