GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE!

ZOMBZANY MEETS DOC FREAK - PART TWO - FREAK-OUT LOUD

2012-03-05T18:38:00.000-05:00

In the second part of Zombzany Meets Doc Freak titled "Freak-Out Loud", Zombzany has returned to his throne and is lecturing Doc Freak on how to behave while he is hosting the Scare-a-thon. Zombzany informs Freak that he should stay off camera, merely observe and most importantly not interrupt Zombzany's informative explanation of the films. Freak agrees and then trudges off camera after Zombzany shouts at him for blocking his shot.

Zombzany begins his description of the first film of the evening, Universal's 1931 classic Frankenstein, but then proceeds to make many factual errors about the film. Doc Freak cannot stand aside and listen to Zombzany's incorrect and incompetent meanderings on one of his favorite films, so he leaps on camera and begins shouting in Zombzany's face. Zombzany uses a spell of muting on Doc Freak, silencing him in order that Zombzany can continue with the Horror movie marathon in peace. Freaks tramps off camera inaudibly mouthing obscenities at Zombzany.

Enjoy, Zombzany Meets Doc Freak - Part Two - Freak-Out Loud!

PHASE 7 (2011) A PERSONALIZED PANDEMIC PICTURE

2012-03-04T16:56:00.000-05:00

"If you are interested in a smaller scale film that deals with a pandemic disaster on a very human level, then give Phase 7 a try."

Science Fiction, Horror, Post-Pandenmic and Dark Satire

Starring - Daniel Hendler/Coco, Jazmin Stuart/Pipi, YayoGuridi/Horacio and Federico Luppi/Zanutto

Director and Writer - Nicolas Goldbart

R - Includes adult themes, adult activity, hard language andintense bloody violence.

1 hr., 37 min.

I’m always looking for something new and interesting towatch in the science fiction film genre. There are very few big-budget mainstreamfilms that deal with dystopian themes that emphasis character. Usually I haveto find these types of films in the independent or direct-to-DVD market andbecause their budgets are so small, they often are not very well produced oracted. Fortunately, Netflix offers a very good selection of foreign films intheir streaming service and many of these films deal with this subject matterwith a slightly higher level of quality. Phase 7 (Fase 7) is a Spanish languagefilm shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a native cast and directed and writtenby former film editor Nicolas Goldbart, that takes the pandemic film genre onat a very personal level.

The story is fairly straight forward. Coco and Pipi are a youngcouple who live in a new high-rise apartment complex where they don't have muchinteraction with their neighbors. Pipi is seven months pregnant, so when the apartmentbuilding is sealed off as part of a government-ordered quarantine, at firstthey aren’t concerned and are prepared to wait it out. After several weeks, itbecomes apparent that the epidemic has become a stage six world-wide epidemicand now the few remaining apartment dwellers are on their own. Coco, who is notprepared to deal with such a life-threatening situation, is helped by his fellowfourth-floor neighbor, Horacio, who has prepared for such an occasion. Soon, asfood becomes scarce and tensions become elevated, neighbors become enemies and survivalbecomes the priority.

Phase 7 doesn’t offer anything different from many otherfilms in the pandemic science fiction sub-genre. What it does do is do it on asmall enough scale to make it feel more realist and relatable on a human level.While Coco, the young husband and father-to-be, is not the most relatable or plausibleof protagonists, he does grow as a character as the film progresses. Thestandout character is Coco’s neighbor, Horacio, the survivalist who must forceCoco to not only accept the dread circumstances that the pandemic has caused,but learn the use of firearms and other means to protect his wife and futurefamily. The only unrealistic character in the film is Coco’s wife, Pipi, whonever seems to grasp the danger that they are in and spends most of the filmeating and sleeping, oblivious to the actions of her husband.

After a fairly slow-paced set up, Phase 7 picks up the pace inthe middle acts. Even though many of the action scenes in Phase 7 aren’tanything we haven’t seen before, they are shot and acted with enthusiasm and aslight comedic edge that I haven’t seen in a film since Robert Rodriguez’ Elmariachi (1992). Despite the dystopian setting, Phase 7 never gets bogged downin melancholia or hopelessness.

As a non-Spanish speaker I found The English sub-titles unobtrusiveto the energy of the film, as Phase 7 is carried as much by the emotive expressionsof the characters as by their dialogue.

If you are interested in a smaller scale film that dealswith a pandemic disaster on a very human level, then give Phase 7 a try.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 8 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 8Script – 9 Special Effects – 8

VISCERAL: Visual – 8 Auditory – 8 Intellectual – 9 Emotional– 8 Involvement – 9

TOTAL RATING: 84

PLEASE VOTE ON THE “WHICH OF THESE FILMS DO YOU PLAN ON SEEING IN MARCH OF 2012?” POLL!

2012-03-01T21:48:00.000-05:00

Thank you for voting in my first “which of these films doyou plan on seeing” poll of 2012! The results of the nine people who voted weremost interested in seeing Underworld: Awakening with 7 votes (77%). I did seethis film at the theater and was pleased I did. The next highest vote getterwas Chronicle, which received 3 votes (33%). I was not that interested inseeing this at the theater, as I am not a fan of found footage films. However,the generally favorable reviews from both fans and critics alike make me wonderif I made an error by not seeing this one at the theater. I will definitely berenting Chronicle as soon as it is available. Bringing up the rear with 2 votes(22%) was Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, a film I have no interest in seeing– not only because I didn’t finish watching its putrid predecessor Ghost Rider(2007), but also because I was never a fan of the comic book on which it wasbased. Last and most certainly least was Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,which received 1 vote (11%). I liked Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008),which this is a quasi-sequel to, but only as a rental - and a low priority oneat that. Thanks to all nine of you who voted in this poll – you know who youare – and you may now consider yourselves Genre Guardian Generals!

A NEW POLL!

Once again on the right column of this page, you will see atthe top of the column the next poll that I’ve posted. This second poll includesthe titles and release dates of all the major SF, Fantasy or Horror films thatare being distributed to movie theaters in the month of March 2012. They are: John Carter, The Hunger Games, Wrath of the Titans and Mirror Mirror. As always,I appreciate anyone who reads GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE! to place a vote for anyof these films that you plan on seeing at the theater and I will at leastattempt to see the top vote getters. Of the four films listed, John Carter isthe only film I definitely plan on seeing at the theater.

Thank you for reading GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE! and hopefully participatingin the new poll!

ZOMBZANY MEETS DOC FREAK - PART ONE - LIGHTS OUT!

2012-02-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

This video tape of my first encounter with my undeadneighbor, Zombzany, was collecting dust at the bottom of my pile of tapesstolen from Zombzany’s private collection. As I have mentioned in the past,Zombzany at this point in his career as a horror movie host was reduced to peddlinghis services to any group of horror movie fans that could afford him. Thisrecording is another job that Zombzany accepted to host a Scare-a-thon for alocal film group. I know Zombzany was not proud of these gigs and I think heonly kept them to keep them from falling into the wrong hands of someone suchas myself. I think if Zombzany had known that this was the first recording ofhis meeting with me, Doc Freak – as he incorrectly addressed me at the time –he might have destroyed it instead.

The terrible condition I found this video tape in demonstratesthat Zombzany indeed had no fondness for our encounters. I had to dub this tapeoff of a video monitor, because the format was incompatible with any functioningvideo tape equipment that I still own. Another reason that the image is sograiny and fuzzy is that Myron, Zombzany’s zombie cameraman was not only unfamiliarwith the white balance control of the camera, but the manual focus controleither. Unfortunately, it is the only copy I have of this historic -- or shouldI say histrionic – first videotaped meeting of Zombzany and myself.

For the sake of clarity, I will be referring to myself inthe third person for the following description of this video.

In the first part of Zombzany Meets Doc Freak --which I've titled "Lights Out", Zombzany is sitting on his throne andpreparing to host yet another horror movie marathon, when all the lights in goout in his tomb. Zombzany turns to see that the only light in the neighborhoodis coming from the vicinity of Doc Freak's laboratory. Determined to forceFreak to fix his loss of power so that he can carry on with his"Scare-a-thon", Zombzany stomps off towards Doc's lab. Zombzany bangson Freak's door and an agitated Doc Freak answers it. After some"negotiating", Zombzany convinces Freak that he should repair thefused circuit breaker box that powers his cemetery. As Freak is fixing thecircuits, Zombzany casually mentions he needs the power to host a Frankensteinmovie marathon, which causes Doc Freak to get extremely excited, asFrankenstein is his favorite movie monster. Zombzany reluctantly agrees toallow Freak to observe him hosting the Frankenstein film marathon, just asFreak repairs the circuit breaker panel and restores Zombzany's power. Enjoy!

TRAILER TUESDAY! CLOVERFIELD 2 - A TRAILER: TRUE OR FALSE?

2012-02-21T21:43:00.000-05:00

When Cloverfield was released in January of 2008, I knewvery little about the film other than what was shown in the trailer. Unlikemany critics, I thought Cloverfield worked as both a giant monster movie and adramatic character piece. Even the found footage and “shaky cam” gimmicks that normallycause me to immediately check out of a film did not deter my enjoyment ofCloverfield.

A little over three years later, an “official” trailer for asequel to Cloverfield – simply titled Cloverfield 2 – was posted on YouTube. Itis as inspired and dramatic as the initial trailer for Cloverfield was back in2007. Unfortunately, there has been no more information to be learned about theproduction or impending release of Cloverfield 2 since the release of thetrailer. The only official response to a possible Cloverfield sequel was in a briefinterview with director Matt Reeves published by Total Film Magazine on March17, 2011: "Well, you are going to see it - we just don't know when[laughs]. At the moment we are talking about the story quite a lot. DrewGoddard, who wrote the original, is going to pen the sequel and JJ Abrams isvery much involved. However, the three of us have been so busy that getting theright idea together has been taking a long time. We have a lot of affection forthe original and the sequel can't just be the same thing. But that is trickywhen you need to have a monster destroying stuff once again."

Either this trailer is a fantastic fan fake – which I doubt –or once again director Matt Reeves, writer Drew Goddard and producer J.J.Abrams are keeping the production of Cloverfield 2 completely secret from theprying eyes of the press and the fans alike. I for one hope that there will bea Cloverfield 2 sometime early next year

Enjoy the trailer!

APOLLO 18 (2011) ANOTHER FOUND FOOTAGE FRIGHT FLICK FAILURE

2012-02-12T03:57:00.000-05:00

“My main gripe with the film is that without the 'foundfootage' gimmick, Apollo 18 is just another below average horror-in-space story.”

Horror and Science Fiction

Starring - Warren Christie/Ben Anderson, Lloyd Owen/Nate andRyan Robbins/John Grey

Director - Gonzalo López-Gallego

Writer - Brian Miller

PG-13 - some disturbing sequences and language

1 hr., 26 min.

Let me state right off, that in general, I am not a fan of “foundfootage” films. Found footage is a genre of film making, used extensively inhorror films, in which a film is presented as raw film footage or uneditedvideo recordings. This footage is usually presented as having been discoveredleft behind by lost or deceased characters. The proceedings onscreen are visualizedfrom the point-of-view of a camera or cameras of one or several of thecharacters in the film. Unsteady camerawork and damaged or missing footage arealso generally used to enhance to realism of the film.

The film credited with popularizing the “found footage”genre is The Blair Witch Project, which was made on a budget of between$500,000 and $750,000 and when released in 1999 grossed $248,639,099 worldwide.Oddly, it wasn’t until 2007 that the found footage genre really took off: Alonewith Her, August Underground's Penance, Diary of the Dead, Exhibit A, Head Case,The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Paranormal Activity, REC, Redacted and Welcome to theJungle all were released that year. The financial success of ParanormalActivity, which grossed $193,355,800 worldwide on its meager $15,000 budget(although Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U.S. rights for $350,000) hasinspired two more sequels and many other found footage films since. The morefiscally or critically successful of these include: Cloverfield (2008), Monster(2008), Quarantine (2008), The Last Exorcism (2010), Paranormal Activity 2(2010), The Troll Hunter (2010) Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) and Chronicle(2012).

The film Apollo 18 purports to be made from 80 hours offootage hidden by NASA of a secret Apollo 18 mission to the Moon in 1974. CommanderNathan Walker, Lieutenant Colonel John Grey and Captain Benjamin Anderson are toldthey are being sent to the Moon on a secret mission to place detectors there toalert the United States of any impending ICBM attacks from the USSR. Greyremains in orbit aboard the Freedom Command module, while Walker and Andersonland on the moon in the lunar module Liberty. The astronauts plant thedetectors and then take some samples of moon rocks. On their second day, Walkerand Anderson take a lunar rover to a cratered area and discover that they arenot the first or only ones to visit this area of the Moon.

Like all found footage films, it requires the imagination ofthe viewer to pretend that what he or she is watching is actually realdocumented footage and not a traditional fictional drama. Unfortunately for me,the first “astronaut” seen in the footage in a pre-flight interview is actor RyanRobbins as Lieutenant Colonel John Grey. I’m a fan of the SyFy Channel TVprogram Sanctuary on which the actor Ryan Robbins has played the character ofHenry Foss for four seasons, so I was immediately taken out of the idea ofApollo 18 as being real by such a recognizable (by me) actor. Still, I tried toget into it, but the immediate appearance of another actor known to me from TV(Warren Christie who plays Cameron Hicks on SyFy’s Alphas) made it impossibleto view Apollo 18 as anything more than just another sci-fi horror film.

All the visual tricks that are used to produce the feel ofthe footage being made on video from the era or shot on 16mm film are mostly adistraction from telling an interesting story. Technically, the reproduction ofthe NASA Apollo mission era’s technology, from the ship models to the spacesuits are excellent, but they are unfortunately marred by the distorted imageryto the point where they could have been done much more cheaply and it may nothave been noticeable. Still, as a representation of realistic 1970’s era spacetravel, it is well done.

My main gripe with the film is that without the “foundfootage” gimmick, Apollo 18 is just another below average horror-in-space story. Thethree astronauts in the film are given very little time to develop as realcharacters, because the film makers are in such a rush to get them to the Moon,where they are to become embroiled in the horrors there. It is impossible tosay how disappointing the “horrors” on the Moon are, without spoiling theentire film, but I certainly wasn’t even remotely frightened or even surprised bythe big reveal. Only the final scene of the film contained any real feeling oftension or suspense and by then I just wasn’t involved enough with the film tocare.

If you are a fan of found footage films, then give Apollo 18a try. If you are like me and find found footage films to be a tired andoverused gimmick, then go watch Alien (1979) or Moon (2009) again.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 7 Directing – 6 Cinematography – 7Script – 6 Special effects – 8

VISCERAL: Visual – 8 Auditory – 7 Intellectual – 6 Emotional– 6 Involvement – 6

TOTAL RATING: 67

REAL STEEL (2011) A REAL TIME STEALER

2012-02-07T21:55:00.002-05:00

"Real Steel should have been at the very least a light-hearted sci-fi action drama. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a pointless exercise in juvenile wish fulfillment and an unsophisticated emotional manipulation machination."

Drama, Action and Science Fiction

Starring - Hugh Jackman/Charlie Kenton, Anthony Mackie/Finn,Dakota Goyo/Max, Evangeline Lilly/Bailey Tallet, Kevin Durand/Ricky and HopeDavis/Aunt Debra

Director – Shawn Levy

Writers - John Gatins, Shawn Levy and Richard Mathis

PG-13 - for some violence, intense action and brief language

2 hr., 6 min.

While I wasn’t completely fascinated by the premise of RealSteal, the combination of the exciting trailers, the appeal of the alwaysenjoyable Huge Jackman and the mostly good reviews made me want to rent thisfilm as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I should have used my time more wiselyand rented something with a little more substance, because Real Steal wasunderwhelming and overemotional.

Real Steal takes place in the near-future, where robots havetaken the place of humans in the sport of boxing. Charlie Kenton is a formerfighter who now makes a living controlling these robots in freelance matchesall across America. After losing yet another match and another robot, Charlieneeds cash to buy a new robot, so that he can win enough money to pay off hisincreasingly violent creditors. Charlie receives a court summons forcing him totravel to New York to release custody of his 11 year-old-son Max by a formergirl-friend, who he has never met, to her rich sister and husband. Seeing a wayof financing his next robot, Charlie cons fifty grand out of the husband beforesigning over the boy. However, before they take custody of Max, Charlie musttake care of Max for the summer, while the rich couple vacation in Europe.

Charlie uses his money to buy a former “champ” bot and isabout to leave Max behind, but the stubborn Max insists on coming along to thefight. Charlie gets a headline fight, but his cockiness in the bout costs himboth the bot and a beating at the hands of his creditors. Looking to steal spareparts to fix his robot, Charlie and Max break into a junk yard and accidentallystumble on an abandoned sparing robot, which Max insists on bringing back withthem to repair. With the help of Charlie’s girlfriend Bailey, they repair theold sparing robot, which Max dubs Atom. While Charlie is off trying to find theparts to fix his damaged champion bot, Max uses the vocal command parts from itto control Atom. Soon, Max has Atom up and running and discovers that Atom hasa shadow program built into it that allows it to mimic the moves of itscontroller. Max insists that Charlie enter Atom in a fight, so Charliereluctantly allows Max a local bout and much to his surprise, Atom and Charliewin the match. Soon, Max and Charlie are wining fights all around the country,eventually earning a chance at the professional circuit and a match with thechamp Zeus!

