Jurassic World: Dominion: A Wonderful Summer Blockbuster

I’m not sure what movie some folks watched but it sure wasn’t the one I saw.

When it comes to movies, I make it point not to read any reviews ahead of seeing a movie I want to see. If the trailer hasn’t grabbed my attention and compelled me to watch—or the pedigree of the actors, writers, and director—then I don’t seek out the Rotten Tomato score to sway me. This is not the same with books in which I will happily read and take into consideration the opinions of dozens of fellow writers when they recommend books.

But once I’ve seen a movie, I am curious to know the general consensus and see if it lines up with my experience. When I saw the 2.5 hours of Jurassic World: Dominion (AKA Jurassic World 3 AKA Jurassic Park 6), I was enthralled, entertained, and emitted more than a few utterances of “Yeah!” and “Cool!” It ended the 6-movie franchise quite well, introducing the original Park actors with the new World actors in a way that felt organic. The music was nicely used throughout, including the elegant main theme from John Williams—both the orchestral as well as the softer piano version. There were dino-on-dino fights, a kick-ass motorcycle/dinosaur chase through a European city, and a dino/airplane chase. There were dinos in the water, dinos in caves, and dinos in snow. All things we’ve not seen before.

Well, I’m pretty sure we haven’t. I’ve pretty much got the first movie memorized. The Lost World and Jurassic Park III, a little. Jurassic World I remember decently and I all but forgot World 2: Fallen Kingdom.

But I remember the closing show of Fallen Kingdom well, accompanied by Jeff Goldblum’s voiceover. Dinosaurs now live among humans and we’re going to have to learn to co-exist as best as possible. And that’s how Dominion starts. It shows us a world like that. Granted, it’s not one I’d prefer to live in—don’t need the possibility of my plane flight being overtaken by a pterodactyl—but it is one original author Michael Crichton envisioned and that Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm keeps talking about in every movie he’s in. So in that respect, Dominion gets it correct.

So imagine my surprise when I hop on over to Rotten Tomatoes on Monday night—after eagerly relating all the fun and cool stuff in the movie to my wife who didn’t go—that the critical consensus was so poor. Again, what movie did these folks watch?

Okay, the plot. There are two threads. The World Plot has Owen and Claire trying to protect Maisie from the rest of the world because she’s a clone. Blue the velociraptor lives nearby and has unexpectedly produced a young raptor called Beta. (It shouldn’t be unexpected because “Life always finds a way.”) Bad guys kidnap both younglings and Owen and Claire follow.

The Park Plot involves our three original cast members and boils down to Laura Dern’s Ellie Sadler researching why formerly extinct massive locusts are eating some crops but not others. If they’re not stopped, there will be a global famine, yet the locusts don’t seem to be eating crops grown from seeds provided by Biosyn, the new bad-guy company a la InGen from the Park movies. She makes the assumption—with an assist from Malcolm—that Biosyn is behind both the seeds and the locusts. She enlists the help of Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and they set off in search of proof at Biosyn’s giant lab/breeding ground/dinosaur habitat in Europe.

Which is exactly where the kidnappers are taking Maisie and Beta. Naturally, the World characters and the Park characters will meet—the selling point of the film—and they’ll battle enemies both dino and human. Along the way, there are wonderful set pieces that are the definition of a summer blockbuster. In fact, as Owen is racing through the streets on his motorcycle, trained raptors on his tail, you see the aforementioned plane start to warm up. I leaned over to my son and said, “I bet he jumps into the open plane in midair.” Viola! That’s exactly what happened.

Yes, that entire sequence felt like an espionage film (Bond, Bourne, Mission Impossible) but who cares? It was thrilling. There were lots of other thrilling moments as our heroes fight to stay alive, but not without some humor along the way.

But there are also some great character moments. Goldblum is having a field day as Malcolm, just chewing scenery left and right and I loved every second of it. The quiet moments are also good, like when it’s just Ellie and Alan seeing each other for the first time in decades, subtly lamenting lost time. Yes, their story line got a little bumbly as they tried to escape from the locust lair but it was minor.

I also liked how certain scenes were set up so that you *think* you know what’s going to happen but then your expectations are subverted. Case in point: Goldblum’s Malcolm is stuck holding a flaming piece of a spear-like metal pole and there’s a dino looking at him. In Park 1, he doesn’t know to throw the light source and freeze. Well, I said to my son, I bet he’s learned now. Nope. Not what happens. But it’s way cooler.

Scott Campbell, as the bad guy, plays Lewis Dodgson oddly. He is all bad at one moment and then weirdly like an absent-minded professor the next. I liked that they used him as a character although in the movie, it isn’t explicitly stated that he was the character in the original Jurassic Park who pays Wayne Knight’s Dennis Nedry to steal embryos in the Barbasol shaving cream can. But said can is a trinket in Dodgson’s office as he tries to escape. And I won’t even tell you what happens to him, but if you’ve seen Park 1, you have an idea.

Speaking of that, I like the little subtle Easter eggs like when Ellie takes off her sunglasses in a manner almost identically to Alan from Park 1. Nice touch.

The nostalgic part of me would have liked one last shot of all the Park characters together. Sadly we don’t get that, but we do get some resolution for everyone. And character growth. And bad guys getting what’s coming to them. And dinosaurs. Lots of dinosaurs.

Again, I’m just not understanding why the dislike for the film. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is 79% so clearly it’s resonating with folks. It resonated with me quite well and I thoroughly enjoyed the film.

A Few Recommendations for Summer 2022

Every now and then when it comes time for me to write a Saturday post, a large, overarching one about a single topic, I realize I don’t have one. So I’m going to provide a few recommendations of things I’m listening to, watching, or reading.

Top Gun: Maverick

Now THIS is how to do a legacy sequel. Age up the characters in real time, address the passage of time, and provide a wonderful piece of closure with a legacy co-star. Oh, and incredible action sequences. Holy cow was this a great movie. I took my wife who didn’t necessarily want to see it but she emerged very entertained. Not as entertained as I was: now I want to see this film in IMAX.

And please tell me I’m not the only one who saw the movie and kept having to slow down the car while driving home.

Def Leppard: Diamond Star Halos

Taking a page from the legacy artist idea I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, Def Leppard released their newest album last Friday. Fifteen tracks (17 if you buy from Target) of classic rock goodness. Much like the modern band, The Struts, the Joe Elliott-led five piece band wear their influences on their sleeves, and it starts with the album title.

There’s a whimsical vibe to these songs from the opening chord progression of “Take What You Want” to open the album to the last few notes of “From Here to Eternity.” Allison Krauss lends her vocals to a pair of tunes but make no mistake: this is a rock/pop/metal album just like the band used to make in their heyday.

Lyrically, the guys know their age and acknowledge it throughout the entire record. This was an album I looked forward to ever since it was announced and boy did they deliver.

And yes, we listened to Def Leppard on the way to and from seeing Top Gun: Maverick.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

The third thing released last Friday, this is a Star Wars series I’ve been eagerly anticipating since it was announced as well. In fact, I even held off reading the old Extended Universe novel.

We knew what we were going to get from the trailers: an older, wiser(?) Obi-Wan, living on Tatooine, watching over a ten-year-old Luke Skywalker. What I didn’t expect was his sister, Leia. In fact, it is her plight that propels the series.

I appreciate the slower roll, just like I did for the Mandalorian. I have zero issues with the actors on the show either (so a certain segment of the Star Wars fandom can just go home).

As big a Star Wars fan as I am, I didn’t watch the animated shows so everything in Obi-Wan Kenobi is new to me.

