2014 - The Year in Sci-Fi Movies

Well, at least the year in Sci-Fi movies which have piqued my interest, anyway. There are plenty of tentpole movies coming up that have me pitching a cinematic tent, starting in no particular order with director Gareth Edwards (Monsters) reboot of Godzilla starring "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston; Aaron Kickass Taylor-Johnson and the not-a-twin Elizabeth Olsen. 

Disaster maven Roland Emmerich failed miserably with his over-inflated 1998 attempt to reboot the Toho Studios franchise which started the Kaiju genre. Edwards' Monsters was quite good, though it was more of a character-study set inside a Sci-Fi story. The newly released trailer looks amazing. I didn't get to see del Toro's Kaiju movie Pacific Rim. I won't be missing Godzilla:

Andy and Lana Wachowski, who gave us The Matrix and 2012's wildly underrated Cloud Atlas, are back this year with Jupiter Ascending, a seemingly Jungian tale of a seemingly ordinary young woman who discovers she is the key to the fate of the entire Universe. Mila Kunis (Ted; "Family Guy") and a pointy-eared Channing Tatum (Magic Mike) star.

Christopher Nolan's (more on him in a moment) cinematographer Wally Pfister makes his directing debut with Transcendence, about a terminally ill A.I. scientist whose consciousness is uploaded to a mainframe and sets about to destroy life as we know it. Johnny Depp (thankfully not in a Burton or Verbinski film) stars alongside Kate Mara and Nolan favs Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy.

Marvel has four major films coming out this year, further cementing their dominance in the Superhero genre. Of course, Uncle P has never been a fan of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, so I will be skipping that movie. But I have every intention of seeing X-Men: Days of Future Past; Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the weirdest of the "Avengers"-related movies. Guardians of  the Galaxy.

Then there's the sequel to the Planets of the Apes franchise, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. The creator of Gollum and the most recent incarnation of King Kong, Andy Sirkus reprises his CGMC role as the sentient chimpanzee Caesar. Gary Oldman; Keri Russell; Judi Greer and Kody Smit-McPhee (Let Me In) co-star.

Then there's the "Found Footage" movie, Earth to Echo, about a group of boys who discover an alien in a very Spielbergian film from first-time feature director Dave Green:

Last, though hardly least, is Christopher Nolan's belated semi-annual birthday gift to me, Interstellar. Shrouded, as all of Nolan's movies are in secrecy, Featuring a huge cast of major stars, including Matthew McConhaughy; Anne Hathaway; Jessica Chastain; Michael Caine; John Lithgow; Ellen Burstyn and Matt Damon, Interstellar is about a space crew using a wormhole top traverse the galaxy.

As the Brits might say, I am chuffed for the upcoming movie year!  How about you?

More, anon.
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The Sound of Vincent Spinning

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have made some terrific movies together. Edward Scissorhands; Ed Wood (Burton's masterpiece, as far I am concerned) and Sleepy Hollow, among them. They've also made increasingly bad movies. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which I am almost embarrassed to admit I really liked because of it's loyalty to the book, and Depp's creepy, weird and molestery performance); Sweeney Todd (a movie so removed from its very theatrical origins - much like Les Miserables - that it became little more than a slasher movie with songs); Alice in Wonderland (which I found to be actually insulting to Lewis Carroll and all of nonsense. Imagine being insulting to nonsense. It's actually too sad to be considered nonsense) and worst of all, last year's truly awful Dark Shadows. Burton over-estimated the camp value of the series whose fans hated that he tried to make it into a deliberate comedy. The TV show's appeal was never its camp - it was the characters and the story lines. Sure, they were absurd. But that's the nature of genre TV and film. The audience accepts those unlikely conceits by acquiescing to a willing suspension of disbelief. When the absurdities became the point, that suspension shuts down and people hate you for making fun of the show instead of embracing what they loved about it.

Burton used to be an interesting and actually good filmmaker. But then he got jaded and lazy and lost sight of the importance of story. Anymore, his films are about visual tricks and weird CGI. Depp used to be an interesting and fun actor, but since Pirates of the Caribbean  (not a Burton film), he's become a parody of himself, known for being bizarre more than anything else. His upcoming role as Tonto alongside Armie Hammer's Lone Ranger is just further proof of that. Watch this trailer if you don't believe me.