Real Steel is not even remotely believable as sciencefiction, because the near future depicted in the film looks identical to ourpresent; only with the addition of giant fighting robots. While much of thefilm is dedicated to demonstrating the physical dynamics of the robots and howtheir controllers are partnered with them, there is no consistency in the levelof technology that is used even at the professional level.

What the film attempts to do is fill the void of futuristicworld building with emotional gravitas. We’re supposed to care enough about thefather and son relationship, so that we’ll not only overlook the technological incongruities,but the fabricated plot furthering devices as well. That is the major problem Ihad with Real Steel: I did not like either Charlie or Max as characters and Inever once believed in the contrivance of their bonding in the film. Part ofthe problem with Charlie’s character is that for most of the first third of thefilm, Charlie is portrayed as a self-centered, irresponsible lummox, who’s onlygoal in life seems to be to get another robot to enter into a fight. He sellsoff his own child to pay for a robot and later we’re supposed to shrug this offwith a laugh after Charlie and Max suddenly hit it off upon finding a commongoal with Max’ bot Atom. Max is also extremely unlikeable; being nearly asself-centered and pig-headed as his estranged father! Why we’re supposed tosuddenly like these two characters just because they both share the sameselfish ambitions to become successful at robot fighting is beyond me.

The only real positive to Real Steel is the fighting robotsequences. The combination of animatronics and digital animation is nearlyflawless. Unfortunately, the choreography of the fights themselves was not veryinventive, so a lot of the work that went into making the robots realisticlooking was wasted on unimaginative matches.

Real Steel should have been at the very least alight-hearted sci-fi action drama. Unfortunately, it turned out to be apointless exercise in juvenile wish fulfillment and an unsophisticated emotionalmanipulation machination.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 7 Directing – 7 Cinematography – 8Script – 6 Special effects – 9

VISCERAL: Visual – 9 Auditory – 7 Intellectual – 5 Emotional– 6 Involvement – 7

TOTAL RATING: 71

TRAILER TUESDAY! JOHN CARTER IN 2012 - A MEGA-BUCK MASTERPIECE OR BIG BUDGET BUST?

2012-01-31T23:45:00.000-05:00

I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for BIG BUDGET sci-fi andfantasy movies! Every year the huge Hollywood studios pump out several $100 –$200 million dollar special effects opuses for fanboys to drool over in anticipationevery year. The first of these mega-buck epics for 2012 is John Carter!

John Carter is Walt Disney Pictures’ attempt at another tent-polefilm for a new franchise on the order of their Pirates of the Caribbean films.After failing with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), which cost anestimated $200 million to make and only grossed a little over $90 million inthe United States, they are rolling the big budget dice with John Carter. Thebudget for John Cater is being estimated at $250 million and if the trailer isany indication, most of that was spent on the vast special effects to create thefantastic setting for the fantasy-version of the planet Mars.

John Carter the film is based on the novel "A Princess ofMars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs, published under the title "In the Moons of Mars"and serialized in All-Story Magazine in 1912. In the novel, JohnCarter is a former Confederate soldier, who, while prospecting for gold in the Arizonadesert of the 1870’s is somehow transported to the planet Mars. It looks asthough the film John Carter has kept the time and character intact; which isthe only possible way that the fantasy setting of Mars could work.

The director of the film is Andrew Stanton, who was thedirector and writer of the Pixar animated films A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo andWALL-E. This is his first live action feature, but his experience with the allCGI animated features should serve him well for the effects laden John Carter.Another former Pixar director, Brad Bird (The Incredibles and Ratatouille) hashad great success with his first live action feature Mission Impossible: GhostProtocol, so there is hope that Andrew Stanton might have similar luck withJohn Carter.

Portraying John Carter is 30 year old Taylor Kitsch, who isbest known for his role as high school football star Tim Riggins on NBC'sacclaimed television series "Friday Night Lights”, but will also befeatured in another big budget film in 2012 Battleship. Playing the PrincessDejah Thoris is relative unknown Lynn Collins. Voicing (and motion capturing?)Tars Tarkas is veteran actor William Dafoe.

The special effects are headed by Steve Benelisha, who hasworked recently on Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class.

I think Disney is taking a real chance on John Carter,because the source material is not nearly contemporary or classic enough to be recognizableto a large enough audience to sell it on name recognition alone. Also, byreleasing it in March, instead of the summer months when most blockbusters arereleased, they are almost already admitting defeat. Perhaps they are hoping toscore at least the meagerly profitable numbers that Clash of the Titans made,which was released in April of 2010.

Whatever the reasons for such an early release, I mostcertainly will be headed to my local cinema on the weekend of March 9^thto see the visual splendor of John Carter! Enjoy the latest trailer!

UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING (2012) AWAKENING YOUR WORLD!

2012-01-29T22:19:00.000-05:00

"Overall, Underworld: Awakening achieves what it set out to do, which is build on the story and world of the previous Underworld movies, while still creating an exciting and visually stimulating supernatural spectacle!"

Action, Horror and Fantasy

Starring – Kate Bekinsale/Selene, Steven Rea/Doctor JacobLane, Michael Ealy/Detective Sebastian, Theo James/David, India Eisley/Eve,Charles Dance, Kris Holden-Ried/Quint

Directors – Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein

Writers – Len Wiseman, John Hlavin,J. Michael Straczynski and Allison Burnett

Rated R – for strong violence, gore and language

1 hr., 28 min.

Thanks to a New England snowstorm last weekend, I had towait a week before seeing Underworld: Awakening. For reasons I can’t fathom, mylocal theater did not have the film showing on any of its ten screens, so I wasforced to trek to a slightly more distant cinema to see it. Worst of all, thistheater has no stadium seating and they were only showing Underworld: Awakeningin 3-D! I don’t hate 3-D, but of the four films I have now seen in 3-D, I canhonestly say that the process added little to nothing to any of these films.Fortunately, despite all these seemingly opposing events, I still enjoyedUnderworld: Awakening immensely – with one caveat, which I’ll get to at the endof this review.

Underworld: Awakening is a sequel to Underworld: Evolution(2006) and takes place twelve years after “The Purge”. A prologue to the movietells us that six months after Selene gained the powers of the Vampire-Corvinusstrain and she and her lover Michael Corvin killed the remaining eldervampires, the human race discovered the existence of Vampires and Lycans, whichbegan a worldwide purge of their species. Selene and Michael are captured by a medicalcorporation Antigen and frozen in a cryogenic state for study.

Twelve years later, Selene escapes the medical facility, butsoon after begins having visions, which lead her to a vampire David, the son ofThomas, a Vampire Elder who leads one of the few remaining vampire covens thatremain hidden from humans. David helps Selene rescue a young girl from Antigen,who Selene sees in another vision. Selene and David fight a group of Lycans,who are also after the girl, but she is injured in the fight. The girl, who isanother hybrid, is not healing, so David takes her and Selene back to his covento be looked at by a vampire physician.

Thomas blames Selene for the human’s discovery andextermination of vampires, so he is anxious for her to leave his coven, butDavid wants Selene to train his coven to defend themselves against both thehumans and the increasingly violent Lycan race. Dr. Jacob Lane, the director ofAntigen, was using the hybrid girl to develop an "antidote" to make Lycansimmune to the deadly effects of silver and enhance their physical abilities. Thegirl, dubbed by Lane “Subject 2”, needs the hybrid genetic code to achievethis, so Lane sends a super-Lycan Quint with other Lycans to the vampire covento recapture her. A battle ensues and many of the vampires and werewolves arekilled, but Quint dispatches and nearly kills David before leaving with thehybrid girl. Selene heals David with her “immortal” blood and they depart toconfront Lanne, Quint and the minions of Antigen.

To start, Underworld: Awakening is even more reliant onaction and violence to carry its plot than any of the other three films. Iassume that the filmmakers knew that anyone going to see a forth film in aseries is going to be familiar enough with the Underworld mythology to not needlengthy bits of narrative to understand the whos, whats and wheres of thestory. Even after having just watched the previous three films a few monthsago, I was still a bit dazed by how briskly the plot points of Underworld:Awakening are gone over. I was able to keep up with the basic reasons for whySelene was motivated to rescue “Subject 2”, but I would have liked a bit morespace between the action sequences to add some depth to the motivations ofSelene and the other characters in the film.

Still, the action sequences are the main draw of theUnderworld films and Underworld: Awakening does not disappoint in this regard.The opening sequence of Selene’s escape from the high-rise medical center isamazing. Selene demonstrates her uber-vamp powers on numerous occasions, whereshe seems almost to defy the laws of gravity. The Lycans in this film are veryimpressive, but the super-Lycan Quint – who is easily nine feet tall – is anamazing creature to behold. If I have any complaints about the special effectsat all is that at times they are moving so quickly that you have little time toadmire their detailed effectiveness.

Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, who previously directed thesupernatural thriller Shelter (2010), do a fine job recreating thedark-monochromatic look and feel of the previous Underworld movies. LenWiseman, who previously directed the first two movies – Underworld andUnderworld: Evolution – as well as having a hand in the story for all threeUnderworld films, wrote the initial screenplay for Underworld: Awakening. Thethree other writers, most notably J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame,stepped in for rewrites, but there is so little narrative that is carried bydialogue, that I have to wonder what, if any contributions he or the othersmade to the script.

Kate Beckinsale steps back into the role of Selene after sixyears effortlessly. Her cool, hard, but still quiet deadly passion fills thescreen for most the film’s short 88 minute run time. I do miss her interactionwith her Lycan lover Michael – who only makes a brief appearance at thebeginning of the film – and the leading male role of the vampire David playedby Theo James is little more than male eye-candy. Veteran actor Charles Danceas the Vampire Elder Thomas adds a nice bit of gravitas to the film and StephenRea as Dr. Jacob Lane is quietly sinister as the head of the medicalcorporation Antigen. If Kris Holden-Ried, who plays the super-Lycan Quint, looksfamiliar, it is because he plays a similar supernatural creature on the TVSeries Lost Girl. Holden-Ried’s facial features and physicality certainly add weightto his role as the ferocious uber-Lycan, but I wonder if he is in danger ofbeing typecast in a way similar to that of actor Ron Perlman.

Overall, Underworld: Awakening achieves what it set out todo, which is build on the story and world of the previous Underworld movies,while still creating an exciting and visually stimulating supernaturalspectacle! The one caveat with the film that I hinted at at the outset of thisreview, is that the film has a tenuous conclusion that leaves me wondering ifthe writers had planned on a longer movie, but didn’t have the budget to filmit. Underworld: Awakening is in definite need of a sequel to finish the manyplot-threads that were left dangling at the end of the movie. While I’m gladthat the film should be financially successful enough to warrant a sequel andI’m sure I’ll be attending it as well, it might have been nice if Underworld:Awakening could have had a stronger finish that would not necessarily requiredone.

Underworld: Awakening is a wild ride and a worthy additionto one of my favorite supernatural fantasy series! See it now or later, butdon’t miss it.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 9 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 10Script – 7 Special effects – 10

VISCERAL: Visual – 10 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 7Emotional – 9 Involvement – 10

TOTAL RATING: 87

FRIGHT NIGHT (2011) A FRIGHTFULLY FUN REMAKE!

2012-01-28T04:04:00.000-05:00

“Fright Night strikes just the right balance between horror and comedy, which Ithink even fans of the original film will appreciate.”

Horrorand Comedy

Starring– Anton Yelchin/Charley Brewster, Colin Farrell/Jerry Danridge, ToniCollette/Jane Brewster, David Tennant/Peter Vincent, Imogen Poots/Amy andChristopher Mintz-Plasse/”Evil” Ed Thompson

Director– Craig Gillespie Writer- Marti Noxon

RatedR – for bloody horror violence and language

1hr, 46 min.

Therehave been a slew of genre movie remakes in the past ten years and more oftenthan not, the original is superior to the remake. The few exceptions thatspring to mind are: Death Race (2008), the Paul W. S. Anderson remake of the1975 Death Race 2000 and Dawn of the Dead (2004) directed by Zach Snyder whichis a remake of the 1978 Romero classic of the same name. Now another film canbe added to this rare list of respectful remakes: Fright Night (2011).

WhileI enjoyed the 1985 film at the time, more recent rewatchings have not been asmuch fun; although I must admit I still like Roddy McDowall’s portrayal ofPeter Vincent as a horror host. Because I’m not an uber-fan of the original, itprobably allowed me to be more open to enjoying the remake.

The2011 Fright Night follows the same basic plot of the original, with a few minorcharacter, plot and mythology changes. One of the major changes from theoriginal film is that Charley’s friend Ed is the one who discovers thatCharley’s neighbor is a vampire and not Charley himself. The other slightlyless important change is that Peter Vincent in the remake is a Los Vegasmagician and not a TV horror host as in the original. I didn’t think either ofthese changes affected the overall tone of the film, which is still like theoriginal a blend of horror and comedy.

CharleyBrewster is a reformed nerd, who now has a girlfriend and has begun hanging outwith the cool kids in High School. Charley’s former nerdy friend “Evil” Ed Leetells Charley that their old friend has gone missing and they check in on thehis house only to find it abandoned. Ed tries to convince Charley that hisnext-door neighbor Jerry is a vampire and that he is the one responsible forthe recent rash of disappearing students. Charley is convinced only that Ed isdelusional and is just desperately trying to get his attention.

Edcontinues his surveillance of Jerry, until Jerry catches Ed and seemingly killshim. Charley now notices Ed missing and eventually begins to believe that Edmay have been right about Jerry being a vampire. Charley sneaks into Jerry’shouse, where he finds that Jerry is storing victims in rooms hidden upstairs tofeed on. After narrowly escaping Jerry’s house, Charley goes to Ed’s house tolook for Ed’s research on vampires. It is there that Charley sees PeterVincent’s web site on Ed’s computer, which claims that Vincent is an expertvampire hunter. Charley goes to Vegas and attempts to gain the aid of theflamboyant magician, but Vincent pretends not to believe Charley’s story andsends him on his way.

Charleyattempts to barricade his home from Jerry the vampire, but Jerry attacksCharley, his girlfriend Amy and his mother Jane in his home, which they fleefrom in their mother’s car. Jerry chases after them and they survive, but Janeis injured in the fight. Charley once again pleads with Vincent for help andthis time Vincent joins Charley to hunt down the vampire and stake him.

Thereis a lot to like about Fright Night. The direction by Craig Gillespie, whopreviously directed Lars and the Real Girl (2007) and Mr. Woodcock (2007),shows off a real talent for comedic pacing those other films did not. There aresome scenes that stretch out to create tension and then speed up for theinevitable violent confrontation, which are then punctuated by well-timedhumor. Some of this clever plotting and humor should be attributed toscreenplay writer Marti Noxon, who wrote dozens of scripts for the similarlythemed Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV program.

AntonYelchin, who plays the teenage Charley and is best known to genre fans forplaying Chekov in the 2009 Star Trek film, does a fine job playing a formernerd and growing teen, trying to fit into his new social situation. ColinFarrell plays the part of the vampire Jerry with a quite cool air in his humanform. But as a vampire, his vicious and malicious ferocity is trulyfrightening. I also liked Toni Collette as Charley’s understanding Mother Janeand Imogen Poots as Charley’s sweet and strong girlfriend Amy. The standout performancefor genre fans is David Tennant, who is best known for playing the Doctor onDoctor Who for three-plus seasons. Tennant as Peter Vincent the Goth Vegasmagician is fantastic; playing both the drama-queen stage magician and theslightly cowardly vampire hunter!

Fright Night strikes just the right balance between horror and comedy, which Ithink even fans of the original film will apreaciate. While this version ofFright Night is definitely more adult in its language and levels of violencethan its predecessor, I never felt that any of it was gratuitous orunnecessary. If you’d like a break from the dark and dismal horror films oflate, you should give Fright Night a try.

TECHNICAL: Acting – 9 Directing – 9 Cinematography – 8 Script – 10 Special effects – 9

VISCERAL:Visual – 9 Auditory – 9 Intellectual – 7 Emotional – 9 Involvement – 9

TOTALRATING: 88

ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) INNER CITY KIDS KICK OUTER SPACE ALIEN ASS!

2012-01-22T17:12:00.000-05:00

"The action in Attack the Block is almost non-stop, yet the characters and the story are still well defined."