Oh, and so great to see Darth Vader back to being the feared force he is. But I’ll say something that might make a few of y’all look at me askance. I’m fine with James Earl Jones voicing Vader, but how about some more intense inflection, huh? I mean Vader/Anakin finally lays eyes on Kenobi after ten years and it’s like their talking over tea. The last thing Anakin yelled at Kenobi in Episode III was pure hatred. Where’s that emotion in Vader’s inflection?

No Time to Spy by Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens

If you like James Bond, might I point you in the direction of this trilogy of book by Collins and Clemens. The premise is pure fun: the main character is John Sand, a real spy who worked with Ian Fleming and the latter author based James Bond on John Sand. Sand, now outed as a spy, marries a rich Texas oil heiress. Despite his retirement, action and adventure follow Mr. and Mrs. Sand.

While I’ve not read all three books—Come Spy With Me; Live Fast, Spy Hard; To Live and Spy in Berlin—a compilation ebook is on sale *this weekend* for only $0.99. You read that correctly: for a dollar(!), you get three novels. Seriously, it’s an impulse buy at that point.

Here’s the Amazon link.

Roll With It by Jay Stringer

Jay Stringer broke the news that his latest novel is now available as an audiobook on Audible. As a person who primarily consumes books in that manner, this was great news.

But Jay went above and beyond and made available a few promo codes. These are US only—UK codes will be forthcoming—so if you haven’t had a chance to read his post from yesterday, head on over and see if any of those codes are still available.

Even if they’re not, the book is only 1 credit ($13.96 if you just want to buy it) so get on over to Audible and get a copy. Also, for you library folks out there, be sure to request your library to buy the book and help spread the word.

Palm Springs: A Time-Loop Rom-Com Full of Emotion and an Intriguing Ending

Friday night is movie night at the Parker house. Last Friday, the wife selected the film: a brand-new movie released on Hulu called Palm Springs. It's a film starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti that is part rom-com and part Groundhog Day. I knew nothing about the film, but it only took me seeing half the trailer to jump on board.

Boy, I’m sure glad my wife found this utterly delightful film.

Samberg spends much of his time on camera in the same yellow swim trunks and red Hawaiian shirt, but he also wears this to a wedding. Who the heck wears a swimsuit to a wedding? A guy who’s stuck in a time loop.

But we don’t know that at the movie starts. All we see is Samberg’s Nyles bored with life and love. Lazy time in a pool, snatching a microphone during the wedding toast, speaking directly to Milioti’s Sarah. Samberg is never without a beer (which made me wonder just how many he opened on set). But Sarah finally meets him as Nyles does a funny dance with all the guests at the party.

They talk, they go out in the desert to make out, only to be stopped by a shadowed man who shoots Nyles with a bow and arrow. The hunter (J.K. Simmons) flees into a cave with a bright orange glow. Nyles follows, but he implores Sarah not to follow him.

She does.

And wakes up on the same day (9 November) in her same bed. She freaks out (who wouldn’t?) and finds Nyles. It is he who tells her they (and Simmons’s Roy) are stuck in a time loop on the day of the wedding. She does what anyone else would do to try and stop it. When she discovers she can’t, she accepts it and she and Nyles begin their courtship.

The Journey in a Rom Com

In just about every romantic comedy, the question isn’t if the pair will end up together, it’s how. Still, it’s fun to see these two enjoying life. Nyles now wakes with a smile on his face and slowly but surely, so does Sarah. But they’re just spending time together and not sleeping together.

Until one night, natch. There’s a short sequence here that is magical that I won’t spoil here, but it left me grinning ear to ear. Even my wife loved it.

But in every rom-com, you have the breakup. Yes, it happens here. Nyles goes back to moping, finally realizing that his life-in-the-time-loop philosophy of carpe diem is wrong and that he’s actually fallen in love with Sarah. He even seeks out Roy to see where his day always starts. Sarah, on the other hand, goes to school. She starts to spend every day on the internet learning about quantum physics, determined to find a way to escape.

Now, at this point, I’m going to say that Palm Springs is a wonderful film. Writer Andy Siara has taken a pair of fun tropes and mixed them together in a nice, twisty film that is pretty darn funny and emotional. Director Max Barbakow unfolds the story in such a way as to reveal new facts the deeper into the movie you go.

For me, having never watched Andy Samberg in anything other than Saturday Night Live, it was fun to watch him morph from his usual type personality on SNL to show some genuine emotion. I only know Milioti from the opening story on last year’s Modern Love TV series (highly recommended), but she shines here. I really appreciated how she changed over the course of the film, and she shows that change with her voice.

Really enjoyed this film, and it felt good to watch something new. I’m going to talk about the science fictional elements in the section below, but make no mistake: it barely factors into this delightful show. Unlike, say, Back to the Future or Star Trek, this is a movie focused on characters. The SF stuff is just there to make the characters interact. So if you don’t like SF, don’t worry. It’s barely there.

But be sure to stay through the first half of the credits....

SPOILER WARNING:

From here on out, I talk the ending. Go watch the film and then come back. And this is all my own conjecture. I’ve not read any other articles, assuming they’re there (I’ll be checking after I write this). And all of this is just a fun thought experiment. The movie stands on its own.




Ready?



So, Sarah figures out how to get out of the time loop. She’s conducted the experiment with the goat. She knows it works because the goat no longer shows up in their time loop.

Okay, I got that. Then she and Nyles shuffle into the cave and as they kiss, she ignites the C4. Boom. Next thing we see, Nyles and Sarah are in the neighbor’s pool…and the neighbors show up. Nyles remarks that he guesses they return on 10 November, which is proof her experiment worked.

Cut to long shots of the desert…and I’ll tell you right now, I was starting to be not 100% satisfied with the ending. What about Roy? (As a dad, after Roy’s little speech, I felt sorry for him.)

The mid-credits sequence proves he also gets out.

But how?

So Sarah and Nyles are now in Regular Time, presumably 10 November and beyond. In the mid-credits scene, Roy comes up to Nyles (now dressed in a suit) and says “You’re girlfriend told me about the way to get out of this loop.” Nyles turns…and doesn’t appear to know Roy. Roy then breaks into a huge grin, knowing the escape is possible.

Again, how? How does Sarah and Nyles essentially go back in time to get Roy out of the time loop?

My first idea is that Nyles was lying to Roy, pretending not to know him but really being Nyles of Time Line A (the one of which we see only one day). That is, the Nyles we’ve seen for 90 minutes. But that still doesn’t explain how Sarah communicated to Roy. Nor how they basically went back in time to 9 November to relay the information. The only explanation I could come up with is a parallel universe.

Side question: assuming Time Line A is what we see—and Nyles and Sarah are caught in an infinite loop—can we assume everyone else in Time Line A just goes about their lives on 10 November and beyond, wondering where Nyles and Sarah are? Ditto for Roy’s family. To everyone else, the trio will have simply disappeared. Erased from existence, to quote Doc Brown.

The other idea is that Nyles and Sarah lived 9 November in as many parallel universes as they did, with every other person living out their days wondering whatever happened to Nyles and Sarah.

But somehow, Sarah communicated to Roy. The only explanation I can come up with is that Sarah figured out a way to go back in time. Heck, she figured out how to break out of the time loop. What’s to say she couldn’t figure out how to go back in. Or at least communicate through time. Perhaps the only thing she can do is communicate back in time, giving Roy instructions on what to do and how to do it.

That’s the only explanation I can come up with.

What are your thoughts?