Of course, Burton and I have many common influences, which naturally makes me want to like his work, very much. One of those influences was the amazing genre actor Vincent Price. And while I've certainly seen just about all of Price's films by now (even the non-genre ones), my favorites are what I consider his Masterpiece Trilogy: The Abominable Dr. Phibes; Dr. Phibes Rises Again and Theatre of Blood. The Phibes movies are about a massively disfigured musician and composer taking revenge on those whom he considers responsible for his wife's death, while Theatre of Blood concerns an insane hack Shakespearean actor who, after failing at killing himself, takes revenge on the critics he blames for his failing career.

Today, Naughty But Nice Rob (a blog I've never heard of before, but was linked to via my Facebook feed), is reporting that Burton has cast Depp in his remake of The Abominable Dr. Phibes. And I responded with "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"  The bizarre, Steampunk/Clockwork/Art Deco horror movie with murders based on the 10 Plagues deserves a better team. I know Burton has a deep reverence for Vincent (indeed, the film that first got him noticed is an homage to our mutual hero and Price's last film was Edward Scissorhands), but I can't imagine either of them restraining themselves enough to make an actually good version of this movie. They must be stopped. I can't handle the thought of Helena Bonham Carter as Vulnavia.

While Theatre of Blood was adapted into a stage play in London a few years ago, I've always thought it deserved a musical adaptation. Wish I could afford the rights to that. Of course, I could always do an "unauthorized" version...

As for the Burton/Depp remake of Phibes? That spinning sound you hear is coming all the way from Mr. Price's grave.

More, anon.
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Dork Shadows

The Late Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins

When I first heard that Tim Burton was making a Dark Shadows movie, I hoped he would remain true to the campy soap's themes - dark, grim and unintentionally funny. Sadly, he seems to have gone in the opposite direction by casting his go-to actor Johnny Depp in a deliberately comedic version of the story.

Like many folks my age, I would rush home from school to catch the decidedly weird soap about the cursed Collins clan (told you I love alliteration) and the patriarchal vampire Barnabas.

The ABC soap (which ran from 1966 to 1971) was populated with vampires, werewolves and witches before Stephanie Meyer was even born. It featured an alternate universe long before "Lost" or "Fringe" and held true to the Gothic atmosphere created by Hammer in the late 60's. It was literally groundbreaking for daytime soap-operas, which had been until then populated with torrid romances and hospital dramas. It's like wouldn't be seen again until NBC's "Passions" which ran from 1999 to 2007.

Today, it was announced that Canadian actor Jonathan Frid (the original Barnabas) passed away at the ripe old age of 87.  Frid has a cameo in Burton's film. I can't help but wonder if seeing the trailer for Burton's film was the final nail in his coffin. See the travesty for yourselves, if you already haven't:

Ugh! Like many fans of the original series, I will not be seeing this film. It seems to me that Burton and Depp have spent far too much time in Wonderland and the Chocolate Factory. Call me when someone makes a serious "Dark Shadows" film. 

More, anon.
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I Feel Better After This

The Cast of Barry Sonnenfeld's... er, ah... Tim Burton's Dark Shadows

This post is currently being written under the same format as last night's post, though few of you will actually see it in that format. Friends on Facebook agree this particular format is terrible. If you missed yesterday's post, you missed yesterday's lame Caliban's Revenge, ver 2.1

Anyway, Entertainment Weekly post the first "official" photo of the cast of Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, and I must admit, I am very relieved. That's Depp in the center, looking decidedly more Frid than Hatter, as the first leaked photo seemed to suggest.

Honestly, I see no signature Burton style here, which may be a good thing. Signature Burton cast may also be a good thing, as it reunites him with Michelle Pfieffer and Christopher Lee while adding Jonny Lee Miller (the former Mr. Angelina Jolie); Chloe Moretz (Let Me In) and Jackie Earle Hailey ("Human Target"). According to IMDb, Mr. Frid has a cameo role, as does 70's shock rocker Alice Cooper. The photo reminds me very much of a Chas Addams family portrait and suggests Burton has forgone Victorian romance for 60's Gothic, which would be a very good thing. I'm hoping we get an Ed Wood rather than a Alice in Wonderland. I really am...

How much did Martin Landau deserve that Oscar? If you're going to be remembered for one amazing performance (out of many amazing performances by Mr. Landau), why not let it be Lugosi?