Science Fiction, Horror and Comedy

Starring – John Boyega/Moses, Jodie Whittaker/Sam, Alex Esmail/Pest, Franz Drameh/Dennis, Leeon Jones/Jerome, Simon Howard/Biggz, Jumayn Hunter/Hi-Hatz, Micheal Ajao/Mayhem, Sammy Williams/Probs, Nick Frost/Ron

Director/Writer – Joe Cornish

R – for creature violence, drug content and pervasive language.

1 hr., 28 min.

Director and writer Joe Cornish tells one one of his young actors in the blu-ray extras "Rap the Block" that he was inspired to make Attack the Block by the kids fighting off the aliens on their farm in M. Night Shyamalan's Signs (2002). He wanted to transplant that story into the inner city block of Heygate Estate of Southwark London that he grew up in, because he thought that the kids of the block would present a much more difficult problem to invading aliens. The aliens in Attack the Block never had a chance!

The story begins with a young woman heading home at night from work when she is surrounded by a gang of teenagers from the block, who threaten her with a knife and and demand her valuables. The mugging is interrupted by a ball of fire that falls from the sky, smashing into a near-by car. The kids investigate and find an alien creature, which the leader Moses kills defending himself. They take the corpse of the alien back to their block, thinking that it may be worth something. They store the body in the weed room of their friend Nick's top-floor block apartment and return outside to do battle with more of the invading aliens that are raining down on their block.

What separates Attack the Block from the more recent alien invasion movies is that the main characters are all young kids. More importantly, these young teenagers are street toughs who must overcome their own inner block conflicts in order to defend their turf. You grow to like, or at least understand each one of these kids; particularly the quiet leader Moses.

The action in Attack the Block is almost non-stop, yet the characters and the story are still well defined. While the aliens are basically black furry men-in-suits, they are complimented with glowing teeth, which is all that you can see of them in the dark. For fans of pre-CGI monsters, the aliens of Attack the Block are a blast!

Give Attack the Block a rent and see if you like its unique take on the alien invasion genre. I know I look forward to returning to Attack the Block again.

TECHNICAL: Acting - 8 Directing - 10 Cinematography - 9 Script - 9 Special effects - 8

VISCERAL: Visual - 10 Auditory - 9 Intellectual - 8 Emotional - 10 Involvement - 10

TOTAL RATING: 91

TRAILER TUESDAY! UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING THIS WEEK!

2012-01-17T22:22:00.000-05:00

Underworld: Awakening is being released this Friday on January 20, 2012 and I will be the first in line! Okay. Maybe the first in line for the Saturday afternoon show, but still... FIRST IN LINE! Enjoy the latest trailer!

SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD IN 4D (2011)

2012-01-09T22:19:00.001-05:00

"This silly and childish plot is very appropriate, as it is aimed at children after all."

Spy-Satire, Action-Adventure, Comedy, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

Starring - Jessica Alba/Marissa Cortez Wilson, Joel McHale/WilburWilson, Jeremy Piven/Danger D'Amo-Tick Tock, Alexa Vega/Carmen Cortez, DarylSabara /Juni Cortez, Rowan Blanchard /Rebecca Wilson, Mason Cook/Cecil Wilson,Ricky Gervais/Argonaut

Director/writer – Robert Rodriguez

PG – for mild action and rude humor

1 hr. 29 min.

Let me start out by saying that I was a fan of the originalSpy Kids trilogy: Spy Kids (2001), Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002) andSpy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003). While the first film was clearly the freshestand most original, the two sequels still were entertaining.

Now, ten years after the first Spy Kids hit the theaters,Robert Rodriguez has written and directed a new beginning to his Spy Kidsfranchise. Having been forewarned about the abundance of – for lack of a betterword – potty humor in this latest Spy Kid flick, I passed (gas?) on seeing thisone at the theater and watched from the relative safety of my own home theater.

Marissa Cortez Wilson (Jessica Alba), a retired spy with ayear-old baby, has managed to fool her husband Wilbur Wilson (Joel McHale) intobelieving she is an interior decorator and stay at home mom. Marissa is doingher best to win the affection of her twin step kids, but Rebecca (RowanBlanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook) are still not accepting her as a replacementfor their real mom. Just as TV producer and star Wilbur’s new reality spy-huntingshow is taking off, a real villainous spy known only as The Timekeeper (JeremyPiven) is threatening to end the world by terminating time itself. Marissa iscalled back into the spy biz to hunt down The Timekeeper. Marissa’s kids are attackedby the Timekeeper’s henchmen, so she leaves her kids at OSS headquarters forsafekeeping. There, Rebecca and Cecil meet former Spy Kid division head CarmenCortez (Alexa Vega). With a little help from her brother Juni Cortez (DarylSabara), the kids join in the fight against the Timekeeper and bring back TheSpy Kids!

This silly and childish plot is very appropriate, as it isaimed at children after all. Like the three other Spy Kids films, once theaction commences, the kids are at the forefront of the story, pushing theadults to the side. Robert Rodriguez really takes full advantage of the freedomhe’s allowed to do almost anything with the CGI technology and some of thechase scenes are genuinely exciting. The kids are both naturally energetic, ifnot great actors, but they play off each other particularly well. I did enjoythe robot dog Argonaut (voiced in a silly English accent by Ricky Gervais), althoughthere was almost too much of him by film’s end.

My only real complaint with the film is the constant use of flatulencehumor throughout the movie! Every time Spy Baby is on screen, she lets out vastgaseous clouds, which I’m assuming had the children in the theaters rolling inthe aisles, but just left this former kid feeling… old. There is also one particularlynasty use of throw-up during a chase scene that made me feel a bit queasy. Mr.Rodriguez has kids of his own, so I’ll assume he knew that the childrenwatching this film would love the “potty humor”, but I certainly could havedone without it. Thank goodness I didn't see this in the theater in 4-D! I can only imagine how 3-D and "aroma-scope" would have added to these scenes!

If you have children, I’d recommend watching with them. I’m usuallyable to enjoy kid flicks, but as a middle-aged adult, I must honestly say that Iwas only mildly entertained.

TECHNICAL: Acting - 8 Directing -9 Cinematography - 9 Script– 7 Special Effects – 9

VISCERAL: Visual - 10 Auditory - 9 Intellectual – 5 Emotional- 8 Involvement -8

TOTAL RATING 82

CHILD OF FIRE: AN URBAN FANTASY NOVEL BY HARRY CONNELLY

2012-01-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

Child of Fire is an Urban Fantasy novel that has been “on myradar” for some time now. “Excellentreading…delicious tension and suspense”, Jim Butcher author of the DresdenFiles Novels is prominently featured on the cover, and even though this is mycurrent favorite author and series, I still did not purchase Child of Fire.What was my hesitation to read Child of Fire? The main protagonist Ray Lilly wasclearly a former criminal and from my minimal research, did not seem like aparticularly likeable character. I’m not a fan of the anti-hero; and yet Childof Fire still intrigued me.

Finally, after more than two years from its originalpublication date, I bought and read Child of Fire by Harry Connolly. I wasright that Ray Lilly, Child of Fire’s main character was not your standard “hero”,but it turns out that he is fairly likeable.

The novel starts with Ray driving his “boss” AnnalisePowliss on a mission to find the cause of children missing from the small townof Hammer Bay, Washington. Ray is a “wooden man” assigned to Annalise , who isan agent of the Twenty Palace Society – a group of sorcerers that hunt down andkill other users of magic. Ray, a former car thief, is released from prison bythe Twenty Palace Society for the sole purpose of acting as a sort of bodyguard and servant to Annalise. When theyarrive at Hammer Bay, no one in town remembers the missing children and itquickly becomes apparent that magic is the key to their disappearance.

The tone of Child of Fire is very “noir”, but the action andmystery elements keep the story from bogging down and becoming too morbid –despite the many deaths of both the innocent and guilty. The magic in Child ofFire is very different from most other Urban Fantasy novels, in that it involvesthe use of written spells, as opposed to the usual verbal ones. Not much timeis spent on either explaining the magical rules or the origins of the TwentyPalace Society that Ray and Annalise work for. This causes a bit more work forthe reader than I’m used to, but it works for Child of Fire in that it forcesyou to focus on the plot at hand and work out the magical rules for yourself.

The sequel to Child of Fire, Game of Cages was publishedlast year, and I’ve already bought this – with plans to read it in the coming months.If I like that as much – and hopefully more – than the first novel, then I willmore than likely buy and read the third novel, Circle of Enemies – published inAugust of 2011 – as well.

TECHNICAL: Plot – 9 Characters- 8 Style - 9 World building – 9 Big Finish - 9

VISCERAL: Imagery– 9 Creativity – 9 Intellectual – 8 Emotional – 9 Involvement -9

TOTAL RATING: 88

A fairly recent trend in publishing is to create "trailers" for novels. Here is the full trailer for the Twenty Palaces books, created by Wyrd Films.

PLEASE VOTE ON THE “WHICH OF THESE FILMS DO YOU PLAN ON SEEING IN JANUARY/FEBRUARY OF 2012?” POLL!

2012-01-05T22:10:00.000-05:00

On the right column of this page, you will see at the top ofthe column a new poll that I’ve posted. This first poll includes the titles andrelease dates of all of the SF, Fantasy or Horror films that are beingdistributed to movie theaters between the months of January and February of2012. I’d like anyone who reads GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE! to place a vote for anyof these films that you plan on seeing at the theater.

Beside the fact that I’m genuinely interested in finding outwhich of these films you are planning on seeing, if enough people are showinginterest in a specific film, it may be enough to inspire me to see films that Imight not have been interested in seeing already. Unlike last year, I will bereviewing every film I see at the theater, whether I loved it or hated it, sothis is your opportunity to influence my decision making process.

In the current poll, the only film I currently plan onseeing is Underworld: Awakening. I’ve seen the other three films at the theaterand own all three Underworld films on DVD/Blu-ray, so seeing this latest for meis a no-brainer.

VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN! OKAY, JUST VOTE ONCE, BUT PLEASE DO VOTE.

TRAILER TUESDAY! THE DIVIDE - AN OLD SCHOOL POST-APOCALYPTIC SCI-FI THRILLER!

2012-01-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

I’m not a fan of the post-apocalyptic sub-genre of sciencefiction. Even when they are combined with action (e.g.: Mad Max or Book of Eli)I usually find them too downbeat and depressing. When they are done as straightdrama (e.g.: On the Beach or The Road) I find them so depressing as to beunwatchable.

The latest post-apocalyptic film being released is TheDivide. If the plot description provided by Anchor Bay is any indication, thereis a definite horror slant to the story, which seems to concentrate on the psychologicalterror of being trapped and dying in a post-nuclear world. Here is the officialdescription:

In this graphic and violent, post-apocalyptic thriller, ninestrangers-all tenants of a New York high rise apartment-escape a nuclear attackby hiding out in the building's bunker-like basement. Trapped for daysunderground with no hope for rescue, and only unspeakable horrors awaiting themon the other side of the bunker door, the group begins to descend into madness,each turning on one another with physical and psycho-sexual torment. Assupplies dwindle, and tensions flare, and they grow increasingly unhinged bytheir close quarters and hopelessness, each act against one another becomesmore depraved than the next. While everyone in the bunker allows themselves tobe overcome by desperation and lose their humanity, one survivor holds onto athin chance for escape even with no promise of salvation on the outside.

This is only the third feature film by director Xavier Gens,who previously gave us the crime-drama Frontier(s) and the action-crime filmThe Hitman, which were both released in 2007. These films were visuallystunning, but because of their subject matter, not really of interest to me.The Divide has one major attraction going for it for genre fans and that is MichaelBiehn, who plays Mickey the paranoid superintendent of the apartment buildingthat the group of survivors is hiding in. Biehn has been featured in severalgenre films; most notably The Terminator, Aliens and The Abyss. So for his presencealone, The Divide may be worth at least a rental.

The Divide is being released to theaters January 13, 2012. Check out the trailer and see if The Divide is a film wortha trip to the theater for you.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)

2012-01-02T21:51:00.000-05:00

"If you are like me and were a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then I recommend that you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before it leaves the theaters!"

Mystery, Suspense, Action, Adventure and Fantasy

Starring - Robert Downey Jr./Sherlock Holmes, Jude Law/Dr. John Watson, Noomi Rapace/Madam Simza Heron, Rachel McAdams/Irene Adler, Jared Harris/Professor James Moriarty, Stephen Fry/Mycroft Holmes & Kelly Reilly/Mrs. Mary Watson

Director - Guy Ritchie

Writers - Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney

PG-13 - for intense sequences of violence and action, andsome drug material.

2hr., 8 min.

When I went to see Guy Ritchie’s first Sherlock Holmesfilm in 2009, I was as skeptical as any fan of the original Sir Arthur ConanDoyle stories, as to whether Ritchie’s “modern” approach to Holmes and hisVictorian era London would work. However, when I left the theater, I was aconvert and was as reenergized in my love for the iconic detective as much as Iwas upon my first viewing of Jeremy Brett’s first portrayal of Holmes in the1984 British Granada Television’s adaptation of "A Scandal inBohemia".

Two years later, Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game ofShadows has upped the ante of the first film, by pitting Holmes against hisgreatest foe, Professor James Moriarty! Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows isabout two things: The end of Holmes and Watson’s partnership and the beginningof Holmes and Moriarty’s moral antithesis and commensurate rivalry.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is based in part on"The Final Problem". Thatstory introduced Professor James Moriarty and also ended in Switzerland and the ReichenbachFalls. However, the film defers from the plot of the short story in many ways;adding many a complex plot thread that only adds to the fun and sophisticationof the final problem.

Watson’s honeymoon to his new bride is interrupted bydozens of assassins, but a disguised Holmes is there to help save Mrs. Watsonand dispatch the villains. Holmes informs Watson that Moriarty is threatening himand his wife, because Holmes has refused to cease his investigations into the plotof Moriarty to instigate war between France and Germany, by assassinating a keyfigure of the upcoming European Peace Conference. Holmes and Watson join forcesone last time and head to France where Holmes believes the brother of a gypsywoman, Madam Simza Heron, has been coerced into Moriarty’s plot.

Guy Ritchie has taken a complex plot and integrated itwith enough big action sequences and broad humor to keep the film steamrollingat an unrelenting pace! Yet, when the final scene occurs, it is Holmes’s trustin Watson and Holmes ability to outwit Moriarty that makes the finish of Gameof Shadows so satisfying. If you were not a fan of the first film, than nothingI can say will convince you that Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is worthyour time. However, if you are like me and were a fan of Sherlock Holmes, thenI recommend that you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before it leavesthe theaters.

My rating for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is 93out of 100.

How I arrived at this grade is through a simple formulaof criteria that I consider to be the basis of what is needed to evaluate afilm. Every category is graded on a 5 to 10 scale, with 10 obviously being thehighest and 5 the lowest. At some point in the future, I may go into detail onmy system, but for now just know that the highest score I could give a filmwould be a 100 and the lowest being a 50.

TECHNICAL: Acting - 10 Directing -10 Cinematography - 9 Script - 9

Special Effects - 9 VISCERAL: Visual - 10 Auditory - 9 Intellectual - 8

Emotional - 9 Involvement -10 = TOTAL RATING 93

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-01T03:17:00.001-05:00

Many people go out on New Year’s Eve, to go dancing,drinking and generally make public spectacles of themselves. While in my youth,I may have indulged in such frivolities, I now spend New Year’s Eve at homewith family and friends. Nearly every year since 1985, our local UHF TV channel38 has run a Three Stooges Marathon. I have decorated my home in a ThreeStooges motif and watched the classic shorts with family and friends, whileenjoying good food, drink and company. This year was no exception! Not onlywere we able to watch channel 38’s “Best Stooges Episodes” marathon, but we alsowatched many of the Stooges shorts on IFC as well. Whatever your New Year’s Evetraditions are, I hope you all celebrated it with your closest family andfriends!

This will be my third year posting on GUARDIANS OF THEGENRE! and I think the new year is a good time to start fresh with some newideas. While I have spent most of my time for the past two years on this blogreviewing movies, TV programs, books and comics in my three favorite genres, Ihave also shared some of my other guilty pleasures as well; such as horrorhosts, podcasts and filking. I have also continued to post videos of mine andother genre guardians’ Television appearances and related hosting gigs, which I’vedug out of my personal video tape archives. While I plan on continuing to postentries on all these things, I will be trying to expand on the amount andvariety of material that I’m interested in.

Because I have full-time employment that takes up themajority of my time during the weekdays, I usually only have time for shortposts during that time and save my more detailed posts for weekends or holidaysand vacations. I’d like to increase my output, but because my other genreguardians are not nearly as prolific as myself (yes, I’m referring you toPhileas, Maniac and even you Bones) I’ve decided to use a grading system on allmy reviews from now on and not go into too much detail on them, other than togive my opinion of them. I also will be breaking with my standard of notreviewing anything that I didn’t like or enjoy. While I still prefer to writeand read positive reviews of things, I do think constructively written criticalreviews serve a purpose as well. So starting in 2012 I will be writing aboutthe good, the mediocre and the bad in my three favorite genres. I hope that bydoing this, I will be able to share with you even more of the things that Ilove about Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

I’m looking forward to a new and wicked cool year ofGUARDIANS OF THE GENRE! and I hope you are too!