The Road to The Empire Strikes Back: Episode V: The Movie Re-Watch

It was 40 years ago today that I saw the sequel to Star Wars for the first time. I watched it again yesterday after a long time not seeing it and I recorded some thoughts, including some rather emotional ones about Han and the carbon freeze chamber and what he did.

The video is up on my YouTube channel.

The Road to The Empire Strikes Back: Episode IV: Marvel Comics

Here's a link to my YouTube channel where I discuss the issues of Marvel Comics' Star Wars title in the months immediately preceding the release of The Empire Strikes Back.

Avengers: Endgame - The 2020 Summer Movie Season Kicks Off This Week

If you've read my post about the summer 2020 movie season--AKA we're basically not going to have a usual one--I suggested we build out own. I developed a list of movies that came out in years ending with five or zero, thus a nice and tidy anniversary number. Other than The Empire Strikes Back (21 May) and Back to the Future (3 July), I'm still making my own schedule, but there is one exception.

Avengers: Endgame came out a year ago this week. It, along with Infinity War in 2018, was and remains one of my favorite movie-going experiences. The crowd reaction, the anticipation, the talking about it afterwards. It truly was a unique phenomenon.

So I'll be re-watching it this Friday evening. Yeah, it'll be at home with just the family, but I want to remember just how awesome that movie was. Then I'll follow up with some of those YouTube clips of audience reactions to help remind me and everyone just how great it is to sit in a darkened theater and experience a movie with a bunch of other people.

I miss theaters and look forward to returning.

Build Your Own Summer 2020 Movie Blockbuster Calendar

A year ago this week, all of us who loved big-budget action movies and Marvel movies were all chomping at the bit and counting the days before the premier of Avengers: Endgame. It was never a question of if the Avengers would defeat Thanos. It was how. Then, on 26 April 2019, we got our answer.

Endgame kicked off the 2019 summer movie season and it was a pretty good one. Over the years, comic book movies and super-hero movies served at tent poles to the summer season. There was more than one year in which I'd mark release dates on the family calendar hanging on the fridge for all to see. The summer movie season is my favorite season of the year.

In 2020, however, it's a different story. Many of the films have been pushed back already. Wonder Woman 1984 got bumped to August. Christopher Nolan's Tenet still hangs onto its mid-July date, so maybe it'll stay. But most of the others will be fall or December movies. Because nothing quite says Merry Christmas like a Top Gun sequel.

What's a movie goer to do?

I've been thinking it over in recent days and I've come up with an idea: Build your own summer movie blockbuster season.

This is 2020, so the some anniversaries--ten years or five years--are easy to calculate. The biggest movie I was already planning to re-watch was The Empire Strikes Back (on VHS!), which turns forty next month. The other obvious one is Jaws which is forty-five in June. Back to the Future is thirty-five this year. Curious, I paged through the various "Movies in [fill in the blank year]" lists and compiled a list of movies that were released in the summer months going back all the way to 1975. I chose 1975 because I can actually remember going to the cinema that year. And I only selected years ending in zero or five.

I'll post the list at the end of this piece, but my guiding idea was movies I'd actually seen. There are a few exceptions, noted with an asterisk. Those are films I've come to watch but didn't at the time of release.

A couple of Disney films popped up. The Apple Dumpling Gang is, perhaps, the first film I saw in a cinema because I have distinct memories of it. Oh! Heavenly Dog and The Last Flight of Noah's Ark are, I hope on Disney+.

The one oddball is 1980's The Kidnapping of the President. That title stopped me and, it turns out, the film stars William Shatner. That's enough for me.

I honestly haven't made my own list yet, but, as I wrote at the beginning of this post, there will be one exception: Avengers: Endgame. I've only seen it twice and, well, having seen those recent posts where someone synced up audience reactions to a couple of big moments in the movie, I want to revisit again. So, already on the calendar for next Friday, 24 April, is Endgame.

Why do this? Well, to build anticipation. I'm no medical professional, grocery professional, or any other kind of worker whose job is deemed essential and has to venture out into the public day after day. My part in this great Coronavirus year of 2020 is to stay home, stay healthy, and stay out of the way.

So I'm manufacturing a movie release schedule to build up excitement to re-watch some old favorites. And, no: I'm not jumping the gun on them. If there's a movie I haven't seen in a long time that originally was released in June or July--say, Jaws or Inception--then I'm waiting until those dates (or the nearest approximation).

Call me odd, call me weird (which my wife does frequently), but I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to returning to a theater when it's all safe to do so. I love movies, and I really love watching them in a theater.

Here's the list, broken out by year and then by month. Enjoy.


Summer Movies for 2020

1975
Jaws - June 20
The Apple Dumpling Gang - July 1

1980
The Empire Strikes Back - May 21
*Airplane - July 2
The Last Flight of Noah's Ark - July 9
Oh! Heavenly Dog - July 11
*The Kidnapping of the President - Aug 15 (Prime)

1985

A View to a Kill - May 22
Rambo: First Blood Part II - May 22
Fletch - May 31
The Goonies - June 7
Cocoon - June 21
*Pale Rider - June 26
Back to the Future - July 3
*Silverado - July 12
Teen Wolf - Aug 23

1990
Back to the Future Part III - May 25
Total Recall - June 1
Dick Tracy - June 15
Die Hard 2 - July 4
Ghost - July 13
Presumed Innocent - July 27
Darkman - Aug 24

1995

Crimson Tide - May 12
Die Hard with a Vengeance - May 19
Batman Forever - June 16

2000
U-571 - Apr 21
Gladiator - May 5
Mission Impossible 2 - May 24
Chicken Run - June 21
The Patriot - June 28
X-Men - July 14
What Lies Beneath - July 21
Space Cowboys - Aug 4


2005
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - May 19
Batman Begins - June 15
War of the Worlds - June 29

2010

Iron Man 2 - May 7
Toy Story 3 - June 18
*Knight and Day - June 23
Inception - July 16
*The Expendables - Aug 13

2015

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Apr 13
*Mad Max: Fury Road - May 7
Tomorrowland - May 8
Inside Out - May 18
*San Andreas - May 27
Jurassic World - May 29
Ant-Man - June 29
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Jul 23
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Aug 7

2019
Avengers: Endgame – Apr 26


**BY DATE**

APRIL
U-571 - Apr 21
Avengers: Age of Ultron - Apr 13
Avengers: Endgame – Apr 26

MAY
Gladiator - May 5
Iron Man 2 - May 7
*Mad Max: Fury Road - May 7
Tomorrowland - May 8
Crimson Tide - May 12
Inside Out - May 18
Die Hard with a Vengeance - May 19
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - May 19
The Empire Strikes Back - May 21
A View to a Kill - May 22
Rambo: First Blood Part II - May 22
Mission Impossible 2 - May 24
Back to the Future Part III - May 25
*San Andreas - May 27
Jurassic World - May 29
Fletch - May 31

JUNE
Total Recall - June 1
The Goonies - June 7
Dick Tracy - June 15
Batman Begins - June 15
Batman Forever - June 16
Toy Story 3 - June 18
Jaws - June 20
Cocoon - June 21
Chicken Run - June 21
*Knight and Day - June 23
*Pale Rider - June 26
The Patriot - June 28
War of the Worlds - June 29
Ant-Man - June 29

JULY
The Apple Dumpling Gang - July 1
Airplane - July 2
Back to the Future - July 3
Die Hard 2 - July 4
The Last Flight of Noah's Ark - July 9
Oh! Heavenly Dog - July 11
*Silverado - July 12
Ghost - July 13
X-Men - July 14
Inception - July 16
What Lies Beneath - July 21
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Jul 23
Presumed Innocent - July 27

AUGUST
Space Cowboys - Aug 4
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Aug 7
*The Expendables - Aug 13
*The Kidnapping of the President - Aug 15 (Prime)
Teen Wolf - Aug 23
Darkman - Aug 24

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 35

Well, summer's at an end. The weather won't agree with that statement, but the calendar says otherwise. It also means we're at the end of Summer Writing, the 97-day bookended time block I touted on Memorial Day.