Anyway, I'm relieved by the new picture. "Anonymous" can say "Told you so," if he or she so chooses. Of course, "anonymous" trolls commenters are rarely gracious to bloggers with whom they disagree.

More (and yet another layout), anon.

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Someone PLEASE Stop Them!

This is a shot (via) of Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins on the set of Tim Burton's Dark Shadows movie, scheduled for a 2012 release. Seriously? Depp looks like Michael Jackson playing the Joker in an exceptionally terrible Joel Schumacher Batman movie. 

Okay. Burton and Depp made the remarkable Edward Scissorhands and the amazing and totally under appreciated Ed Wood. But that was back in the 90's when Burton was still a wunderkind and Depp was just known as a "quirky" actor. Then came 1999's Sleepy Hollow. Not awful, but not nearly as good as their prior collaborations. In 2005 I enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, mostly because it followed the original Raold Dahl book more closely than the Gene Wilder version. Most critics hated it. Corpse Bride that same year was fun, but it was a simple voice-over job for Depp.

Then came the travesty that was 2007's Sweeney Todd. Seeing Stephen Sondheim's brilliant black comedy operetta turned into a musical horror movie was actually painful, especially given Depp's reedy tenor in a role written for a powerful baritone. In full disclosure, I played Sweeney in a rather amazing and particularly dark 1998 production, so I may be a bit biased. Still, for those who know and love the original show, the movie was abysmal. Most recently was Burton's most craptacular movie to date, Alice in Wonderland. An inexplicable box-office hit, Burton's 3D version of Lewis Carroll's nonsense classic is, quite simply, a fiasco. I could hear the Right Reverend Dodgson spinning in his grave from across the Atlantic as I watched this bastardized piece of Jabberwock poo. And again, in full disclosure (and as many readers know), I am an 'Alice' fanatic, having written several papers in college on both of the Alice novels and much of Carroll's poetry.

So now comes the above image from Burton's and Depp's latest collaboration and all I have to to say  to them is: "Put the bong down, stop chomping on the 'shrooms and leave my childhood the hell alone!" 

Below is a picture of Jonathan Frid as Barnabas in the Gothic daytime soap opera that ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971:

Now does that look anything like the foppish clown in the photo above? Survey says: "Buzzzzzz!"

"Dark Shadows," with its cheap special effects and preposterous story line (which included vampires; werewolves; witches; ghosts; time travel and even an alternate universe 40+ years before "Fringe") has deservedly developed a cult following since it first aired. To see the groundbreaking supernatural show sullied in such a way is not only an insult to its fans, but a slap in the face to the original cast.

Granted, this is only the first image we've seen. It may well be a deliberately campy shot in an otherwise brilliant take on the series. But given Burton and Depp's most recent track record, I think not.

Are/were you a "Dark Shadows" fan? Are you a Depp/Burton fan? Am I overreacting? Look at that picture again. Just as a reminder, here's a 1967 clip from the original show:

Dig that swinging 60's soundtrack! Frid may not have had Depp's admittedly sexual attractiveness, but he was at least believable as a vampire. So again, I implore you all, someone please stop them!

More, anon.
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All Over the Place

I was going to do a "Forgotten Gems" post tonight but after my usual round of surfing, I came across a couple of other things I wanted to talk about, first.

Does anyone else remember 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture? That's Iranian model Persis Khambatta as Illia, a character who is killed and replicated by V-Ger in the movie. While essentially an expanded (and exceptionally boring) episode from the original series, the first 'Star Trek' movie posits that Voyager I went to the furthest depths of space where it essentially became a sentient being after encountering a silicon-based race of aliens. Because of space wear-and-tear (I guess), it called itself "V-Ger" and demanded to be reunited with its creator. Illia became V-Ger's avatar aboard the Enterprise and eventually she/it merged with Stephen Collins' ("No Ordinary Family") character in cinema's first intergalactic orgasm. Damn! Collins was sure pretty then, wasn't he?

So, what does that have to do with anything? Well, launched by NASA in 1977, Voyager I is now poised to become the first man-made object to actually leave the Milky Way. Discover Magazine is reporting that Voyager I, while no longer propelled by solar winds, is about to move into deep space, potentially fulfilling it's cinematically prophesied destiny. This story has restored my fascination with deep-space travel and everything we don't know about Life, the Universe and Everything (which I doubt actually adds up to 42, which non-nerds should look up).