HELLBOY: HOUSE OF THE LIVING DEAD - A HARDCOVER GRAPHIC NOVEL

2011-12-29T22:11:00.002-05:00

In May of 2010, Mike Mignola and Richard Corben were the writerand artist on a one-shot 32-pager Hellboy in Mexico, which I reviewed in my Hellboy in Mexico post.

Hellboy: House of the Living Dead, is a direct sequel tothat one-shot, in a hardcover graphic novel format that clocks in at a whopping56 pages! Mignola admits in his forward to the graphic novel that it was writtenas a love letter to the Universal horror movies of the 40’s: House ofFrankenstein and House of Dracula. The story begins with Hellboy drinking in abar, devastated over the loss of his luchador comrade to vampires. Hellboy issoon coerced into participating in an ultimate wrestling match with a massiveFrankenstein-like monster! That is only the beginning of this madcap story ofHellboy’s fight and eventual confrontation with vampires, a mummy and a werewolf!Mignola’s writing is terse and intense as always and Corben’s artwork isperfectly suited to the wild visual needs of the many fantastic creatures andsettings of this graphic novel. If I have any complaints with this graphicnovel is the steep price of $14.99. Even at 56 pages, it is still a fairlyquick read – even for someone like me, who likes to linger over fantastic art. Idid not purchase this at my comic shop (where I buy all my Hellboy comics), becauseof the price; but instead asked for it as a Christmas present. It was awonderful gift and I have no doubts that I’ll be reading this again – along withits prequel – in the near future!

ComicBookResources.com did an interview with Mignola about Hellboy:House of the Living Dead several months before its publication. Here are a fewbrief exerts:

CBR: What made you want to return to this time in HB's life?

MIGNOLA: It was so much fun doing the first one! When I didthe first one-issue comic, at the end Hellboy mentions that he doesn't rememberwhat happened the rest of the time he was in Mexico. That was really going tobe it, but then I just thought, the beauty of a chunk of time that he doesn'tremember -- either he doesn't remember or he says he doesn't remember becausehe doesn't want to tell anybody what happened -- that's a great period to tellstories, because you can do the craziest stuff and maybe it really didn'thappen, maybe he was so drunk he thought this is what happened. It kind of tookon a life of its own.

This story, I made up because I saw how much fun Richard haddoing the "Hellboy in Mexico" stuff and I wanted to do a Hellboy inMexico story, so I made up this story for me -- and then realized it would beso much better drawn by Richard. So I turned it over to him. I've actuallyplotted a couple more stories that take place in this chunk of time. So it'sreally that whole lost weekend. Five months in Mexico is going to be asignificant chunk of Hellboy stories.

CBR: So this is the first (or rather, second) of many?

MIGNOLA: I wouldn't say "many," but right nowthere's a short story I'm going to be doing for "Dark Horse Presents"that takes place in Mexico and then Richard's graphic novel. Then there's talkof at least one, if not two more after that.

CBR: Aside from Hellboy being upset about what's happened tohis luchador friend, what's going on in "House of the Living Dead?"

MIGNOLA: As the story starts, he has become a wrestler.There's a beautiful opening sequence of Hellboy in the ring, tossing otherMexican wrestlers around. And then he's hired to fight somebody's champion. Andit's the "go out to the crazy guy's old house" [story] and then it'slike "House of Dracula" or "House of Frankenstein." Forwhatever reason, there are a lot of monsters in this one place. It's a paradeof crazy stuff. In some places, it's really funny; in other places, it's reallydisturbing. In a lot of places, it's really spooky, so it does what Richard andI do really well together, which is, stuff where you go "I can't tell ifthis is supposed to be funny or not." Richard, more than I guess anybodyI've ever worked with, you never really know which way he's going to spin stuff.Something I might write as so absurdly ridiculous funny might come across verystraight the way he does it, and some stuff I had intended as very sober andsad and serious will end up kind of funny. So you have to write a certain wayfor Richard, where it's fine if he's plays stuff either way. In some placesI'll tell him, "this needs to be really sad," "this needs to bereally quiet," but a lot of it, he's so good at what he does and it's soamazing working with him, you don't always know what you're going to get. Ilike to give him as much room to do what he does as possible.

I recommend reading the entire interview with Mignola at: ComicBookResources.com

Then go out and beg, borrow or steal – okay, go out and buya copy and read Hellboy: House of the Living Dead!

TRAILER TUESDAY! THE FADES ON BBC AMERICA!

2011-12-27T22:03:00.000-05:00

BBC America launched their Supernatural Saturdays a fewyears back when they started airing first run episodes of their new series of theDoctor Who program. It began with re-runs of American TV shows like BattlestarGalactica, The X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but soon they beganairing original BBC programs in their place. The first of these was thesupernatural soap opera Being Human – which was popular enough on both sides ofthe Atlantic Ocean to have run three seasons and be picked up for a fourth.Primeval, the sci-fi show with prehistoric creatures aired their first two seasonsnext and would later air two more seasons on BBC America. More recently, thesci-f show Outcasts and the paranormal drama Bedlam have aired on SupernaturalSaturdays.

The latest original BBC program to air on BBC America’sSupernatural Saturday is The Fades. The Fades, which aired its first season ofsix episodes this past September/October on BBC Three, will make its BBCAmerica debut in January next year.

The Fades is a coming-of-age fantasy drama showcasing thesupernatural skills of a reluctant teenager named Paul (Iain De Caestecker).His best friend Mac (Daniel Kaluuya) and his therapist, are completely stunnedby the apocalyptic dreams that he’s been having. His twin sister Anna (LilyLoveless) is also unsympathetic of his socially awkward behavior. As if thingsaren’t difficult enough, Paul is seeing the spirits of the dead (known asFades) all around him. An embittered Fade finds a way to break the barrierbetween the dead and the living, aiming its vengeance at Paul, Mac and their lovedones. Soon the fate of humanity rests in the hands of the two best friends, whoalready have enough trouble getting through the day in one piece, let alonesaving the world.

Writer and creator Jack Thorne says of the show: “What makesThe Fades different is that it is a fantasy show rather than a science fictionshow. It’s about fairly ordinary people, none of these people act or behavelike they’re superheroes. The Fades is about the world itself being anextraordinary thing and how you battle it. This old school fantasy elementcombined with some pretty original characters – I hope is what will make peoplewant to watch.”

If you’re interested in the genesis of The Fades, you canread Thorne’s blog at this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/2011/09/the_fades.shtml

The Fades premieres Saturday, January 14 at 9/8c as part of of BBC America’s Supernatural Saturday. Watch the trailer for The Fades and decide for yourself ifthis Saturday Supernatural show is for you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY GHOUL YEAR!

2011-12-25T00:11:00.000-05:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS GANG!

From all the GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE!

Fritz "Doc" Freakenstein: I hope everyone has awicked cool Christmas! I know this year all the good boys and ghouls will getthe sci-fi, fantasy and horror DVDs and Blu-rays that they asked for. Comic booksmake cool stocking stuffers and graphic novels and sc-fi and fantasy books makegood gifts too. Merry Christmas everyone!

Bill E. Bones: At this time of year, I even miss that misoneisticmalpracticer of the necromantic arts, Zombzany the Necromancer. What I don’tmiss, is our annual Christmas tradition of watching White Zombie, which wasZombzany’s idea of a Christmas classic! Merry Christmas my boney friends!

Major Mac Maniac: Howdy, Kids! I’m spaced ta be whishin’ y’alla Merry Christmas and a Hippy New Year! Here’s ta hopin’ that there’ll be morespaced out sci-fi flicks ta see at the theater and on the boob tube. Untilthen, I’ll be blastin’ off!

Nope! That little rug rat ain't me, but it could be a young Phileas!

TROK TUESDAY! CHAMELEON CURCUIT - STILL GOT LEGS!

2011-12-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

In anticipation of the new Doctor Who Christmas Special - The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe - which will air on BBC America Christmas Day at 9pm - I bring you TROCK TUESDAY!

My favorite Trock band [if you want an explanation of Trock, read my FRIDAY NIGHT ... TROCK! GALIFREYAN HISTORY 101 BY CHAMELEON CIRCUIT post] Chameleon Circuit has released their second CD "Still Got Legs"! You can buy the CD at DFTBA Records or at ITunes.

Here is a fan made video of their song "The Big Bang 2". Trock on!

OLD MAN’S WAR: A SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL BY JOHN SCALZI

2011-12-18T01:47:00.000-05:00

I haven’t used GUARDIANS OF THE GENRE! to review the books Iread, because most of the books I read either didn’t motivate me enough to spend my time reviewing;or I didn’t think enough of the followers of this blog would be interested inreading them.

As I mentioned in my SHELFARI IS DA SHIZNIT! post April 18,2010, I joined this social networking website devoted to books earlier thatmonth. I have been using Shelfari’s features – which include creating your owncustom profile, building a virtual bookshelf , rating and discuss books and discoveringnew books – for the past nineteen months and have surprised myself by posting thirty-one(mostly short) reviews of the forty-five books I’ve posted there as having readin the past two years.

Anyone interesting in reading some of my book reviews, orjust some of the books that I’ve read, can click on the Shelfari widget in theright column of this blog (right below the “Labels for lookin’”) or click onthis link: http://www.shelfari.com/?kmi=2369330.

I was sufficiently excited by Old Man’s War by John Scalzi toshare with you this brief review.

Vincent Chong's artwork for the Subterranean Press limited edition of Old Man’s War

John Scalzi’s “Old Man’s War” is definitely in the traditionof Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" and Haldeman's "Forever War”.However, Mr. Scalzi’s take on future war is more concerned with how technologyaffects man, than in the actual combat itself.

The point-of –view character of “Old Man’s War”, John Perry,is very much an everyman. But unlike the characters from the previouslymentioned classics (both of which I’ve read and liked), Perry is an elderlyman who volunteers to join the Colonial Defense Forces, [MINOR SPOILER] so that he will be put intothe body of a young man and given a second chance at life – provided hesurvives his ten years of service. This gives his character a different outlookon advanced technologies, alien conflict and general human philosophy. Scalzi examinesall these topics and more, while advancing the plot of Perry’s training in theCDF and his eventual trail-by-combat.

I greatly enjoyed “Old Man’s War” and its humanistic approachto the problems of future war. I will definitely be reading the sequel “TheGhost Brigades”!

For science fiction fans who have been dissatisfied with therecent depictions of human and alien conflict in both film and Television, youmay find reading Old Man’s War will satiate your need for a more in-depth depiction of the subject.

Director Wolfgang Petersen

If you need any more motivation to read this book: ParamountPictures has acquired screen rights to the John Scalzi novel Old Man’s War,with Wolfgang Petersen attached to direct and David Self adapting the tale intoa large-scale science fiction project. Scott Stuber will produce through hisStuber Pictures banner, with Petersen also producing.

Read the book now, sothat when you see the movie you can groan along with me and say, “The book wasbetter!”

TRAILER TUESDAY! LOST GIRL IS FOUND ON SYFY!

2011-12-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

The cable network SyFy is presenting a new supernatural showthis January: Lost Girl. “In one year, Lost Girl has electrified viewers inCanada and around the world. We’re delighted to bring this fascinating,high-octane series, which depicts a unique world and memorable heroine, to theSyfy audience,” says Thomas Vitale, executive VP, programming at Syfy. LostGirl premieres on Syfy Monday, January 16, at 10/9c.

Here is the description of Lost Girl from its Canadian cablenetwork Showcase web site:

Lost Girl follows supernatural seductress Bo (Anna Silk:Being Erica; Billable Hours), a Succubus who feeds on the sexual energy(sometimes called “Chi”) of humans. Growing up with human parents, Bo has no reason to believe she'sanything other than the girl next door – until she drains her boyfriend todeath in their first sexual encounter. Once she hits the road, Bo discovers sheis one of the Fae, creatures of legend and folklore, who pass as humans whilefeeding off them secretly, as they have for millennia. Relieved yet horrifiedto find out that she is not alone, Bo is faced with choosing an allegiancebetween the Dark and Light Fae clans. Bodecides to take the middle path between the humans and the Fae while embarkingon a personal mission to unlock the secrets of her origin.

With the help of her human sidekick, Kenzi (Ksenia Solo:Black Swan, Life Unexpected), Bo takes on a challenge every week helping a Faeor human client who comes to her to solve a mystery, or to right a wrong. Already in a love triangle with Dyson (KrisHolden-Ried: Ben Hur, The Bridge; The Tudors), a sexy Fae working as a humanpolice detective, and the beautiful human scientist, Lauren (Zoie Palmer: TheGuard; Instant Star) who works for the Fae, Bo’s love life is about to get evenmore complicated.

For a fan of supernatural shows in general, and Joss Whedon’sBuffy the Vampire Slayer in particular, Lost Girl looks like it could be in avery similar vein.

Syfy has ordered the two seasons of the show from ProdigyPictures that have already aired in Canada. Here’s a trailer from the Canadiantelecast!

TRAILER TUESDAY! THE DARKEST HOUR - MORE MOVIE ALEINS INVADE EARTH!

2011-11-28T20:36:00.001-05:00

The Darkest Hour is an alien invasion movie that follows twoother alien invasion films released to theaters in the past year. Battle: LosAngeles was released March 11 this year and met with critical indifference andonly moderate financial success (it grossed $85 million dollars and cost $70million to make). Skyline was released on November 12, 2010 and met withcritical loathing and financial failure (it grossed $21 million dollars andcost $10 million to make). I personally liked Battle: Los Angeles more thanSkyline, but found things to like about both of them, while still finding themto be flawed.

The Darkest Hour is coming out with very little fanfare or “push”from its distributor Summit Entertainment, other than a modest trailer and TVadvertisement campaign. Its estimated budget is $44 million dollars, so onewould think to be financially successful it would have to make about twice thatmuch domestically. The trailer shows high production value and emphasizes the attractivecast and extensive sci-fi special effects. Other than the fact that our cast ofcharacters seem to become involved in some sort of alien resistance, littleelse of the plot is revealed.

This is only director Chris Gorak’s second feature film. I haven’t seen his firstfilm, the modestly budgeted 2006 thriller Right At Your Door, so I don’t haveany idea what level of skill or sophistication that he might bring to this film. Thescreenplay is by Jon Spaihts, who has no other writing credits; but is listedas the writer of the screenplay for Ridley Scott’s upcoming science fictionfilm Prometheus, so we can hope that he is more than just competent.

The lead actor appears to be Emile Hirsch. The only film I’veseen him in is Speed Racer, in which he played the title character and it certainlydidn’t give him much of an opportunity to show his range as an actor. RachaelTaylor is apparently the female lead. The only film of hers I’ve seen isTransformers, in which she played one of the consulting computer geeks to themilitary. Her character, Maggie Madsen, seemed smart and quick witted, but she reallydidn’t have enough screen time to judge her as an actress. The rest of the “American”cast - Olivia Thirlby, Joel Kinnaman and Max Minghella – are all attractiveyoung actors whose work I’ve never seen.

One thing The Darkest Hour has going for it is that it isset in and was entirely filmed in and around Moscow, Russia, which is still alocation that most American audiences are not well familiar with. The setpieces – particularly the exterior shots – look outstanding, so this gives thefilm a “one up” on recent alien invasion films that have been veryAmerican-west-coast centric.

All of these unknowns do not bode well for The Darkest Hourbeing a great or even good film. Still, the trailer has a certain “gosh-wow”appeal and that just might be enough to get this sci-fi geek into the theaterafter the crazy that is Christmas. Watch the trailer for The Darkest Hour andjudge for yourself! The Darkest Hour is being released to theaters December 23 2011.

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART TEN

2011-11-26T16:34:00.001-05:00

In Part Ten, the final episode of Zombzany and MajorManiac's Sci-Fi Marathon, Major Maniac is sitting on Zombzany’s throne,slurping down the last of his coffee and entertaining Bill E. Bones, who issitting by his side. Zombzany stands impatiently to the side, holding hisnecromancer’s magically charged staff menacingly and inquires of the Major thatnow that the Sci-Fi Marathon is concluded would he be “blasting off” thepremises soon?

Major Maniac reluctantlyconcurs that he will indeed be leaving Zombzany’s tomb now because he is startingto feel “like a gopher whose exits are all cut off.” Major Maniac remindsZombzany to “cut loose” once and a while and then leaves exclaiming his famoussign-off.

As soon as Major Maniac has withdrawn from his tomb,Zombzany returns to his rightful position on it. Zombzany inquires of his zombie slaves whythey did not come to their Master’s aid when he was being attacked by Maniac’s “demon”.When he receives an unsatisfactory reply, Zombzany tosses Bill E. Bones back intohis dungeon cell and warns his other zombie slaves that he will receive an adequateanswer even if he must wait all night. With a flash of his powerful staff,Zombzany bids his viewers a “frightful farewell.”