I didn't do nearly as well as I wanted with fiction writing. Sure I made progress on multiple projects, but I only completed one thing: the short story I submitted for an anthology later this fall. There's a reason Dean Wesley Smith calls this the Time of the Great Forgetting.

But even though the fiction writing faltered, the non-fiction maintained a steady momentum with the blog writing. And there there was the out-of-the-blue moment this past week that has me wondering if I might not also have a non-fiction book in me.

Ask the Question Because You Never Know the Answer

Next weekend, the Son of Houstoncon IV is happening. Long-time readers might remember my write-up for it from 2017. During that review, I commented about seeing one of the giants of fandom and collecting here in Houston. But I didn't spend too much time talking about the guy who resurrected the Houstoncon itself, Don Price.

Earlier this week, a fellow SF book club member emailed me asking if I'd be up for attending Son of Houstoncon IV. I said yes and I sent him the link to my 2017 review. I mentioned I was interested in interviewing Price, but my friend made another point: it would be great to interview all the other long-time collectors who call Houston home.

Bingo!

So, literally throwing the proverbial hail mary, I sent Price an email: would he consider doing an interview? I also bent his ear about something else: what about a book detailing the history of fandom in Houston? I'm a degree historian, a native Houstonian, and a comic book and SF geek. Why not?

Why not indeed.

Price returned with a yes he's up for an interview. He was also interested with the possibility of a book. He's already shared some interesting tidbits on past Houstoncons and a photo. Hopefully, we'll get the interview completed and posted later this coming week leading up to Son of Houstoncon IV on Saturday. Even if things don't work out this week, I think the interview will certainly be on the way.

And I'm already planning on how to approach the other long-time fans and collectors here in Houston. The scope of the project will likely be larger than a novel, but no less doable. I mean, I've written a thesis, so I can do history. This time, it's just closer to home.

Lesson learned: never be afraid to ask. The worst thing could be a 'no,' but just imagine the possibilities of a 'yes.'

Movie Recommendations

Last Saturday, I watched two films. Both are pitch perfect in their chosen genres.

Hobbs and Shaw is a perfect popcorn summer action film.

Olympus Has Fallen is a different kind of thrill ride that left me without any fingernails.

Album of the Week: Midland - Let It Roll

I can’t remember the last time—if ever—I went to the store to buy a brand-new country music CD on the day it came out. But Midland is no typical country band. They are a wonderful throwback to the classic sound of country music from the late 80s/early 90s. This album is fantastic, and I've been listening daily since last weekend.

If you're interested, their website has lots of videos featuring the songs of the new album as well as their 2017 debut.

By the way, it was "Drinkin' Problem" that was the tune that made me sit up and take notice. Have a listen.

Olympus Has Fallen: Not Just Die Hard in the White House

Not sure why I never saw this movie, but hat tip to Ralph Garman for bringing it up. Now, I have zero fingernails.

Last week on the Friday episode of his wonderful podcast The Ralph Report (my review), Garman commented on the third film in the series, Angel Has Fallen, debuting. He and co-host Eddie Pence, chuckled at the name of the main character in this franchise--Mike Banning--as being a typical action film movie name. The little bit made me chuckle, and Garman mentioned he liked the first film. The new movie looked interesting as I have a fondness for the Movies of August so I checked Netflix to see if Olympus Has Fallen. It did. So, I settled in to see "Mike Banning, Secret Service Agent."

The Premise

Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is a secret service agent to President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), First Lady Margaret (Ashley Judd), and their son, Connor (Finley Jacobson). They're in a snowstorm at Camp David, but they have to drive somewhere. Never a good idea. There's an accident, and Banning makes the only choice he can: save the president, lose the First Lady.

Eighteen months later, Banning mans a desk. He wants back in but Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) reminds Mike the president doesn't want to be reminded of that night even though Banning made the right choice. All of this is prelude for the terrorist attack on the White House where Banning finds himself on the outside and rushes to the scene.

The Attack

Look, I know it's a movie, but there's something visceral when you see the seat of our government attacked not by aliens but by flesh-and-blood terrorist. Director Antoine Fuqua shows all the Secret Service agents, military personnel, and policemen and women trying in vain to stop the attack. All of them fall, and its sobering. Especially when the bad guys--led by Kang Yeonsak, as played with wily cunning by Bond villain veteran Rick Yune--have an answer to every counterattack. It was during this series of visuals where my fingernails started being assaulted.

As with Air Force One, I was really, really hoping one of the good guys wasn't a traitor. Well, that must be in another movie, because one doesn't cast Dylan McDermott as a Secret Service agent only to get shot. No, he's with the president's detail as he and the South Korean delegation take shelter in the bunker. McDermott's Forbes makes himself known as he and the South Korean  "security detail" reveal themselves and take out the remaining resistance surrounding the president.

Then things get really nasty.

The Ticking Clock

If it wasn't bad enough as a viewer to see the White House attacked and defeated, when the bad guys start torturing the administration officials for the nuclear codes, it gets worse. One always hopes good people can stand up to bad ones, but we're human, and good people always care about one another. It is brutal, and the acting is fantastically believable.

What's also scary are the reactions to all the folks outside the bunker when they realize that the particular nuclear codes are being entered. There's absolutely no way to stop it from the outside. They can only watch.

But they have a man inside: Banning has entered the White House, and into a certain type of film.

Die Hard in the White House

Look, if we're being honest, that is what this film is about. One man against a team of bad guys and he has to do what he can. It starts with finding the president's son and getting him out. Because if the terrorist capture his son, the president will give in. Any parent would, no matter if he or she is the president or not.

As a writer, I was already imagining where this was going. But...and spoilers if you've not seen it...Banning finds Connor and he escapes unharmed! He climbed up through an air shaft and had to watch the shadows of Banning killing a guy. Then, in pure tough-guy-as-likeable-'big brother' type, Banning just says it was a false alarm and for Connor to continue. Even though I was watching this show by myself, I literally uttered a "Yes!" and pumped my fist. The wave of calmness that swept over me was visceral. And it's just a movie.

But isn't that what is supposed to happen? It did when I watched the new movie Hobbs and Shaw this year (on the same day in fact). Or Avengers. Or Mission Impossible: Fallout. Or name any other movie for which I've written a review. The feels--whether happiness, sadness, sorrow, love, or excitement--is why we watch movies.

As much as I enjoyed the "Die Hard in the White House" aspect, there was still a doubt in my head and fingernails to be chewed. I knew the nuclear codes would be turned off. Why? Because we have sequels, and the previews for the new movie, Angel Has Fallen, doesn't take place in a post-nuclear America. But what it does show is Morgan Freeman as the president. In Olympus Has Fallen, Freeman is Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull. He's brought in when both the president and vice president are captured (and the VP is killed). Trumbull is the acting president in Olympus...and he's president in Angel Has Fallen...and I didn't want to look at the synopsis of the middle film, London Has Fallen, but something happens to where Trumbull is elevated to the top job.