Okay. On to other sort-of related movie news. Take a deep breath, boys (and str8 gals). The Sexiest Man Alive is single again! Salacious gossip site TMZ (via) is reporting that Ryan Reynolds and his wife of two years Scarlett Johansson, are divorcing. I, for one, would be more than happy to console the poor boy. Anyone care to join me in that effort? I mean after Alanis and Scarlett, surely he must be looking for something different, no?

And since we're (okay, I'm) already talking about movies, (also via) New York Magazine has posted this gallery of the best film performances of 2010 that will not be winning any awards. Surprisingly, I agree with most of their choices.

And finally, (via) comes the trailer for the Most Unnecessary Sequel Ever, Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides.  Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush return, joined by "Deadwood" alum Ian McShane; Dame Judi Dench and the oh-so-creepy* Penelope Cruz in this fourth installment in Disney's ride-turned-into-a-movie. This time, directorial duties are taken up by Chicago director Rob Marshall. May God have mercy on them all. Though I will give it a shout out because it does it does feature zombies...

*I'm glad I'm not alone in my assessment of Cruz's creepiness, as my oldest friend Q thinks she's creepy, too. It's her mouth, I think. It looks like it was badly drawn by a child with a crayon or something. Of course, she's now married to Javier Bardem (and with child), so maybe her "creepy" quotient will decrease after she whelps... Ooh - that was kind of cruel, wasn't it? Still, she makes me throw up in my mouth a little, every time I see her. Maybe it's just me.

I promise to post my "Forgotten Gem" tomorrow.

More, anon.
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Wunderkind No More?

That's a picture of director Tim Burton's wife, actress Helena Bonham-Carter, as the Red Queen in Burton's upcoming live-action version of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Burton's films are instantly recognizable as his, even when they don't star Johnny Depp (which, lately, is never).

20 years ago, Burton was Hollywood's wunderkind; a film prodigy whose like had never been seen before. His visual style was new and unmistakable, even in his first feature film, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, starring pre-scandal Paul Reubens as man-child Pee-Wee Herman on a quest to retrieve his stolen bike. The script by Reubens and the late, great Phil Hartman, was loaded with cheesy and often hysterical jokes, punctuated by Burton's own weird sense of humor.

Take this scene for example, in which Pee-Wee and the curiously hot Judd Omen as escaped convict Mickey, drive through the desert at night:

You can't really see it in this clip, but the increasingly bizarre road signs that they pass are very obviously (and deliberately) on wheeled carts. And of course, late character actress Alice Nunn practically steals the movie with her hilarious performance as the ghostly trucker Large Marge.

Burton's next big picture was 1988's Beetlejuice, an odd comedy starring Alec Baldwin; Geena Davis; Jeffrey Jones; the always amazing Catherine O'Hara; a then-unknown Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton as the titular "bio-exorcist." Beetlejuice (a corruption of the name of the celestial body, Betelgeuse). It's here that mainstream audiences are first given a glimpse of Burton's particular style:

Then came Burton's adaptation of the classic Superhero Batman. Originally derided for the casting of Keaton in the title role, Burton's Batman went on to become both a critical and box-office success, spawning several sequels, including Burton's own Batman Returns.

I must admit a certain love for the Batman, but Joel Schumacher went on to destroy the franchise (until Christopher Nolan revived it with two amazing films, much later). Between the two Batman movies, came Burton's most personal film, Edward Scissorhands, his first collaboration with Depp and the first time I fell for Depp's huge eyes (and when I realized what a fine actor Depp actually was). Edward Scissorhands is a sweet fairy tale about theultimate outsider co-starring Ryder; Dianne Weist; Anthony Michael Hall; Kathy Baker; Alan Arkin; Conchata Farrell; O-Lan Jones and Burton's idol, the late, great Vincent Price:

Burton next wrote, designed and produced the amazing stop-motion classic The Nightmare Before Christmas, again featuring the voices of O'Hara and Reubens along with Chris Sarandon, Wiliam Hickey; Glen Page and long-time musical collaborator Danny Elfman:

Burton's follow-up my well be his best film, ever. Depp stars as "Z" grade director Edward D. Wood, Jr. in Ed Wood, a romanticized biopic about the infamously bad director. It earned co-star Martin Landau a well-deserved Oscar for his performance as the aging Bela Lugosi and fully cemented Burton's reputatin as an A-List director:

Then came the underrated, all-star Mars Attacks!, the movie that Independence Day should have been, featuring an early performance by then-unknown Jack Black:

Ed Wood was followed by Sleepy Hollow (again starring Depp) and an ill-advised re-make of Planet of the Apes, starring Mark Whalberg; Bonham-Carter; Tim Roth and genre legend David Warner. 2003 saw Burton's adaptation of Daniel Wallace's novel Big Fish with Billy Crudup; Albert Finney; Ewan McGregor; Jessica Lange and Drag Me to Hell star, Allison Lohman. The story of a son coming to grips with his dying father's tall tales, Big Fish was a critical, if not financial success. It's visuals are rather amazing and its performances even more so. Big Fish never found the audience it deserved, probably because it was just a little too weird:

Burton's follow-up? A new version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. While Burton's version is actually more faithful to Dahl's book, it was unfairly compared to the 1971 version starring Gene Wilder in an admittedly career-defining performance. Still , I personally prefer Burton's version starring Depp as Wonka: Freddie Highmore as Charlie: the quirky and underrated Missy Pyle and cult-icon Deep Roy as all of the Oompa-Loompas:

Burton's follow-up was another stop-motion story, Corpse Bride, which featured the voices of Depp; Bonham-Carter; Emily Watson; Tracy Ullman; Joanna Lumley; Jane Horrocks; Richard E. Grant; Christopher Lee; Michael Gough and Danny Elfman in a macabre love story:

Sadly, Burton's hit-or-miss career most recently included the dank, grisly and humorless version of Stephen Sondheim's career-defining operetta, Sweeney Todd. Mis-casting Depp as the title character, Burton turned Sondheim's masterpiece into a bloody horror movie, missing the show's point, entirely. Of course, my opinion of the movie has nothing to do with do with my own performance as Todd in what may be a definitive production directed by my friend (and probably the best theatrical director I know), Dale Simon. Burton's film? Lame:



Dreamworks didn't even trust Burton to advertise the movie as a musical. Sad. Depp's reedy tenor is all wrong for the baritone that Sondheim imagined, thought Bonham-Carter is quite brilliant as Mrs. Lovett, as are Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin and Sacha Baron Cohen as the fraudulent Italian barber, Pirelli.

So, Burton's next film is due this spring, and from everything we've seen, it's definitely a Burton film. But will it be a good one? Only time will tell. As a lover of Carroll's works (and nonsense in general) I can only hope that it will be wonderful. But given Burton's track record of late, I have my doubts. Here's the latest teaser:

So, what do you think? Is Burton still the genius he was in the late 80's and early 90's, or has he lost his touch? Enquiring minds want to know... Personally, I hope Alice is a huge hit, though I will withhold judgment until I actually see the film. Lord knows, we could have been subjected to this, if Burton had been given the go-ahead to make his veriosn of Superman.

Just a reminder, there will be no Caliban's Revenge post tomorrow. Read my ramblings instead on the Zombie Zone.

More, anon.
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ComicCon Nonsense

As much as I think I would love to someday attend the San Diego ComicCon, I am brought back to Earth by clips like the one below, and am reminded of the one fan convention my sister and I attended in New York in the 80's. It was the Fangoria Horror Convention, and while we were certainly entertained and enthralled to meet some of our horror icons (make-up FX genius Tom Savini and actor Michael Berryman among them), we were truly dismayed by the number of real weirdos in attendance.

Sci-Fi blog i09 posted this clip of the ComicCon fan costume contest "Project Geek Runway." As much as I love Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror movies, I just don't see myself spending the time, energy and money that these folks spend for a few minutes of glory in front of their fellow geeks.

That's not to say that everyone in attendance is a geek or a whacko (though Johnny Depp did reportedly attend, dressed as a squirrel). And I would love the chance to sit in on some of the discussion panels, if only to get a sneak peek at the many upcoming movies and TV shows that get previewed there. But I am happy to sit at my desk and watch from afar, without having to put up with some nerd in a lame Batman costume shoving his way past me to get to the DC Comics booth. Instead, I get to watch the "Heroes" Season 4 trailer from the comfort of my home all while avoiding the expense of traveling to CA and putting up with a bunch of freaks.*

*No offence intended toward those attending ComicCon or any actual circus freaks.

More, anon.
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