Enjoy Part Ten of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-FiMarathon!

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART NINE

2011-11-20T11:19:00.001-05:00

In Part Nine, the penultimate episode of Zombzany and MajorManiac's Sci-Fi Marathon, Zombzany is laying prone pinned to the ground by analien creature. Major Maniac approaches the entangled combatants and encouragesthe alien “critter” to stop playing with his food. Slowly, Zombzany and the “critter”become untangled and Zombzany demands to know who and what the alien creatureis. Major Maniac explains that Grimlin, or “Grimer” as Maniac prefers to callhim, is a shape-shifting alien that rescued him from an “involuntary spacewalk”that involved Russian cosmonauts and an empty bottle of Vodka.

Zombzany quicklytires of Major Maniac’s dialect-infested discourse and demands an answer as to whyManiac has invaded his sacred cemetery by crash-landing his space vessel in it.Major Maniac tells Zombzany that “fer a dead galoot, you sure is impatient,”and then proceeds to explain to the hoary horror host that he needs a lessonfrom himself in “how to host a real nitro orbital zippy Sci-Fi Marathon!”Maniac invites himself into Zombzany’s tomb, where he can fill in for Zombzany asthe host for the final flick of the evening.

Enjoy Part Nine of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon!

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART EIGHT

2011-11-14T21:35:00.001-05:00

In Part Eight of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-FiMarathon, Zombzany is stalking through his graveyard, using the light of his necromancy-chargedstaff to find his way through the smoke enshrouded night. Zombzany has sent hisslow and dimwitted zombie servant Sebastian ahead to the underdeveloped regionof Zombzany’s cemetery to investigate the cause of the crash, but as usual thezombie appears to have gotten lost. Zombzany is forced to explore the areahimself, when he is taken by surprise and attacked by an unknown creature. Zombzanyseems to be held captive by the creature, so he calls for help from all hiszombie slaves.

In the meantime, Bill E. Bones has returned to the safety ofZombzany’s tomb and has actually taken a seat on Zombzany’s “throne”. Billhears Zombzany’s summons for assistance, but still upset at being bashed andbanished by his Master, he chooses to ignore it. Instead, Bill E. Bonesintroduces the next sci-fi film of the Sci-Fi Marathon.

Enjoy Part Eight of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-FiMarathon!

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART SEVEN

2011-11-08T21:22:00.000-05:00

In Part Seven of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-FiMarathon, Zombzany exclaims that the end of the previous film has brought onthe night. Bill E. Bones is a little too excited and breaks out into song,which Zombzany brings to an abrupt end with a well-placed blow to Bone‘s thickskull. Zombzany tries to recall something about the next sci-fi film of themarathon, when Bones disturbs him several times with an emergency. Zombzany declaresthat his zombie servant has interrupted him for the last time and hurls Bonesinto the ether with some type of spell.

Almost immediately thereafter, a loud crash can be heard inthe distance and Zombzany is suddenly pelted with debris and smoke from theunknown craft or object. Undaunted, Zombzany orders Myron the zombie cameraman tostart projecting the next film, while he exits his tomb to confront whatever orwhoever has dared crash land in his cemetery!

Enjoy Part Seven of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-FiMarathon!

TRAILER TUESDAY! DRAGON AGE : REDEMPTION - THE WEB SERIES!

2011-11-01T21:44:00.000-04:00

I have never, nor will I ever be likely to, play the role-playing video game Dragon Age II. I do however enjoy well-produced fantasy films and TV shows. What got my attention in regards to Dragon Age: Redemption is that it is a web series written by and staring Felicia Day. For those of you who are not fans of original web series (shame on you), Felicia Day is the creator, writer and star of The Guild; a web series now having just completed it's fifth season. The Guild revolves around the lives of an online guild, The Knights of Good, who play countless hours of an MMORPG video game, aptly named "The Game".

While The Guild is funny and satirical, Dragon Age: Redemption is decidedly played as straight adventure-drama. Dragon Age: Redemption is a six-part web series set in the world of the EA/Bioware RPG Dragon Age. The series tells the story of Tallis, an Elvish assassin, who gets a last chance at redemption when she's sent to capture a rogue Qunari mage intent on wreaking havoc in the world.

Directed by Peter Winther
Written by Felicia Day
Executive Producers: Dan Kaplow, Felicia Day, Kim Evey
Executive Producer: Greg Aronowitz
Produced by Peter Winther, William Mesa, Emily Wallin
Written or Contributed by: Jeremy Shane

Starring: Falicia Day, Marcia Battise, Doug Jones and Adam Rayner

Check out the trailer and see if Dragon Age: Redemption is for you!

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART SIX

2011-10-31T12:24:00.000-04:00

InPart Six of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon, Zombzany attempts tofind some information on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s horrific acting from theevening’s previous film in his Encyclopedia of Horror, but is unsuccessful.Zombzany’s lack of knowledge on the science fiction film genre is makinghosting the Sci-Fi Marathon nearly impossible. Zombzany continues to harass hiszombie servant Bill E. Bones as to the location of his Science Fiction FilmEncyclopedia and Bill (who hid the book in Part Five) claims he has Sebastianlooking for it in every grave. With much distain, Zombzany introduces the nextSci-Fi film of the marathon.

Enjoy Part Six of Zombzany and Major Maniac'sSci-Fi Marathon!

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON – PART FIVE

2011-10-24T21:38:00.000-04:00

In Part Five of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon,Zombzany receives another call from Major Maniac. Maniac complains to Zombzanythat he is not using “that there nitro orbital zippy script” that he faxed him.Zombzany informs the Major that he will not be using the script that is full of“imbecilic idioms”! Zombzany hangs up the phone and is about to continue the SFMarathon by reading another entry from his Science Fiction Encyclopedia, whenhe notices that it is missing.

Enjoy Part Five of Zombzany and Major Maniac'sSci-Fi Marathon!

TRAILER TUESDAY! ONCE UPON A TIME ON ABC!

2011-10-18T21:52:00.000-04:00

Once Upon A Time is a new fantasy series that premiers this Sunday that I originally had no intentions of watching. Fairy tales held little appeal to me as a child or as an adult. Still, the more I read, heard and saw about this series, the more I became intrigued. Here is the official synopsis on ABC's web site.

"For us, that’s what a fairytale is. It’s that ability to think your life will get better. It’s why you buy a lottery ticket—because if you win you get to tell your boss that you’re quitting and you get to move to Paris or wherever and be who you always wanted to be. And that’s Cinderella, right? One day she’s sweeping up and the next she’s going to the ball. Adam and I just wanted to write about something hopeful that for one hour a week allows one to put everything aside and have that feeling that your dreams just may come true."

- Edward Kitsis, Co-Creator/Executive Producer

Emma Swan's life has been anything but a fairytale. A 28-year-old bail bonds person, she’s been taking care of herself since she was abandoned as a baby. But when Henry — the son she gave up 10 years ago — finds her, everything changes. Henry is desperate for his mom’s help and thinks that Emma is actually the long, lost daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Yes, the actual Snow White and Prince Charming. Even stranger, Henry believes that Storybrooke, the sleepy New England town he calls home, is really part of a curse cast by the Evil Queen, freezing fairytale characters in the modern world with no memory of their former selves.

Of course the seen-it-all Emma doesn’t believe a word, but when she gets to Storybrooke, she can’t help sensing that everything’s not quite what it seems. As Henry shows Emma around with the help of his fairytale book, the town, and its inhabitants like Henry’s therapist Archie Hopper and the enigmatic Mr. Gold, seem just strange enough to set off her already suspicious nature. She becomes even more concerned for Henry when she meets his adopted mother, Regina, who he suspects is none other than the Evil Queen herself!

Storybrooke is a place where magic has been forgotten — but is still powerfully close — and happily ever after seems just out of reach. In order to understand where the fairytale world’s former inhabitants came from, and what ultimately led to the Evil Queen’s wrath, you’ll need a glimpse into their previous lives. But it might just turn everything you’ve ever believed about these characters upside-down.

Meanwhile, the epic battle for the future of all worlds, modern and fairytale alike, is about to begin. For good to win, Emma will have to accept her destiny and fight like hell.

"We kept circling back to the idea of fairytales. The very first stories that you hear when you're a kid. They're full of magic and heroics and fear and joy. But we also found fairytales are full of all these unanswered questions. Like why is Grumpy grumpy? Why is Geppetto so lonely that he'd actually carve a little boy out of wood? And did the Evil Queen really try to kill Snow White simply because of vanity? With Once Upon A Time, we set out to explore those questions and not re-tell these stories but attempt to dig beneath what we all know and try to discover something new."

- Adam Horowitz, Co-Creator/Executive Producer

Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis conceived the show seven years prior joining the writing staff of Lost, but wanted to wait until that series was over to focus on this project.

In May 2011, Jane Espenson was added as a co-executive producer and Liz Tigelaar was brought on as a consulting producer. Damon Lindelof served as a consultant on the show's pilot. Kitsis described Lindelof as his and Horowitz's "godfather", while Horowitz said that Lindelof's "name isn't on the show, but his DNA is in it," and that he will continue to advise the two.They also noted that Disney has allowed them access to their fairy tale characters for use in the series. "They've given us license," Kitsis said. "I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time anyone's shown Snow White with a sword, or pregnant."

Both Horowitz and Kitsis later emphasized that the series will focus more on the characters themselves and won't feature a "complex" storyline, which reportedly was the primary focus. "We don't want this to be a mythology show," said Kitsis. "It's about characters and characters first.

I was not a fan of Lost and gave up on that series' muddled mythology after two seasons. Still, it sounds like Horowitz and Kritsis may have learned from Lost and will not dwell on the mystery over the story and characters on Once Upon A Time. Plus, unlike Lost, Once Upon A Time clearly emphasises at the start that it is a fantasy series. Unlike Lost, which initially had illusions as posing as a Science Fiction series. At least with Once Upon A Time I know what I'm in for right away.

Here is the trailer for Once Upon A Time, which premiers on ABC on October 23 at 8pm.

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART 4

2011-10-15T22:34:00.000-04:00

In Part Four of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon,Zombzany is informed by his zombie cameraman Myron that a fan letter hasarrived in the post. His loyal, but dimwitted zombie manservant Sebastiandelivers the missive and Zombzany proceeds to read the letter. As Zombzanyreads the letter, he gradually realizes that it is less-than-complimentary onhis previous appearance as a horror host. Zombzany becomes so incensed by the letter’sdisparaging commentaries that he tears the letter to shreds and stomps off setin a huff. Zombzany soon returns to the set somewhat embarrassed and dashes offa brief introduction to the next film of the Sci-Fi Marathon.

Enjoy Part Fourof Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon!

TRAILER TUESDAY! THE WALKING DEAD - SEASON 2!

2011-10-11T15:39:00.000-04:00

TRAILER TUESDAY RETURNS FROM THE DEAD!

APROAPRIATELY ENOUGHWITH THE WALKING DEAD!

American Movie Classics brings back The Walking Dead with asecond season of thirteen episodes. If you missed out on the first season ofsix episodes, here is the official synopsis from AMC for season one:

Waking up in an empty hospital after weeks in a coma, CountySheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) finds himself utterly alone. The world ashe knows it is gone, ravaged by a zombie epidemic. The Walking Dead tells thestory of the weeks and months that follow after the apocalypse. Based on RobertKirkman's hugely successful and popular comic book series, AMC's The WalkingDead is an epic, edge-of-your-seat drama where personal struggles are magnifiedagainst a backdrop of moment-to-moment survival. A survivalist story at itscore, the series explores how the living are changed by the overwhelmingrealization that those who survive can be far more dangerous than the mindlesswalkers roaming the earth. They themselves have become the walking dead.

Here is the official plot tease from AMC for season two:

The Walking Dead is back with its much anticipated secondseason. When we last left the The Walking Dead, the characters were in themidst of a high-intensity struggle to survive, fleeing the CDC as it burst intoflames. In Season 2, they are still on the move, facing more threats andobstacles than ever. Rick leads the group out of Atlanta. On the highway, theyare stopped by a threat unlike anything they have seen before. The groupsearches for someone who has gone missing.

There has been some controversy surrounding the secondseason. In July 2011, series developer and showrunner Frank Darabont steppeddown from his position as showrunner for the series, with believed reasoning hewas unable to adjust to the schedule of running a television series. Executiveproducer Glen Mazzara will be the series' new showrunner. Darabont's sudden departure further sparkedcontroversy in August when The Hollywood Reporter broke a story revealing thatDarabont had in fact been fired due to issues of the show's reduced budget anda strained relationship with AMC executives. Sons of Anarchy creator KurtSutter went off on Frank Darabont being fired as showrunner of The Walking Deadon Twitter saying, “Darabont reacted strongly to slashed budgets. He mademistakes, he was fired." "Nocreative in town will trust AMC to back up their artists." "I don'tknow MW, got no beef with him. Just hate that Darabont is being demonized. Noone has the balls to tell the truth. MM gutted AMC.” Regardless of the reasonsfor the changes in season two’s showrunner and purported reduced budget, I as afan of the show can only hope that the quality of the show remains as high asthe first season.

I have only read the first six issues of the Image Comicsthat The Walking Dead is based on and didn’t enjoy it enough to continuereading it. The Walking Dead is continuing to be published as a monthlyblack-and-white comic book series. The comic was created by writer Robert Kirkmanand artist Tony Moore, who was replaced by Charlie Adlard from issue #7 onward.The comics series has already run to 89 issues, so there is plenty of storiesfor the AMC TV series to draw on. Readers of the comic have already been warnedby producers of the show that the AMC series will not follow the comics seriesplot exactly.

Season 2 of The Walking Dead premieres with a 90-minuteepisode on Sun., Oct. 16 at 9/8c. After the first seven episodes air, theseries will go on hiatus, and then return on February 12, 2012, where the finalsix episodes of the season will begin airing.

Enjoy the trailer for The Walking Dead, SeasonTwo!

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART 3

2011-10-10T15:06:00.000-04:00

Part Three of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon begins with Bill E. Bones sitting in Zombzany's chair, reading from Major Maniac's script that comments on the previous film. Zombzany returns to the set, promptly tears up the script and has his zombie manservant Sebastian escort Bones to the dungeon.

Zombzany decides to host the "Sci-Fi Moron-a-thon" in his own unique style and proceeds to read dryly from his science fiction film tome about the next film. Myron, Zombzany's zombie slave and cameraman, begins falling asleep behind the camera, which causes it to go in and out of focus. Evidently, Sebastian forgot to lock the dungeon cell doors, because Bill E. Bones can clearly be heard behind the camera trying to wake Myron up and keep the camera in focus. The segment ends with Zombzany clearly frustrated at his attempt to enlighten his zombies and pleads with them to "go to black".

Enjoy Part Three of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon!

AMERICAN HORROR STORY – A NEW TWIST ON GOTHIC HORROR

2011-10-08T01:57:00.000-04:00

I had not planned on watching American Horror Story, the new horror program which premiered on theFX cable network this past Wednesday night at 10 pm. My favorite subgenre ofhorror is supernatural horror. American Horror Story appeared from the teasertrailers to fall within the horror subgenres of ghost stories, creepy housesand psychological horror, all three of which are my least favorite. Ever sinceBuffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel went off the air, I’ve been getting myweekly supernatural horror TV fix from Supernatural on WB/CW. The new supernatural horror show that I’vebeen looking forward the most is Grimm, which NBC has pushed the premier date back to October 28. Still, as a curious and dedicated genre fan Idecided to give the first episode of American Horror Story a try.

After watching American Horror Story on FX HD On Demand and Ican honestly say it is the most disturbing horror psychological drama that Ihave ever seen on Television. The lines that the show draws between reality,imagination and the supernatural are so fine that it really leaves you guessingas to which is which. I can't say that I found the show entertaining, but it isso skillfully done - both visually and contextually - that I find myself intriguedenough with the series set-up that I think I’ll be drawn to watching future episodes.

The basic story is about a married couple from Boston, Benand Vivien Harmon (Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton), who along with theirteenage daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga), move to Los Angeles to get a “freshstart”. It is revealed that Ben cheated on Vivien after she had a miscarriageand was refusing his attentions both emotionally and physically. Ben, a psychiatrist,saw this old mansion for sale on line for a reduced rate and hoped that hecould use one of its many rooms as an office to see patients. Even afterfinding out that the previous owners of the home committed murder/suicide, the Harmon’sbuy and move into the remodeled, but still oddly creepy mansion.

All the Harmon family members have deeply disturbing characterflaws. Ben Harmon is frustrated by his wife’s lack of sexual attention and herobvious need to take out her anger and grief out on him. Ben’s practice alsoputs him into emotional turmoil as well, which adds to his dysfunctional behavior towards his family. Vivian Harmon is not only still suffering from the grief of a lostchild, but her distrust of her husband still forces her to distance herself fromhim. Violet Harmon is also troubled, as she feels aliened by both her parents, tothe point that she suffers from self-injurious behavior (SIB).