Speaking of that, what's up with the poster? This is Butler's movie with Eckhart as the president. Why does Freeman get center billing?

Would Aaron Eckhart's President Asher make it out of Olympus alive? Well, thankfully for this movie and this viewer, he does. Because of bad ass Mike Banning. Just like Bruce Willis's character in Die Hard and Harrison Ford in Air Force One and others, Banning's not without injury and pain. But he does what he must to save the president and save the world.

Because he's [assume that deep, baritone movie trailer voice] Mike Banning, Secret Service Agent.

Man, I thoroughly enjoyed Olympus Has Fallen, despite the beating my nails took. It's an action film, sure, and its one using a template we've had for over thirty years. But this one is different. It's a sobering reminder that there are men and women out there who's sole job it is to protect the president, our governmental institutions, and our country. It's something each of us should never take for granted.

I'll seek out London Has Fallen soon so I can catch Angel Has Fallen in theaters. Olympus Has Falled is very much recommended.

Hobbs and Shaw: The Perfect Summer Movie

Having never seen any of the Fast and Furious movies, my wife was wondering why I was gung-ho about seeing this film, the ninth in the franchise. The trailer. That was it. Well, that and Dawayne Johnson. And Jason Stratham. And Vanessa Kirby. And Idris Elba.

I had a preconceived notion about the type of movie this was. It was exactly what I expected, and I absolutely loved it.

The Premise

Vanessa Kirby's character, Hattie, is an MI6 agent trying to secure the Snowflake virus. Her raid goes sideways when Elba's bad guy, Brixton Lore, shows up. To prevent him from getting the virus, she injected herself, giving her, the world, and the viewers a countdown timer. She escapes and is on the run.

Enter Johnson's Hobbs and Statham's Shaw, who just happens to be Hattie's brother. They are tasked with finding her because the story in the news is that she's a traitor and she must be stopped. Hobbs and Shaw soon realize things are much worse than they thought when Hattie reveals she's the carrier.

Brixton's bad guy group wants the virus because said group wants to wipe out the weak so humanity can evolve. Considering the evolution Brixton's talking about is himself, a technologically enhanced human with machine parts in his brain and body, Hobbs and Shaw aren't likely to let him take Hattie and extract the virus (contained in microscopic vials that will burst when the countdown ends, killing her and untold millions).

All of that is the plot that serves up equal doses of interpersonal chemistry via bickering and kick-ass action sequences.

The Reason We See Hobbs and Shaw

Over-the-top action. Fun, witty banter. That's what attracted me to the film via the trailer and that's exactly what was delivered. Even from outside the franchise, I knew enough about Fast and Furious to know the action sequences were stellar. We have three giant action sequences in the new film: a car chase in London, another car chase in some abandoned factory complex in Russia, and, well, another car sequence on the island of Samoa. They are all equally breathless, but the London set piece, with its narrow streets and potential civilian casualties, was probably my favorite. The Russian one was an exercise in driving on things and places you always made your Hot Wheels car do--up a crane; through giant windows--but would never see in real life.

The Samoan one is in the trailer, but how you get there is pretty nifty. Won't spoil it here, but it's really fun to watch. As is the entire Samoan finale. I can't tell you how many movies there have been when the technologically superior enemy is met on the battlefield by the primitive good guys. You can probably name half a dozen right now in your head. Be that as it may, it still kicks ass. Always will, because of the underlying message of heart and willpower and love.

Look, the entire movie is basically in the trailer, but that didn't stop this film from being one hell of a thrill ride.

Action sequences are good, but even they can't carry an entire film. You need the down times, to catch your breath and have a bit of plot exposition. If those times don't stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the action stuff, you have a lopsided film. And despite the dichotomy in sizes of the two leads, Hobbs and Shaw is anything but lopsided.

The Real Reason Hobbs and Shaw Works

I suspect there is some back story a newbie like me missed by going into this film cold. Didn't really matter. I picked up enough along the way to figure it out. Hobbs and Shaw have met before and they don't like each other. They are like oil and water. Their styles vary just like their physiques. Johnson's Hobbs is big, brutal, and perfectly willing and able to joyfully punch things. Kirby's Hattie comments on it throughout the movie, as a kind of meta commentary on Johnson's entire vibe. Stratham is the shorter, but not less deadly fighter, fully capable of taking out bad guys, but will do so with balletic artistry. In an early, side-by-side sequence when both guys do a solo job, Stratham comments that he's a champagne problem while Johnson is an ice-cold can of whup-ass. I think you see the difference.

But it works. Hobbs and Shaw, underneath all of its intense action sequences, is really just a buddy cop movie from the 1980s. A Lethal Weapon, a Tango and Cash, and any of a half dozen you can name. The chemistry of the lead actors works so well,  you could almost do without the action stuff and you'd still have a pretty good film. Now, you're not really going to do that, but the mixture of buddy cop with action is pretty darn satisfying.

There are enough one-liners in this film that it almost come across as a roast of the two guys. I couldn't help but wonder if some of the dialogue was made up on the spot during filming. Heck, it also crossed my mind that Johnson and Stratham themselves added to their own personal pile of insults.

Vanessa Kirby more than holds he own between our two heroes. She is so far from the shrinking violet that she could lead a film like this. I first saw her in my favorite film from 2018, Mission Impossible: Fallout. In the final cut, she doesn't have a lot of action, but it makes you wonder if there were some action scenes in that film that were left out of the theatrical release. There's, of course, some implied attraction between her and Hobbs because of course there is.

And then there's Idris Elba. In a world in which his name is regularly floated when it comes to recasting James Bond or whenever there's a new super-hero movie announced, we get to see him perform in a franchise film. Yeah, he could easily be Bond or, as he says in this movie, "I'm black Superman." True, but he's really driven in this film. I would love to see him do more stuff like this.

The Cameos

I have no idea if the three cameos in Hobbs and Shaw are actually from earlier Fast and Furious movies. Judging by the crowd reaction, however, I'm guessing two of them (hint: the ones not set in a prison) are unique to this movie.

And they are hilarious!

The Verdict

Hobbs and Shaw is a quintessential summer popcorn movie. You get likable actors playing fun characters against a formidable villain in a easy-to-follow plot that throws so much action at you that you truly will feel like you've been on a roller coaster. And it's solidified the other thing as well: I was already tempted to step into the Fast and Furious franchise. Now, I'm going to dive in.

Highly recommended.

License to Kill at 30

With thirty years hindsight, one of my favorite James Bond films could have easily worked in the 21st Century.

The Summer of 1989

It was altogether fitting that the fabulous summer of 1989 for movies would also include a James Bond film. It had been since 1974's The Man With a Golden Gun that a Bond film did not premiere in the summer. Coming two years after 1987's The Living Daylights, License to Kill was Timothy Dalton's second outing as 007. I would have liked to have seen more (yet I truly enjoyed Pierce Brosnan's turn as well).

License to Kill (LTK) was the first Bond film not based on a single Ian Fleming novel. With A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights the titles for a pair of short stories, even LTK's title was unique. It's story of drug cartels in Central America was straight out of dozens of films in the 1980s. Some might think this was pandering to a current trend, but I have always seen it as fitting. Although it hadn't happened yet, 1989 would see the unification of Germany and the felling of the Berlin Wall. The Soviet Union was crumbling. The United States and United Kingdom was down one major adversary. Why not turn to a smaller, more intimate James Bond film?

And Timothy Dalton was the perfect actor for the role.