As if their own problems weren’t enough, the Harmon’s homeis invaded by a childlike woman who decrees the death of them all. Her mother, Constance(Jessica Lange) arrives to retrieve her daughter Abby (Jamie Brewer), but dispensesdisturbing gossip about the gruesome murders committed in their home. Almost asmysteriously, an older woman named Moira (Frances Conroy) shows up at themansion and declares herself the mansion’s housekeeper. She goes into greatdetail as to how she was the one to discover the bodies of the previous ownersand that she was the one to clean up the mess. For some inexplicable reason, Moiraappears to Ben as a very attractive young women and this causes the sexualtension between he and Vivian to increase even further. The first episodeconcludes with a bizarre sexual encounter between Vivian and someone who shethinks is her husband and a big reveal at the end.

Even for a cable network show, the language and graphicdepiction of sexuality are fairly strong. While FX’s American Horror Storystill can’t compete with HBO’s True Blood for its explicit nudity or casual useof the “F” word, it still conveys a true adult tone without resorting (thusfar) to True Blood’s gruesome gore and blood. The acting is all finelyunderplayed in the style of Gothic Horror and as there are no stand outs amongthe cast, it plays nicely as an ensemble piece. I was somewhat displeased withthe use of the character Abby, who obviously suffers from Down’s syndrome, andher treatment by her mother Constance, but I’ll give the show some time toelaborate on their relationship before sicking my metal PC police on them. Asthere are no strong moral characters in the show, it makes it difficult relateto or empathize with any of them. I’m assuming because this is serialized Televisionand not a one-off film that at least one of the characters will grow from theirhorrifying experiences as the program progresses. I’ll continue to watchAmerican Horror Story for as long as they continue to exceed my expectations andnot overindulge in the disturbing drama, but further explore the supernaturalaspects of the show.

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC'S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART 2

2011-10-02T19:53:00.000-04:00

In Part Two of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi MarathonZombzany is awaiting the arrival of Major Maniac’s script to introduce thesci-fi movies. It is being received via FAX, which obviously Zombzany knowsnothing about, as he is unable to even pronounce the word. The script is handedto him by his faithful zombie servant Sebastian and as Zombzany reads it he realizesthat the script is still in Major Maniac’s somewhat eccentric dialect. Zombzanystomps out in a huff and leaves Bill E. Bones to introduce the first film ofthe sci-fi marathon.

Enjoy Part Two of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-FiMarathon!

STARSHIP FARRAGUT: THE ANIMATED EPISODES

2011-09-27T21:35:00.000-04:00

I was a fan of Star Trek: The Animated Series, which was produced by Filmation in association with Paramount Television and ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 on NBC, airing a total of twenty-two half-hour episodes.

I'm also a fan of the many Star Trek fan films made over the last decade or so. I just discovered a new Star Trek fan film that is animated and it looks like a real labor of love.

NEO f/x (in association with Farragut Films) has released two episodes of Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes. They are based on the original Star Trek animated series and they have the same look and feel of the original animated series from the 70's.

Here is a synopsis of the first episode:

The Needs of the Many - Stardate 6047.1: The Farragut takes on a special visitor as they return to Cestus III, the site where Kirk and the Gorn fought on stardate 3045.6. As fate would have it, Carter and crew encounter the same rogue Gorn, looking for revenge against the Federation. Time will NOT be on Farragut's side!

The voices are:

John Broughton - Carter
Michael Bednar - Tacket
Holly Bednar - Smithfield
Paul R. Sieber - Prescott
Tonya Bacon - Moretti
Bob McDonough - Galway
Jason LeBlanc - Glenn
Amy McDonough - Holley
Hetoreyn - Taylor
Ralph M. Miller - Computer / Gorn
Chris Doohan - Thelin / Scotty
Chase Masterson - Renata/'Commodore' Johnson/Assistant #2
Vic Mignogna - Shealar/Assistance #1
Tim Russ - Dr. Tumar

For more information on Starship Farragut: The Animated Episodes go to http://www.farragut-animated.com/index.html

Here is the first act of "Power Source" which was released July 20th, 2009. Enjoy!

ZOMBZANY AND MAJOR MANIAC’S SCI-FI MARATHON - PART 1

2011-09-25T15:38:00.000-04:00

This video of Zombzany and Major Mac Maniac is from sometime in the late 1980's. Zombzany and Major Mac Maniac's relationship goes back to the 1970's when both of them were late-night movie hosts at different UHF TV stations. Zombzany, of course, ran old 1930's and 1940's horror movies on KARP-TV and Major Mac Maniac ran "classic" sci-fi movies from the 1950's and 1960's on WARP-TV. Despite the differences in their shows and the distance of their respective broadcasting partners, somehow Zombzany and Maniac developed a rivalry with one another. At the end of the 1970's, both of them found themselves out of work, as most UHF TV stations at that time cut back on their local programming in favor of syndicated shows.

Apparently, sometime in the 1980's, both of these former TV movie hosts began supplementing their meager broadcast TV income by hosting prerecorded sci-fi and horror movie marathons for various fan groups. In this video, Zombzany is sitting in an obviously mock tomb set, reading his favorite classic horror film book; while Bill E. Bones sits beside him reading a zombie comic book. The phone rings and it is Major Maniac calling from his "space station" to ask Zombzany for a favor. When Zombzany finds out that this favor is to host a sixteen hour sci-fi movie marathon in the Major's stead, he initially refuses. However, Major Manic calls in a "marker" and Zombzany reluctantly agrees to the hosting appearance, after haggling with Maniac over his cut of the payment for the gig.

Enjoy Part One of Zombzany and Major Maniac's Sci-Fi Marathon!

TRAILER TUESDAY! SUPERNATURAL SEASON SEVEN STARTS FRIDAY ON THE CW!

2011-09-20T21:34:00.000-04:00

Supernatural is entering its seventh season! I have followedthis show since season one, episode one and have always found it to be a solidsupernatural horror series. The idea of making the two leads of a genre showbrothers is unique. The strength of Dean and Sam’s relationship and how theirdistinctly different personalities create both a bond and tension between them,while they maintain their enduring battle with the all the supernaturalevils of the world is what keeps the show interesting even after six seasons.

This past season, Dean and Sam faced insurmountable obstacles:Sam returned from Hell without his soul, and Dean risked everything to get itback for him. The power struggle between good and evil raged on, with the newKing of Hell, Crowley, ultimately emerging as their adversary. Shockingly,Crowley had made a secret deal with Sam and Dean’s closest friend, the angel Castiel,who became a desperate freedom fighter on the losing side of a post-Apocalypticcivil war in Heaven; together, the uneasy allies sought to open a door toPurgatory, where a great untapped well of souls lie waiting to be used as theultimate form of military power. Sam and Dean reeled from the betrayal by theirfriend — and raced to stop the angel and demon before they opened thatdangerous, otherworldly door.

Now, in season seven, the Winchesters will find themselvesat odds with Castiel, who has declared himself God and his using his new foundpower to right some perceived wrongs in the world. It looks as though Dean andSam may have to stop yet another Apocalypse on Earth and this time they won’tbe able to rely on supernatural beings for help, but will have onlythemselves to rely on!

The series stars Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester, JensenAckles as Dean Winchester and Misha Collins as Castiel. SUPERNATURAL is fromWarner Bros. Television in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision, withexecutive producers McG (“Charlie’s Angels,” “The O.C.”), Robert Singer(“Midnight Caller”), Sera Gamble and Phil Sgriccia.

The first episode of season seven entitled “Meetthe New Boss” premiers Friday, September 23 at 9pm. Enjoy the trailer forseason seven of Supernatural!

ZOMBPETTO'S JUST SAY F-U TO DRUGS PSA

2011-09-17T23:36:00.000-04:00

This is a Public Service Announcement against drug abuse that was recorded by Zombzany in the early 1970's.

Zombzany began a children's show in the late 1950's titled Zombpetto's Puppet Palace. It featured Zombzany as Zombpetto, who wore a clownish outfit and stood on a minimalist set that featured a puppet palace and little else. In the early days, Zombpetto's puppet pals were two simple sock puppets; one black sock name Meany and one white puppet name Weany. I have one rare kinescope video copy of this show somewhere, which I hope to upload sometime.

Evidently, Zombpetto's Puppet Palace was fairly successful as the show lasted into the mid 1970's. It seems Zombzany liked to tap into the trends of the times for his puppet show and in the 1970's Zombpetto's Puppet Palace starred two hairy hippy puppets named Leach and Bong. I'm amazed at some of the drug references that Zombpetto got away with on this show! Perhaps this anti-drug PSA was a way for the station that aired Zombpetto's Puppet Palace to demonstrate that it was in no way supporting or condoning the casual use of drugs or narcotics of any kind. It's ironic that Zombpetto's Puppet Palace was most likely written by, directed by and produced by the very drug using hippies that this spot is denouncing.

Zombpetto's Puppet Palace is one of my personal favorite shows featuring a nom de plume of Zombzany, because this character's dress and personality are the complete opposite of his own. Just that red ball nose is enough to crack me up every time I watch one of these shows! Enjoy this video of Zompetto's Puppet Palace anti-drug PSA!

TRAILER TUESDAY! TERRA NOVA: NEW SCI-FI ON FOX TV!

2011-09-13T22:31:00.000-04:00

Science fiction has not fared well on network TV in the lastfew years. The only current SF program on one of the four major networks isFringe on FOX, which remarkably is about to begin its fourth season.

Most SFshows don't even seem to last a full season. Examples of network sciencefiction shows in the past few years that were pulled prematurely were: Firefly(FOX), Threshold (CBS), and Invasion (ABC). Other notable science fiction shows that were given at least two seasons, but still not supported by the networkswere: Dollhouse (FOX), Dark Angel (FOX), and Terminator: The Sarah ConnorChronicles (Fox). Of these six programs, four of them were on FOX. I bring allthis up, because the new and only science fiction show to come to TV this fallis Terra Nova, which is on FOX TV. So while I am looking forward to Terra Nova,I am curbing my enthusiasm somewhat because of the short runs of so many otherSF shows on FOX in the past. It has been reported that FOX has already ordered13 episodes of Terra Nova. I have also read that due to the extreme length oftime to produce the special effects for the show, that would likely be all theepisodes for season one.

Here is the press release (which is somewhat spoilerific) onTerra Nova:

From executive producers Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin,René Echevarria and Brannon Braga comes an epic family adventure 85 millionyears in the making.

TERRA NOVA follows an ordinary family on an incrediblejourney back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a daringexperiment to save the human race. In the year 2149, the world is dying. Theplanet is overdeveloped and overcrowded, with the majority of plant and animallife extinct. The future of mankind is in jeopardy, and its only hope forsurvival is in the distant past.

When scientists unexpectedly discovered a fracture in timethat made it possible to construct a portal into primeval history, the boldnotion was born to resettle humanity in the past – a second chance to rebuildcivilization and get it right this time.

The series centers on the Shannon family as they join theTenth Pilgrimage of settlers to Terra Nova, the first colony established inthis beautiful yet foreboding land. JIM SHANNON (Jason O’Mara), a devotedfather with a checkered past, guides his family through this new world oflimitless beauty, mystery and terror. Jim’s wife, ELISABETH (Shelley Conn), isa trauma surgeon and the newest addition to Terra Nova’s medical team. JOSH(Landon Liboiron) is their 17-year-old son who is torn to leave life as heknows it behind; upon arriving at the settlement, he finds himself instantlydrawn to the beautiful and rule-breaking SKYE (Allison Miller). MADDY (NaomiScott), Josh’s endearingly awkward 15-year-old sister, hopes Terra Nova willgive her a chance to reinvent herself. Although Elisabeth’s medical trainingsecured the family a spot on the pilgrimage, a secret involving theirfive-year-old daughter, ZOE (Alana Mansour), soon endangers their place in thisutopia.

Upon the Shannons’ arrival, they are introduced to COMMANDERNATHANIEL TAYLOR (Stephen Lang), the charismatic and heroic first pioneer andleader of the settlement. Taylor warns the travelers that while Terra Nova is aplace of new opportunities and fresh beginnings, all is not as idyllic as itinitially appears. Along with blue skies, towering waterfalls and lushvegetation, the surrounding terrain is teeming with danger – and not just ofthe man-eating dinosaur variety. There is also a splinter colony of renegadesled by the battle-hardened MIRA (Christine Adams), who is vehemently opposed toTaylor and his leadership.

Even more threatening than what lies outside the protectivewalls of the colony is the chilling possibility that something sinister ishappening inside Terra Nova. The Shannons will come to suspect that noteveryone on this mission has the same idea of how to best save mankind; infact, there may be forces intent on destroying this new world before it evenbegins.

TERRA NOVA is produced by 20th Century Fox Television,Chernin Entertainment, DreamWorks Television and Kapital Entertainment. StevenSpielberg (“Saving Private Ryan”), Peter Chernin, René Echevarria (“Castle”),Brannon Braga (“24”), Jon Cassar (“24”), Aaron Kaplan, Katherine Pope, JustinFalvey (“Falling Skies”), Darryl Frank (“The Borgias”), Craig Silverstein(“Nikita”) and Kelly Marcel serve as executive producers. Alex Graves (FRINGE)directed and serves as executive producer of the series premiere.

FOX has obviously spent a lot of time and money on TerraNova, so I hope it is as good as this trailer makes it look and that FOX willgive it at least a few seasons to tell its story. Terra Nova premiers September 26 at 8pm. Enjoy the trailer!

TRAILER TUESDAY! DEATH VALLEY: HORROR AND COMEDY MEET ON MTV!

2011-09-06T14:36:00.001-04:00

Death Valley is a new half-hour scripted horror-comedy show on MTV. It follows the nightly routine of police officers in California’s San Fernando Valley filmed in the documentary style of "Cops"; only instead of bad boys these cops deal with vampires, zombies and werewolves. Two episodes have aired so far and the violence is as hard-core as any R-rated horror film, so this show is not for the squeamish. Being a fan of Zombieland, Death Valley shares some of that film's satiric elements, if with somewhat less subtly. If you like your horror-comedy loud and low-brow, with lots of gore, then Death Valley is for you and I qualify it as a definite “guilty pleasure”!

Death Valley's characters are:

Captain Frank Dashell is as crazy as he is dim-witted and spouts nonsense passing as instruction to his officers.

Officer Joe Stubeck is a family man who tries to keep his younger partner Billy in line and often tries too hard to do the right thing.

Officer Billy Pierce is a tough young cop who enjoys killing zombies a little too much and is as likely to have his mind on food and sex as he is the job at hand.

Officer Kirsten Landry is the rookie of the staff and is a little leery of the Captain who has taken her under his wing. She is tough and capable and seems slightly out of place among the rest of the somewhat crazy officers.

Officer Carla Rinaldi is a streetwise beat cop, who takes her job protecting the innocent from monsters as seriously as she would from ordinary criminals.

Officer John "John-John" Johnson is the young-tuff of the crew and has is partner Rinaldi's back.

Here is the press release for the show from MTV:

Viewers will be taken to a place they’ve never been before, with MTV’s new horror-comedy “Death Valley.” The scripted series follows the ‘Undead Task Force’ (UTF), a newly formed division of the LAPD, documentary-style, as they capture the monsters that roam the streets of California’s San Fernando Valley. In a world where vampires, werewolves and zombies live freely, “Death Valley” is a fun, comedic non-stop thrill ride featuring chases, hardcore kills and bizarre encounters.

“Death Valley” stars Tania Raymonde (“Lost”), Bryan Callen (“The Hangover”), Caity Lotz (“Mad Men”), Bryce Johnson (‘Sleeping Dogs Lie”), Texas Battle (“Final Destination 3”, “Dragonball,” “Coach Carter”) and Charlie Sanders (Funny or Die’s “The Big Dog”). “Death Valley” is executive produced by Eric Weinberg, Austin Reading, Julie Kellman Reading and Tim Healy. Spider One is co-executive producer of the series. Tony DiBari is Executive Producer, MTV and Matthew Parillo is MTV executive in charge of production.

Take a look at the trailer for Death Valley!

ZOMBEATNIK’S PSY-QUICK CAPPUCCINO COMMERCIAL!

2011-09-06T00:16:00.002-04:00

Zombzany the Necromancer, being a zombie himself, has lived a long undead life. It seems that even immortal necromancers need to make an un-living as Zombzany has had many professions over the years. Despite his seeming distaste for the medium he refers to as a televisual travesty, Zombzany has certainly dipped his dead toes into the electronic-media muck on many occasions. Zombzany has appeared on TV as himself from time to time, but in most instances he usually appears before the cameras as one of his many aliases. I can only hazard a guess as to why he has created such a plethora of assumed identities, but I suspect that Zombzany wishes to hide his immortality from the unwashed masses of humanity. I also think he’s embarrassed that he has had to debase himself by appearing on the “moron machine” with such frequency.

In my ten years of being Zombzany’s neighbor, I have had many confrontations with the Necromancer Supreme. Most of the time, I feel lucky to have escaped Zombzany’s cemetery alive. In fact, one time I didn’t even manage that. That, however, is a story for another time. What little leverage that I have had with Zombzany over the years, has come from my pilfering his collection of his vast video recordings of his many TV appearances. It would seem that Zombzany’s head is as inflated as his waistline, because why else would he save so many of these recordings that he considers to be so embarrassing? I still possess many of these tapes and I will gradually share all of them with you here on Guardians of the Genre!

Sometime in the early 1960's, Zombzany was apparently attempting to cash in on the Beatnik craze of the previous decade. Somewhere in my collection, I have an actual episode of Zombeatnik the Hip Psychic, which was a call-in show where people called in asking for advice from the Hip Psychic. In this recording from the mid-60’s, Zombeatnik evidently managed to acquire a licensing partner and he is hawking an instant cappuccino with his name and picture emblazoned on it. I think it is ridiculous to think that Zombzany as Zombeatnik thought anyone would be stupid enough to buy his Psy-Quick Cappuccino, but you do have to admire his enterprising spirit. Enjoy this commercial message for Zombeatnik’s Psy-Quick Cappuccino!

TRAILER TUESDAY! THE THING – 2011 – A PREQUEL TO A CLASSIC?

2011-08-30T22:25:00.000-04:00

I grew up in the 1960’s watching every sci-fi and horrormovie that they would run on Television. One of my favorite scary sci-fi movieswas 1951’s The Thing from Another World. This film felt very real to my youngmind and more frightening because of it. Still, I loved John Carpenter’s TheThing when it came out at the theaters in June of 1982. This was clearly thebest horror-sci-fi hybrid film since Ridley Scott’s Alien. I have watched it afew times over the years and unfortunately it has not aged as well as Alien.Yet, I’d still put 1982’s The Thing on my top twenty lists of sci-fi or horrorfilms.

I do have to wonder after nearly thirty years since the release of Carpenter's The Thing whythey would make a prequel to it. I’d actually understand a remake more; perhaps going back to the source material – John W. Campbell’s shortstory “Who Goes There?” Because Carpenter had to rely on animatronic technologyexclusively for the alien, it would seem logical that Hollywood would considerThe Thing perfect for a CGI-3D remake. I’m not saying I think that is a goodidea, but it would make sense from a Hollywood perspective. Instead, it appearsthat director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. has attempted to emulate the look ofCarpenter’s film, shooting on 35 mm film and using practical creature effects asmuch as possible. While this may please the die-hard fanboys of the 1982 film(are there really that many of them?), will a general science fiction/horrorfilm fan base support such a traditionally produced genre film?

I honestly am not excited to see The Thing, but I may go toit out of curiosity and my general need to support science fiction theatricallyreleased films. I do like the lead actress: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who hasbeen mostly underutilized in her genre film appearances such as Scott Pilgrimvs. the World, Death Proof, Black Christmas and Final Destination 3. However,most of the cast are minor actors whose work I am at best marginally familiarwith. The director, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., is even more of a mystery, asthis is his feature film debut. The trailer looks promising, so lets hope TheThing is a prequel worthy to the film it is trying so hard to emulate. The Thing will be released in theaters October 14, 2011.

TRAILER TUESDAY! UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING!

2011-08-23T22:29:00.000-04:00

Underworld: Awakening is the fourth film in the series abouta war between the vampire and werewolf races. Rise of the Lycans, the previous film, was a prequel to the first filmUnderworld and Underworld: Evolution. Underworld Awakening appears to be adirect sequel to Underworld: Evolution.

Kate Beckinsale, the star of the first two films, returns inher lead role as the vampire Selene, who escapes imprisonment to find herselfin a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycanclans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species.

Although I enjoyed Underworld: Rise of the Lycans andthought Rhona Mitra was fine in the lead role as Sonja, I much prefer themodern setting and Kate Beckinsale as Selene from the previous two films. Thetrailer tells us that Selene has been held captive (presumably by humans) fortwelve years. Selene escapes and is caught in the war between Humans, Vampiresand Lycans. The trailer also hints that the half-breed child of Selene andMichael is alive and mixed up in the war – but on whose side? Underworld:Awakening is set for release on January 20, 2012 and I for one can hardly wait!Enjoy the trailer!

TRAILER TUEADAY! CONAN THE BARBARIAN!

2011-08-16T22:23:00.001-04:00

Conan the Barbarian is coming to theaters this Friday,August 19. I have mixed feelings about seeing this film. I'm sure that if I goto it expecting to see Conan as written by Robert E. Howard I will bedisappointed. If I go to it hoping that it is more like the original Conan thanthe 1982 Conan film, I will probably feel ambivalent about it. Finally, if I goto it expecting a grand action Swords & Sorcery film, I'll most likelyenjoy it. I always try to see any film with as few preconceived expectations aspossible, but with a film based on a literary character that I am extremelyfamiliar with, it will be very difficult.

I was first exposed to the world of Conan and Howard'sHyborian Age in the form of Marvel Comics, as written by Roy Thomas and drawnby John Buscema. I was given several of the Lancer Paperbacks for Christmas andonce I read the Howard originals I was a Howard fan for life. I've since readall of Howard's original Conan stories and the pastiches finished by Lin Carterand L. Sprague de Camp, as well as some of the better Conan original novels by KarlEdward Wagner, Andrew J. Offutt and Steve Perry. I've read most of Marvel's Conancomics as well as their Savage Sword of Conan black & white comicsmagazine. I have even been reading Dark Horse Comics' more recent adaptationsof Howard's Conan stories. As far as the film versions of Conan go, I wasenough of a fan back in the day to stand in a long line in 1982 to see JohnMilius' Conan film. I liked Arnold Schwarzenegger well enough as Conan, butMilius' and Stone's script was almost nothing like Howard's Conan and I was disappointedby it. The 1984 Conan the Destroyer had a story treatment by Conan comicsscribes Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway pieced together from various Howard shortstories, but the finished script by Stanely Mann made Conan a supportingcharacter in his own film.

I remain hopeful that some of Howard’s noble barbarian willshine through in the new Conan the Barbarian film. If not, I think I'll still appreciateJason Momoa as Conan; an actor whose TV work I'm familiar with from HBO's Gameof Thrones and SY FY's Stargate: Atlantis. Director Marcus Nispal did a decentjob on Parthfinder, which had a similar theme to Conan, so that has me fairlyoptimistic as well. Check out the trailer for Conan the Barbarian!

TRAILER TUESDAY! GRIMM - ON NBC TV THIS FALL!

2011-08-09T20:58:00.005-04:00

Grimm is a new genre show coming this fall to NBC! Here is the official show description on its web site:

Remember the fairy tales your parents used to tell you before bedtime? Well, those weren't stories, they were warnings.

Detective Nick Burkhardt thought he was ready for the grim reality of working homicide in Portland, Oregon. That is, until he started to see things... things he couldn't quite explain. Like a gorgeous woman suddenly transforming into a hideous hag, or an average Joe turning into a vicious troll. Then, after a panicked visit from his only living relative, Nick discovers the truth about his visions: he's not like everyone else, he's a descendant of an elite group of hunters known as "Grimms" who are charged with stopping the proliferation of supernatural creatures in the world. And so begins his new life journey - albeit a reluctant one at first - as he solves crimes with his partner who knows something about Nick has radically changed but can't quite put his finger on it. Along the way, Nick finds himself unexpectedly getting help on some of the more difficult cases from Monroe, a guy who seems normal at first but is soon revealed to be what you might call a "big bad wolf." Literally!

While the Brothers Grimm wrote fairy tales that children have adored for generations, imagine if the villains were real, and Nick was the only one who could stop them.

From executive producers David Greenwalt (Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jim Kouf (Angel, National Treasure) comes a new world of police work where all cases have a storybook connection... but not always happily ever after.

The reason I am excited by this show, other than the premise with its promise of weekly monsters, is the involvement of David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf. They are the creators, producers and writers of the pilot episode and they were deeply involved in two of my favorite genre shows Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both men not only produced Angel, but wrote many of the episodes as well.

I have one major complaint about NBC's handling of Grimm. They are airing it on Friday nights at 9 pm, opposite two other established genre shows: Supernatural on CW and Fringe on FOX. I watch both these shows and even with my DVR that can record two programs simultaneously, I'll still have to watch one of these shows on a repeat showing or OnDemand on Comcast. Would it be too much to ask for NBC to air Grimm on a different day or at lest a different time? I'll be watching Grimm "live" and recording the other two shows, at least for the premier on October 21.

Check out the cool extended sneak preview trailer!

COWBOYS & ALIENS – 2011 – A SATISFYING WESTERN SCI-FI MÉLANGE

2011-08-08T22:24:00.003-04:00

Cowboys & Aliens the movie is as much a western as it isa first contact alien invasion story. Its dedication to creating both arealistic historical setting and an advanced alien technologies and species areits strengths; but to those who dislike one genre or the other, it could be thefilm’s greatest weakness.

It is widely unpublicized that this film was based on thePlatinum Studios comic book series Cowboys & Aliens published in 2006.Knowing that the film was due later in the year, I bought the trade collectionof the comic book this past spring. The story is co-written by Andrew Foley andFred Van Lente, with the majority of the artwork by Luciano Lima. The writingstyle is dialogue driven and lacks any real depth or nuance of character. Theartwork is slightly cartoony, but clear, if slightly unimaginative. If I hadread this not knowing it was going to be made into a film, I wouldn’t havethought it would make a very good one. Fortunately, the film Cowboys &Aliens uses the title and the basic premise, but little else. I can see why Hollywoodwould be interested in the idea of extraterrestrials in the old west, but whythey would buy this property instead of just creating their own original filmis beyond me.

The film opens with Jake Lonergan waking up in the middle ofnowhere, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He makes his way tothe town Absolution, where the son of a wealthy cattle baron is causing troubleand is arrested along with Jake. Woodrow Dolarhyde, the owner of the cattleranch and the former mining town’s only source of income, is attempting to freehis son from captivity, when the town is attacked by several alien spaceships.Jake escapes and fires a weapon of alien origin that is attached to his armdestroying one of the ships. The rest of the ships leave, but take many of thetownspeople hostage; including Dolarhyde’s son. Jake, who begins to regain someof his memory, joins a group of the townspeople in forming a pose to track downthe aliens and find out where they have taken their human captives. Along theway, they encounter outlaws and Native Americans, some of whom hinder them andsome who end up helping them in their mission to rescue the humans captured bythe aliens.

Combining two dissimilar genres like the western and sciencefiction is a risky and demanding venture. Westerns are generally characterdriven dramas that use the historical setting to explore the human conditionand perhaps as an allegory to dramatize modern world problems in a simplertime. Science fiction, on the other hand, is used primarily to extrapolate onideas or settings and how they are affected by futuristic technologies oradvanced ideologies. By combining the two, it can either weaken or strengthen themboth. Cowboys & Aliens uses the idea of alien beings that have a superiortechnology and are forced to use inferior human labor to repair theirspaceship, which untimely leads to their destruction. Stories about primitivesocieties overcoming more advanced ones are fairly common in fiction. Whatmakes Cowboys & Aliens good science fiction is that it creates a believablealien species and technology, while maintaining a solid foundation in thereality of the setting – in this case the 1800’s American west.

The characters are what make the implausible situation ofaliens interacting with cowboys believable. Harrison Ford takes the characterof Woodrow Dolarhyde and imbues him with multiple layers of personality. At theoutset of Cowboys &amp; Aliens, Ford plays Woodrow as a fiercely determinedfather, who is unlikeable because of his superior bearing and demanding nature.As the film develops, Ford allows more subtle aspects of his character to comeout and as a result our opinion of the character becomes slightly different.The veteran actor takes a character that could have been two-dimensional andmakes him into a truly multifaceted personality. This is important, because themain character, as played by Daniel Craig, starts off the film as a man with nomemory of his past or persona. It doesn’t allow Craig much in the way ofcreating empathy for his character and when we do find out more about him laterin the film, much of his character’s personality is not particularly likeable.The supporting cast are all fine actors, but not as much is required of them.The only other pivotal character to the story is Ella Swenson, who is one of thefew townspeople that does not appear to be afraid of Woodrow Dolarhyde or hisson. Olivia Wilde is a fine actress, but it is her nearly too perfect facialfeatures that help create Ella’s unique extra dimensional persona.

I really liked the fact that director John Favreau takes thetime to establish both the setting and character in the first thirty minutes ofCowboys & Aliens, before introducing the aliens into the story. Because wereally believe in the world that Favreau has created, we are better able to adaptto the intrusion of the aliens to the story. Of course, because of the film’stitle, we are expecting the aliens – in fact, I’m sure the sci-fi fans werewaiting somewhat impatiently for their appearance. Still, I think the film succeedsbecause of the gradual buildup to the science fictional element. When the finalact of the film arrives, Cowboys &amp; Aliens does not disappoint. The smallerships that we see at the beginning of the film are just a hint of the granderalien technology that we see at the end of the film. The action is packed withmany thrills during the attack of the townspeople and Native Americans whenthey join together in attacking the alien ship to rescue their captured friendsand family. It is both an emotionally and logically satisfying conclusion to allthe various plot threads that are woven together in Cowboys & Aliens.

If you are a fan of either the western or science fictiongenres, I think you can find plenty to enjoy with this film. Don’t let the ingenuoustitle dissuade you: Cowboys & Aliens is a realistic action drama that willsatisfy fans of any genre!

TRAILER TUESDAY! THE THREE MUSKETEERS - A STEAMPUNK UPDATE!

2011-08-02T21:01:00.001-04:00

I saw this trailer for The Three Musketeers before seeing Cowboys & Aliens at the theater this weekend. Yes, I know I promised a review of the western-sci-fi hybred and I am working on it

In the meantime, check out this trailer for The Three Musketeers! It is directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, who is best known as the diretor of Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Afterlife. I love all the Redident Evil movies (Mr. Anderson wrote the screenplays for the two other Resident Evil movies that he didn't direct) and I also liked two other Anderson helmed movies: Death Race and Alien vs. Predator. Another treat for Resident Evil fans is that Three Musketters will feature Milla Jovovich as (the evil?) M'Lady DeWinter. The Three Musketeers is being realeased to theaters on October 21, 2011.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER – 2011 – A FIRST RATE ADVENTURE!

2011-07-28T22:59:00.002-04:00

My first exposure to Captain America was in the form of those wonderfully limited animated cartoons from 1966. The cartoons, which were actually photocopied images taken directly from the comics, were terrible animation, but they were my first exposure to the Mighty Marvel Superheroes: Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, The Invincible Iron Man, The Mighty Thor and Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner. In 1967, Spiderman and the Fantastic Four would get their own Saturday morning cartoons and that would eventually lead me to buying my first issues of Spiderman and The Fantastic Four. It would be a few years before I could afford to buy more Marvel comics with my limited allowance money, but I definitely bought the characters that I remembered from those early cartoons: The Incredible Hulk, The Invincible Iron Man, The Mighty Thor and of course Captain America!

Captain America has had a rough time of it in cinema. Cap’s first cinematic incarnation was the 1944 Republic serial and dealt with Captain America trying to thwart the plans of The Scarab in his attempts to acquire the "Dynamic Vibrator" and "Electronic Firebolt" which were devices that could be used as super-weapons. Other than the previously mentioned cartoons, Captain America wouldn’t appear on-screen again until he emerged in two TV movies on CBS: Captain America, which aired January 19, 1979, and Captain America II: Death Too Soon, which aired November 23, 1979. Both starred Reb Brown in the title role and placed Steve Rogers in then contemporary times with a completely different origin and modus operandi.

Captain America was to make his feature film debut in 1990 starring Matt Salinger as Captain America and Scott Paulin as The Red Skull with direction by Albert Pyun. This film featured Steve Rogers becoming Captain America during World War II to battle the Red Skull and being frozen in ice, to be subsequently revived in 1990 to save the President of the United States from a crime family that dislikes his environmentalist polices. The film was planned for release in the summer of 1990, but after several release dates were announced between fall 1990 and winter 1991 the film still went unreleased for two years before debuting direct to video and on cable television in the United States in the summer of 1992. Of all the screen versions of Captain America, this was the most loyal to the source material, but its limited budget didn’t make it look much better than the 1970’s TV movies.

Finally, this summer saw the release of two of Marvel’s superheroes Thor and Captain America. Marvel Studios has been building up to the upcoming release of The Avengers next year since the first Iron Man film was released in 2008. The Avengers will feature not only Captain America and Thor, but Iron Man and the Hulk as well. I loved the two Iron Man films and enjoyed Thor as well, so my expectations for Captain America: The First Avenger were fairly high. I was not disappointed.