The Darker Bond

Before Daniel Craig signed on and made the James Bond franchise noticeably darker in tone and subject matter, Timothy Dalton was the one who did it. Sean Connery had moments. Later, Brosnan had one of my favorites. Even Roger Moore had a few moments here and there of the literary Bond. But Moore had turned Bond into a middle aged super-hero by 1985's A View to a Kill, something from which Dalton turned away. Heck, he even had Bond smoking again.

For a story in which Bond goes rogue, seeking vengeance and revenge for the mauling of his friend, Felix Leiter, and Leiter's new bride, I can't image any actor up until then playing the role quite the way Dalton did. Sure, Craig could do it now, but up until 2006, we hadn't seen a brutal Bond for an entire movie. Watching the movie again this past weekend for the first time in I can't remember how long, I was struck by how hollow the humorous moments felt. When Bond takes his first revenge again the traitorous US agent Kilifer, the dialogue you can imagine any of the actors saying. "You earned it. You keep. Old buddy." Then he throws the suitcase at the agent hanging over the shark tank. The traitor falls and the shark feasts. But it's Dalton's dead stare that is so chilling. Craig delivers looks like this. But up until 1989, no Bond had done so.

A Worthy and Scary Adversary

It was the brutal actions of Franz Sanchez, drug lord from a fictional Central American country, that brought out Dalton's dead stare. Sanchez, played wonderfully by Robert Davi, fed Leiter to the sharks after having his wife killed (and presumably raped). All throughout the film, Sanchez is unlike most of the villains Bond had faced up until 1989. He was ruthless and vicious, happily willing to mete out punishment in violent ways. Despite Sanchez saying thing were purely business, Davi pretty much plays Sanchez and a man who enjoys the pain he dishes out.

For the longest time, I would always associate Davi with the role of Sanchez. Didn't matter what he was in, whenever I saw him, I'd say "That's Sanchez."

In a movie with one of the better villains in the Bond franchise, it also had one of the better Bond girls.

A Tough and Capable Partner

Carey Lowell has been one of my favorite Bond girls for thirty years. Even at the time, I could tell she was different. She wasn't some shrinking violent who only needed saving. The then most recent one--Maryam d'Abo from The Living Daylights--fell into the prior category. I honestly can't even remember Tanya Roberts's turn in A View to a Kill. (I can barely remember anything from that film save the great theme song.) You had to go back to Carole Bouquet as Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only for a Bond girl who could hold her own with 007 in the action department. Honestly, I think my favorite of all is Michelle Yoeh from Tomorrow Never Dies.

But Lowell was right there. We first see her with Leiter as he's working with her to capture Sanchez. Next she's welding a shotgun in a bar and enables hers and Bond's escape. We learn she's a pilot, a skill that comes in handy more than once. You can see the turn in her character after Q mentions a field agent must use all the whiles at his (or her) disposal. At that point, she's there to save Bond's butt more than once.

For me, she's top tier of the Bond girls.

The Theme Song

Sorry, Gladys Knight. You sing well, but I've never enjoyed this theme song. But considering the theme for Die Another Day is sitting there as the all-time worst Bond theme song, License to Kill will never reach the bottom. Actually, as I'm writing this piece, I have a YouTube playlist going with all the theme songs. Even when compared to others, LTK just doesn't hold up for the absolutely worst reasons: it's boring. Who writes a boring Bond song?

And this is one of the few Bond films I can remember that had a different closing song. Sorry Patti LaBelle. "If You Ask Me To" is a better song that the main theme, but the record for best-ever closing song is k.d. lang's "Surrender" wins in a blowout. That's so good, it could have--should have been--a main theme. Love that song.

Bond's Plan

It's a common trope to have the hero infiltrate the villain's lair and destroy from within, but I can't remember one for Bond in quite this fashion. Goldfinger brings 007 to Fort Knox thinking Bond knows something. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond's investigation leads him to Blofeld's base in the Alps. Most of the time, Bond finds himself in the hideout, but he soon starts blowing things up.

In LTK, Bond uses his brain much more than in other films. He's cold, calculating, thinking of ways to get to Sanchez rather that just shoot him. His actions remind me of the character in Dashiell Hammet's 1929 novel, Red Harvest, and the move Yojimbo (1961). I suspect the writers had this trope in mind. I'm just surprised it took Bond so long.

The Stunts

In the history of all the Bond films and Bond stunts, I have always enjoyed the water skiing sequence in LTK. Of course he would do that. It was all the funnier later in the movie when Anthony Zerbe, as Milton Krest, explain it to Sanchez. The drug leader didn't believe it. Most of us wouldn't either.

As to the 18 wheeler on its side? Well, this was 1989. All practical effects. Some stuntman on set actually did that, so be quiet about "it couldn't happen." It did happen.

Q in the Field

I've always loved LTK for the extensive use of Desmond Llewelyn as Q not only giving Bond the gadgets, but actively helping 007 with his mission. I'm a fan of the franchise, but this is the only one when this happens, right?

The Verdict

License of Kill remains one of my favorite Bond films. Dalton remains one of my favorite Bonds. I like that he and the producers sought to bring Bond back to his darker, literary roots with The Living Daylights and License to Kill. I'm glad it was Dalton who portrayed Bond in a story like this. This wasn't some megalomaniac trying to take over the world. This was personal. This was revenge. This was Bond's career be damned. He was going to have his revenge.

LTK is a film firmly ensconced in the 1980s, and I'm fine with that. So, too, was From Russia With Love, Live and Let Die, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Quantum of Solace. Bond evolves with the times. Bond reflects the times. It makes perfect sense for Bond to confront the drug cartels of the 1980s.

As a result of the subject matter, License to Kill is a darker film. In fact, as I mentioned to my wife, watching the movie from  the vantage point of 2019, License to Kill is a Daniel Craig-type Bond film...just years ahead of its time.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

I enjoyed most of the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies. I saw neither of the Andrew Garfield ones. But I love Tom Holland's two movies not for the super-heroics--which are, nonetheless, awesome!--but for the Peter Parker parts.

Homecoming was basically a John Hughes film if Hughes did a high school super-hero movie. Far From Home is like when your favorite sitcom blows up in the ratings and they take a trip to Europe. I'm looking at you Family Ties Goes to London (or whatever it was called).

Far From Home is a hilarious romp of a film with super-hero stuff thrown in. All the razzle dazzle stuff is what you'd expect. But its the Parker stuff that really counts and has meaning. I went with my teenager and he really enjoyed it. I suspect he sees his own high school in the scenes because I certainly saw mine.

Mysterio Walked Out of the Comics

While I'm more knowledgeable about Batman Rogues' Gallery, Spider-Man has some great ones. Most look pretty cool, but Mysterio always stood out on a large part because of the helmet. Or fish tank. Or Apollo helmet. Whatever you call that thing that serves as a mask. You knew back in the Maguire days they'd likely never attempt Mysterio for the sheer technical factor of making it look good and real.

Which is why this modern-day Marvel cinematic universe is so good. With CGI, anything is possible. And Jake Gyllenhaal as Owen Beck (AKA Mysterio) does a fantastic job. Going in, I knew Mysterio's origins, but the trailer made it appear like something else. When all is revealed, it is a great twist (although it kind of was a riff off the Vulture's origins from Homecoming).

High School Life

Coincidentally, I watched Far From Home the same weekend as I started to watch Stranger Things 3. Both deal with high school and teenagers in such an honest way, both were joys to watch. (I'm not done with Stranger Things so zero spoilers. Got it?) In Far From Home, I love how the entire movie is built around Peter's one plan for the trip to Europe: buy a gift for MJ, give it to her, and tell her how he feels. That's all a teenaged boy should have to worry about.