Captain America: The First Avenger is set in 1942, just as America is entering World War II. Steve Rogers is a skinny kid who is determined to enlist in the military. Unfortunately, he is listed as 4F until a mysterious Dr. Erksine sees the kid and ensures that Steve passes his exam, so that he can enter his Project Rebirth program. Proving his intelligence, guts and sheer determination, Dr. Erksine chooses Steve to be subjected to the massive injections of the super soldier serum he created. Steve is transformed into a perfect physical specimen, but just as he is emerging from the lab, Dr. Erksine is murdered by a HYDRA agent and Steve becomes the only super soldier. The government doesn’t want to risk Steve in combat, so he is relegated to performing as “Captain America” in USO shows stateside to sell war bonds. While on a tour overseas, Steve finds out that his old friend James “Bucky” Barnes has been captured by HDYRA during a secret mission to find the headquarters of the Red Skull. The leader of HYDRA, the Red Skull had worked for Hitler as a scientific research division, but on gaining enough military strength on his own, decides to use the war as a means to establishing himself as the absolute ruler of the world! Donning an altered version of his Captain America costume, Steve Rogers races off to face the Red Skull and stop him before it too late!

Joe Johnson was the perfect director for Captain America, as he had also directed one of my favorite comic book film adaptations: The Rocketeer. Captain America takes its time to establish the wartime setting, getting all the visual details of New York circa 1942 just right. Chris Evans as the spindly Steve Rogers (done with some fine digital trickery) is just as convincing as when he eventually becomes Captain America. I think because so much effort is put into the pre super-heroic Steve Rogers, that when he eventually dons the Red-white-and-blue uniform, we are really pulling for him on several levels. Hugo Weaving does a fine job of playing the Red Skull with just enough panache that his evil plans seem almost justified. The whole supporting cast, from Haley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Chester Philips, to Sebastian Stan as ‘Bucky’ Barnes, get the most out of their minimal screen time. There are also some cool moments in the film that only a Marvel Comics fan or a comic book historian would notice. When Captain America is doing his USO tour, he is given a badge-shaped shield, instead of the circular shield that the character is most identified with. The "badge" shield is the shield that Captain America only used for the very first issue of the Captain America comic that was published in March of 1941. Among a group of soldiers that Captain America attacks the Red Skull's fortress with are Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan and Gabe Jones. These are two of the soldiers that appeared in the WWII comic first published by Marvel in 1963 entitled Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos.

Once the battle between Captain America and the Red Skull starts, the action is almost nonstop! I particularly liked the retro-high tech weapons used by the Red Skull and his HYDRA minions. From ray-cannon tanks to underwater jets, there is enough gadgetry to keep any super-science geek happy. Captain America, despite his super strength and agility, is still quite believable on screen, as it seems most of the stunts were done live action whenever possible. As good as modern CGI is it is no substitute to for real actors and stunt people doing their thing.

As with all the other recent Marvel films, if you stay to the end of the credits you are treated to a sneak peek of The Avengers film that is being released next summer. This is being directed by Joss Whedon, who also wrote the script and I for one can’t wait for it!

Any fan of the superhero genre, or period action films, should enjoy Captain America: The First Avenger. As a first adventure of Captain America it is indeed first rate!

TRAILER TUESDAY! COWBOYS AND ALIENS... OH, MY!

2011-07-26T21:44:00.000-04:00

I have been looking forward to this film since I saw the first teaser trailer last year! I loved director Jon Favreau's Iron Man films! Casting Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig together in a sci-fi western mash up is almost too good to be true! I'll be seeing Cowboys and Aliens this Saturday and I'll try to post a review the next day.

ALPHAS – SUPER ABILITIES, NOT SUPERPOWERS, ON SYFY

2011-07-16T19:55:00.003-04:00

After the recent failed attempts of the superhero shows The Cape and No Ordinary Family, I had very low expectations for SYFY’s new TV program Alphas [Mondays @ 10pm]. The only mistake SYFY has made thus far is labeling Alphas a superhero show in the first place. One of the creators of Alphas, Zak Penn, whose resume includes writing the superhero screenplays for The Incredible Hulk, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Elektra, has made a very conscious effort to make the abilities of each of the Alphas as scientifically believable as possible. As each of the Alphas is introduced, their abilities – not superpowers – are explained and demonstrated, using visual effects to help make the explanation even clearer. Each of the Alphas abilities even has a drawback or weakness, which I think helps add to the realism as well.

Unlike traditional superheroes, the Alphas do belong to a loose knit group, yet they don’t wear any sort of costume or uniform. I also like the fact that although they work in cooperation with the Defense Criminal Investigation Service of the U.S. Department of Defense, they are not officially affiliated with the government. This is reflected in the main character Dr. Lee Rosen, who seems to be a free-spirit scientist, whose hobbies include collecting classic rock on vinyl. Rosen, the tactical and spiritual leader of the Alphas, is not above using the abilities of his Alphas for good, but he is still very protective of them. As a neurologist and psychiatrist, Dr. Rosen is able to not only help the Alphas understand and use their abilities more affectively, but also treat their sometimes fragile emotions and mental states as well.

I like all of the five Alpha characters. Bill Harkin is the least likable of the five, but part of that is because as a former FBI agent, he still needs to be in control and seems to have trouble working with a group of untrained civilians. Gary Bell is the most likable and sympathetic character, but his ability and perceived handicap will restrict this character's physical involvement in future cases. Nina Theroux is the "babe" of the group, but what makes her interesting is her ability makes her able to control every aspect of her life and yet her cool detached exterior appears to be a cover for a deeper unhappiness. Cameron Hicks is interesting because of his complex past, which includes being a former army sniper and minor league baseball pitcher. Unfortunately, the writers have stuck him with the dramatic cliché of being a divorced Dad with an estranged son. Rachel Pirzad's abilities are the least believable but the most useful to the group. Fortunately, her abilities also make her the most vulnerable when she uses them; making her the most dependent on the group for protection.

Surprisingly, I really liked Alphas! I suspect the reason is that I have always liked SF that dealt with human beings that are able to use their minds to extraordinary ends. For me, this has always been the most realistic of science fictional rational for people with "superpowers" and that gives me hope that Alphas could be one “superhero” show that has the ability to last more than one season.

FALLING SKIES - THE SKY'S THE LIMIT?

2011-06-25T02:03:00.003-04:00

FALLING SKIES - SCI-FI TV - TNT/SUNDAY/10PM

Falling Skies, the new science fiction alien invasion drama, which premiered on TNT last Sunday night, is the latest in a number of alien invasion movies and TV programs to be released in the past year. Because of this, undoubtedly comparisons will be made to them, but I think Falling Skies thus far manages to put a slightly different spin on the sub-genre.

Alien invasion movies and TV shows have been done extensively since the early 50’s, so I don’t think there is any way to make it completely fresh or original. Going back to H. G. Wells’ original War of the Worlds, on which most modern alien invasion movies and TV shows are still modeled on, Wells used the Martians’ invasion of England as a metaphor for the U.K’s increasing anxiety towards the Europeans and the political tensions that eventually led to the First World War. Just as most of the alien invasion films and TV programs of the 1950s and 1960’s were metaphors for our fear of communism and the cold war in general. Without the fear of either a conventional world war or a worldwide nuclear war, I have to wonder why we are suddenly being inundated by both film and television stories of alien invasion? I believe that since the world wide terrorist attacks on major urban centers, which culminated on the destruction of the Twin Tower buildings in New York City and the loss of over two thousand lives in 2001, there has been an overall fear of sudden invasive attacks on our personal homes. Once again, science fiction affords itself to addressing these anxieties as metaphor; substituting the terrorists for aliens.

Falling Skies immediately separates itself from most alien invasion entertainments, by starting the series six months after the initial invasion. From a practical TV budget standpoint, it makes perfect sense, because you avoid the high cost of producing the large scale special effects to demonstrate the world wide invasion. From a story telling perspective, it lends itself to more intimate character studies and smaller scale physical confrontations – something TV does best – as well as create continuing storylines for multiple characters – something that TV series are tailor made for.

The first two hour pilot episode of Falling Skies tells the story of the result of an alien invasion that first neutralized the world's power grid and then destroyed the combined militaries of the world by focusing its superior technological weaponry on the major cities and population centers. It is inferred that over 90% of the human population is killed within a few days. The program centers on a group of survivors in Boston, who band together just to survive the indentured alien forces. The group calls itself The Second Massachusetts and is a militia lead by the remnants of military men and women who survived the initial invasion.

The main character of Falling Skies is Tom Mason, who being a former university professor of history, is more educated than most heroes. However, he is stuck with the cliché of being a widower looking after his sons alone and also trying to deal with the difficulty of being second in command of his militia unit, as well as looking for one of his sons who has been captured by the aliens. Ann Glass, a pediatrician and strong – but not male-like – female character, seems to be more than just friends with Tom, and may become more of a permanent part of his extended family. In typical modern fiction, the most interesting character thus far is John Pope (which is a terrible name) who is a former gang-leader and natural anarchist and now appears to have been coerced into joining the militia. Each one of these characters represents an archetype: the military leader, the civilian philanthropist and the rebellious outsider.

I’m not too pleased with the start of the first episode as it begins with the group retreating away from Boston for the safer environs of the suburbs. But from the preview of the second episode, it looks like that may be changing for the better. I like the fact that we see at least two examples of the aliens: The Walkers (two-legged robots) and Skitters (multi-limbed insect-like creatures). We’ve also seen that the robots are not of a similar design as the alien skitters and can speculate that the aliens in the motherships may be of a different design altogether. The children are seen being taken as slaves by the aliens and fitted with mind-controlling bio-tech harnesses for reasons unknown, but which seems to indicate a pattern to the aliens’ invasion methods.

The sci-fi tech and world building on Falling Skies is thus far fairly impressive and the promise of more background information being revealed soon will keep me interested for some time. However, like all television series, the success of Falling Skies will ultimately fall on whether we like and empathize with the various characters. So far, I’m finding myself pulling for most of them and I’ll be tuning in again next Sunday night to find out what happens next.

SUPER 8 – 2011 – SUPER HUMANIST SCIENCE FICTION

2011-06-18T15:45:00.000-04:00

To begin with, I need to get this complaint out of the way. Nearly every review of Super 8 that I have read has compared it with Steven Spielberg’s iconic science fiction films of the late 70’s/early 80’s: Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E. T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Super 8 shares a setting in common with Close Encounters and shares a child-centric theme with E. T. – and that is it!

I think the problem from the outset is that because Super 8 is set in 1979 and is produced by Spielberg that nearly everyone is comparing it to Spielberg’s two sf films. Super 8 is about as much a tribute or homage - or whatever other noun you want to give to it - to those two films, as it is to James Cameron’s The Abyss or Avatar. The way in which Super 8 dramatizes an alien encounter is very different. To put it very simply: E.T. and the gray aliens in C.E.O.T.T.K. are non-violent and the creature in Super 8 is most decidedly not!

The story of Super 8 centers on Joe Lamb, whose mother has died in a terrible accident. He is being brought up by his father, who as deputy-sheriff of small town Lillian Ohio, is unable to help his son through his grief. Summer vacation has arrived and Joe’s best friend Charles wants to spend it making a super 8 zombie film to enter into a local film festival. Charles’ film crew includes Cary, the pyromaniac special effects man, Martin, the leading man with a weak stomach and Preston the quiet jack-of-all-trades. Charles tells Joe that he has convinced Alice Dainard to play the wife of the detective in their film. They all sneak out at midnight to a local train station, with Alice driving them there in her dad’s car. While they are shooting, a train rumbles toward the station and crashes into a truck, that has parked itself on the tracks. The kids escape the carnage of the train wreck and quickly return to their homes before the authorities arrive at the scene of the crash. Charles is upset that his film has been ruined by the crash, but has the film developed to see if he can salvage any of the footage. Unknown to him, his super 8 camera has captured not only the crash, but a monstrous creature that escapes from a cargo car.

J. J. Abrams spends much of the first third of Super 8 developing the characters of the film; particularly Joe, his father, Alice and her father and the reasons for the terse relationship between these characters. Abrams also uses the making of Charles’ super 8 zombie film as a way of showing the gradual growth of the military presence in the small town, which begins with their recovery of all the evidence at the site of the train wreck. The creature that escapes from the train wreck is only seen very sporadically until the very end of the film and that makes the mystery of its origins and motivations for some of its questionable actions more intriguing. The script, written by director Abrams, is fairly intricate and complex for what could have been a straight forward monster movie. Abrams was as concerned with telling the story of the problems of the main characters, as he was in unfolding the mystery of the creature that appears to be attacking the small town.

There is a good balance of action and dramatic sequences in Super 8. Just when the action picks up and things are getting tense, the film returns to one or more of the characters' smaller problems that helps to put the overall situation in perspective. Super 8 works as both a humanistic drama and an action sci-fi film; blending the two elements fairly well. The film could have benefited with the addition of a little more humor, as some of the human drama bogs the film down at times.

If there is such a thing as Humanist Adventure SF, then J. J. Abrams has created it with his flair for using the structure of science fiction to demonstrate the positive potential of humanity. Although Abrams does commit to creating a truly menacing monster, he seems to be far more interested in the human story of a father and son who are dealing with the devastating loss of their wife/mother.

For my generation, Super 8 is a nice nostalgic trip to the late 70’s. I was one of those teenagers in the mid-late 70’s who filmed movies on Super 8 and the film does a nice job showing the passion and creativity of making these films. I do wonder how Charles’ could afford a sound camera, coming from a large family as he does, but that’s a minor quibble that only a super 8 geek like me would notice. I do wonder what younger viewers who were not even born in 1979 think of Super 8’s setting. I like to think that the kids of ’79 aren’t much different than the kids of ’11, but I fear that they might find this time period as alien as the late 40’s are to this child of the 60’s. I applaud Abrams for his artistic integrity to set Super 8 in the 70’s – obviously a time of his youth – because he might have had more commercial success with a contemporary setting.

One thing that Super 8 does, that most contemporary monster movies do not do, is that it delivers a positive message; especially at the end of the film. Some people may think that the end of Super 8 is unsatisfying, unrealistic or just plain anticlimactic. However, in the context of the human drama that leads up to it, the conclusion makes perfect sense. To the more cynical modern film goer, Super 8 may seem too traditional, but I found it a good blend of the modern sensibilities of current political and environmental tensions, with the slightly gentler and more understanding optimism of the past. Super 8 is humanist drama that uses a science fiction plot to deliver a message of hope to both the new youth and the more experienced generations of the past.

DRIVE ANGRY – 2011 – TEN REASONS WHY DRIVE ANGRY IS WORTH A SPIN!

2011-06-06T16:46:00.001-04:00

When I decided to rent Drive Angry from Netflix for a relaxing night of the old ultra-violence, I had no idea that this was a genre film. I was expecting an old style vengeance action flick and what I got was a Grindhouse-inspired supernatural action filk! If you like the recent Grindhouse influenced films by either Rodriguez or Tarantino, you will love director Patrick Lussier’s Drive Angry!

Give my ten reasons to “drive angry” a spin!

Ten – Nic Cage as Milton - the vengeance-filled father, who will stop at nothing to save his granddaughter from a Satanic Cult that plans to sacrifice her - doesn’t overact for a single frame of Drive Angry.

Nine – Tom Atkins as “Cap”, the veteran character actor, who makes all of his small role as an Oaky state police Captain who goes after Milton for killing two fellow officers.

Eight – Amber Heard as Piper, the woman Milton gets a ride from, who wears a pair of “kick ass” jean-shorts through the first twenty-two minutes of Drive Angry and spends the rest of the movie kicking the ass of every stupid male that underestimates the blond beauty.

Seven – William Fitchner as “The Accountant”, who plays the single-minded FBI Agent hunting down Milton with cool zestful humor and violence in Drive Angry.

Six – One of the most over-the-top shootouts ever, where Milton is surrounded in a hotel room by armed men, while he is having sex with a barmaid; Milton shoots all the men all while holding his pistol in one hand, a bottle of whiskey in the other and staying “engaged” with the barmaid throughout!

Five – Milton fires his “old gun” at the false FBI agent while they are driving on a bridge and the agent calmly sits in the seat of the stolen cop car while it flies over the side of the bridge and goes crashing to the ground!

Four – The awesome soundtrack by Composer Michael Wandmacher - who plays all the instruments that includes guitars, cello, electric cello, dulcimers, banjo, guitarviol, and piano - this score is nonstop action led by powerful guitar riffs, an impressive rhythm section and fits the angry violent mood of Drive Angry to perfection!

Three – A fantastic fight scene between Piper and Jonah King - the cult leader who has Milton’s granddaughter – in the back of a moving Winnebago, that climaxes in her jumping out the back window and landing on the hood of her car being driven by Milton!

Two – Delicious dialogue like this between Milton and Piper - Piper: Gimme one good reason I shouldn't shoot you in the face. Milton: I'm driving. Piper: You know what I mean!

One – The fact that this is a grindhouse-style supernatural action flick, that goes light on the exposition and heavy on the harm, honeys and hotrods!

Pour yourself a tall frosty beverage and sit back for a fast fun ride with Drive Angry!