Spoilers....

And bravo for the writers having MJ figure out Peter's secret. C'mon. It's in the trailer. But it's great to have these major co-stars figure out heroes' secret identity. As cute as it was in the 1950s and 1960s to have Lois Lane concoct all sorts of schemes to reveal Clark Kent was Superman, it's refreshing to have them in on the secret and be a part of the team.

Stellar Cast

As with every Marvel film, the cast is fantastic. It is the secret sauce that makes this more than just your friendly neighborhood Marvel movie.

Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Peter's best friend, steals every scene he's in. I first saw Angourie Rice in Shane Black's 2016 film, The Nice Guys. Man, is she a talented actress, and so good as Ned's girlfriend. The two teachers, played by Martin Starr and J. B. Smoove, also chew the scenery as both an inept teacher (Starr) and one who doesn't want to take credit or blame when things go south (Smoove). And I called it in the theater (and confirmed later) that Peter Billingsley played one of Mysterio's henchmen. Yup. The kid from A Christmas Story is in a Marvel film. Granted, he was also in Iron Man, but I forgot.

I also appreciated how Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders realized they were in a funnier film than any of their earlier ones and adjusted. They were still Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but they played the characters with a wink and a smile.

Mid-Credits and Post-Credits Scenes

Whoa! So often, these scenes serve as in-jokes (Howard the Duck) or setups to future films (Iron Man and just about all the others). Rarely have end credits scenes basically shook the titular character's world to the core. Especially since the next Spider-Man movie isn't even on the map. Are you kidding me?

Spider-Man: Far From Home Gets It

Character, character, character. It goes a long way to grounding a film and keeping the audience invested. All the folks involved with the Tom Holland Spider-Man films understand what makes this character tick. Holland gets it, too. I know there another actor will someday play the web-slinger, but he'll have big web-shooters to fill.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is a wonderful film and a great way to end Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bring on Phase 4!

Batman at 30

Just like thirty years ago, I held off watching this 1989 movie until this weekend. I wanted to build anticipation and excitement. It worked.

Dork that I am, I gave serious thought to waiting until 23 June to re-watch Batman, but opted for a family movie night on the 21st with the wife and the boy. The wife doesn't love superhero movies. She saw Batman in 1989 largely because of Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Her favorite superhero movie is The Dark Knight, and Christian Bale and Heath Ledger her favorite actors in a Batman film. The boy also doesn't love superhero films like I do, but these last few Marvel films and Wonder Woman and Shazam he's enjoyed. 

All of that is just to set the stage for us breaking out our VHS copy--yes, VHS copy--of the 1989 film. Like they did with Superman last year, I had hoped I could again see Batman on the big screen, but here in Houston, that chance was May. We couldn't make it, so original VHS tape on the flat screen.

The first two things on the tape were the Diet Coke commercial with Michael Gough's Alfred and an animated segment with Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny talking about ordering a catalog to purchase Warner Bros. merchandise. I had that catalog and I ordered stuff. Ball cap for sure, but the rest is lost to time.

Then, the movie started.

The Theme

Visually, the opening credits are only there to let you read the major players who got this movie made--thanks Michael Uslan!--but the real star is the theme. Danny Elfman, then known as the front man for Oingo Boingo, was the composer. Like director Tim Burton, an interesting choice. Actually, many of the choices for this film were interesting and out of the box. Those choices are what makes the film special.

Elfman's Batman theme is second only to the Superman theme by John Williams for me. It is dark and propulsive, with a good mix of strings, high brass, and mellow horns. It was an instant hit in my mind thirty years ago, and it remains one of my favorite themes of all time. As good as we have it now for superhero movies, the musical cues are fairly unmemorable. The Avengers theme is the only one I can recognize when I hear it, but I can't for the life of me hum it. The Dark Knight's music by Hans Zimmer is great and moody, but it's mainly whole notes. Elfman captured the spirit of Batman in music not only in this main theme but also throughout the film.

The Opening Shot

There are moments throughout Batman cinema that are truly magical and have stood the test of time. I'm thinking the moment when Keaton's Batman first sees Michelle Pheiffer's Catwoman. Bale's Batman makes his first appearance in Batman Begins. The heist scene to open The Dark Knight. Or the motorcycle chase in The Dark Knight. The warehouse fight in Batman v Superman. Even the museum escape in Batman '89.

Nothing trumps the opening scene in Batman. Say what you will about Burton's choices for the rest of the movie, but he nailed the introduction of a dark and serious Batman in five minutes. Gone was any whiff of Adam West's TV show Batman. Here was a man, dressed all in black, who could get shot and rise again. If I had to pick a single favorite Batman moment on screen, this is it.

The Voice

"I'm Batman." Those are the first words we hear Keaton utter from behind the cowl. It's a deeper voice, but nothing like the growl Bale used. In many ways, it's very much like the choices Kevin Conroy did for the animated series. By using a slightly higher pitch for the Bruce Wayne voice, Keaton was able to merely deepen his voice for Batman. Plus, in the re-watch, for the first half of the film, he doesn't speak many words as Batman.

Still, Ben Affleck's Batman using a voice modulator is probably the best way to go.

My Favorite Bruce Wayne

I've written many books since the last time I saw this movie--I honestly can't remember how long it had been--but I appreciated how one of the central mysteries for the characters of Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) and reporter Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) was to find out more about Bruce Wayne. They get themselves into the party at Wayne Manor to ask the mayor and Commissioner Gordon about "the six-foot bat in Gotham City" but then end up meeting Wayne himself.

Of all the actors who have played Bruce Wayne to date, my favorite Wayne is Keaton. I have always thought he walked the knife edge of genuine crazy. If each one of Batman's rogue's gallery is a distorted mirror version of Batman/Wayne, then Keaton's version shows you how close he really was to the edge.

He's distracted, but remembers everything. He's unassuming in a natural way, not like the put-on Bale has to do. To outward appearances, he seems normal.

Which is Bruce Wayne's way of deflecting. Keaton does this wonderfully.

Nicholson's Joker

How have I gone this long without talking about Jack Nicholson. If you follow Michael Uslan on Facebook--the man responsible for bringing a darker Batman to movie theaters--then you'll have seen his newspaper page talking about The Shining and how he took white-out and a green and red marker and drew over Nicholson's face in the famous "Here's Johnny" scene. Back in 1989 before I saw the movie or the trailer, I was partial to Peter O'Toole because he already had the grin. But the prosthetics they put on Nicholson was better.

And man did he chew up the scenery. Yes he was funny and over the top, but on the re-watch, something struck me again, especially since Ledger's Joker is more recent. Nicholson's Joker actually seems crazier than Ledger. Nicholson's version seemed to have everyone on edge. I mean, he out and shoots his "number one guy" Bob just because Batman stole the balloons in the finale. Ledger's Joker is an agent of chaos, but an agent who plans out everything. Nicholson plans out how to distribute Smilex gas and how to disrupt the city, but in his inner circle, I think working for him would be scarier.

Here's what age does to a person. The museum scene where Joker and his crew deface the priceless paintings: now I cringe where in 1989, I just smiled. It's a real crime he perpetrated, a crime against history, and honestly worth more than anything he could steal.

How Does It Hold Up?

Like James Bond films, everyone has their favorite movie Batman. Everyone has their favorite movies. Is Batman '89 the greatest film ever made? No. Is it the best Batman film? Maybe not. The Dark Knight is darn near perfect. It prompted the Oscar folks to expand the choices for Best Picture, so much so that Black Panther got a nomination.

But Batman '89 holds an honored spot. It was the first movie Batman (not counting the serials). It showed the world what was already happening in the comics: the character had grown and matured, darkened for a new decade. Nearly every choice made while crafting this film was bold and interesting: the casting, the director, the art director, the music, the marketing. Let's not forget about the marketing.

Sure, as a storyteller, I can poke holes in the story and I can grouse about how many times Basinger's Vicki Vale screams, but what's the point. Batman '89 was a cultural phenomenon and remains one of the most important superhero films of all time.

The Ongoing Legacy

And it remains of the most important films of my lifetime. It came at the perfect time. I was twenty, in college, and working my first real summer job (at a movie theater!). I've often said that my lifetime in comics these past fifty years was a great time. As I grew up, so did comics. I was the perfect age for Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns to signal a new era in comics. It made Batman '89 possible in the minds of executives and the public.

In 2019, when superhero and genre stuff seem to rule the box office, the TVs, and the culture, 1989 was the year in which all the non-geek folks came to appreciate stuff we geeks had loved all our lives. With Batman '89, we could finally say "See? This is good stuff."

I know Michael Uslan, the man who bought the film rights for Batman in 1979, had many sleepless nights in the 1980s as every door in Hollywood slammed in his face. No one wanted or understood the idea of a serious, cinematic Batman. But I am so glad it took as long as it did, culturally, to get our first dark Batman movie. I can't imagine the film having the impact it did in 1989 if it were released, in, say, 1986. It would have just been a movie geeks saw. Thanks, Mr. Uslan, for persevering and staying true to your vision.

Batman '89. I have so enjoyed reading all the articles and posts about this movie this month as we celebrate its 30th anniversary. I'm glad I got to experience it when I did, at the age I did, and I still love it. I will always love it no matter how many more Batman movies they make.

Come back Wednesday for my take on the comic adaptation by Dennis O'Neil and Jerry Ordway

The Real Batman Day: June 23 1989 (2019 Edition)

[As of today, in 2019, the 1989 Batman movie is thirty years old. This is a piece I wrote two years ago and I am re-posting today with some 2019 thoughts. The original version is here if you want to compare, but I've updated this post for 2019. Ever since 1989, the date of June 23 has been fixed in my mind. It will always be the true Batman Day for me and likely millions more.] 

Where were you 30 years ago today? Probably standing in line to see Batman.

The Date

 It all began with a symbol and a date. A simple poster considering what it wrought. For months, all you needed to know was June 23. You could look at a calendar and count down the days until Friday, June 23, 1989. That was the date in which Batman would finally appear on theater screens in the manner akin to his origin.

It may be difficult to imagine now, in 2019, a year in the golden age of superhero movies, but there was a time when a single superhero film dominated everything. And I mean everything.

The Cast

Batman, the 1989 film directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker, was a cultural phenomenon in every sense of the word. The long gestating film had started production the previous year and if you thought the backlash the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman created was something [or Richard Pattison in 2019], you have no idea when the casting of Keaton, primarily known for his comedies, caused. I can’t remember my own impressions for Keaton, but I remember quite vividly my thoughts on Joker. My choice, if you were going by the comic book look and feel, was Peter O’Toole. Sure, he was older, but he had The Grin. But when Nicholson was cast, I was like “Of course!”

Pictures in Starlog the spring of 1989 gave us the first glimpse of the all-black Batsuit and Keaton in it. I was sold! Then photos of Nicholson’s Joker emerged and I was so excited! I was and am an easy mark in that respect. A lifelong comic book fan, it was so cool to see Batman in real life. More thoughts here.

Batman ‘66

Let me pause here a moment to comment on the 1966 Batman. At the time, I was 20 and had come of age just as comics realized they could be darker and grittier. I was almost the perfect age to read The Dark Knight Returns and Year One and The Killing Joke. So, in 1989, I was distancing myself from TV’s Batman, the way I was first introduced to the character. Gone in my mind was the funny Batman. Here was the grim Batman, the way he was in the 1940s comics and the 1970s comics. Ironically, 30 years later and with the passing of Adam West, I’m ready for grimdark Batman to go away or, at least, make a way for more than one version.

The Preview

Back in those pre-YouTube days, the only way you could see a trailer was to go to a movie and buy a ticket. I’m not sure how but I learned that the Batman trailer (or maybe this teaser trailer because I remember the opening on the Batmobile's rocket) was attached to “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” Boom! I couldn’t get to the theater fast enough. There it was, with no music and what seemed like unmixed sound, was Batman, alive, moving, beating up bad guys and driving a kick-ass Batmobile with fire out the back! And Joker. Heavens, how awesome he looked. And I loved the line Robert Wuhl’s reporter asked: “Is there a six-foot bat in Gotham City?” And Batman crashing through the skylight? The only question in the spring was how many days until 23 June?

The Movie

I can’t remember for sure if I went to the midnight showing or day one showing. I worked at a movie theater the summer of 1989—a great summer of movies*—so I’m pretty confident that I saw it at midnight with the throngs of other folks. Like just about everyone, I lost it. This was the movie we had been waiting our entire lives for! The Danny Elfman score. The opening scene when the mugger asks what are you and Keaton says “I’m Batman” (still my absolutely favorite part). The gadgets. Keaton doing a wonderful job. Nicholson chewing scenery. The fight in the alley with the sword guy. The Batmobile doing…anything. The menace of Joker. The reveal that Joker/Jack Napier killed Bruce’s parents. Prince’s music. The Batplane. The quotes (“Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” “Never rub another man’s hubarb” “I didn’t ask.” “You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts.” “My life is…complicated.”) The final confrontation. The final scene with the Bat-signal. It was utterly awesome.

Batman got everyone. The hard-core comics fans flocked to see the movie multiple times. The casual viewer enjoyed it. Your grandpa enjoyed it. Everyone, it seemed, had seen the movie at least once, and chatted about it. Was it the last great common movie everyone saw? I’m not sure, but it was certainly a milestone.

Oh, and the merchandise! Good grief! Batman stuff was everywhere. And, yeah, I bought my fair share. Why the heck not? Up until then, the amount of Batman/superhero stuff available to purchase was meager at best. Nowhere near what it’s like today.

I can’t remember how many times I saw the film. Enough for me to memorize huge chunks of the movie. [In my re-watch here in 2019, I told my boy this movie is in the top 10 movies I have seen the most number of times.]

Looking Back

The irony now, for many of us who distanced ourselves from the 1966 Batman in 1989, is that the Batman '89, when compared to the Christian Bale films and Batman v Superman, looks more campy than we ever saw at the time. But that’s only in comparison to what came afterwards. Sure, the immediate next film, 1992’s Batman Returns, went very dark, only to be brightened by 1995’s Batman Forever and, ahem, 1997’s Batman and Robin. When you compare those four films, Batman is the second darkest. But it’s still funny when you look at it now. Something the new Wonder Woman movie (and Shazam and Spider-Man: Homecoming ) realized and got correct.

But not in 1989. In that year, we comic book readers thought our time had finally arrived. We had our dark Batman. What was next? Another Superman? What about those Marvel characters? And when’s the Justice League gonna land in our laps?

Well, we still had to wait another decade until 2000’s X-Men to kick off this current Golden Age of Superhero Movies. This current run of films has produced some truly great movies (The Dark Knight; Spider-Man 2; Batman Begins; all three Captain America movies; Avengers; Ant-Man, Wonder Woman, and, of course, Infinity War and Endgame) but it all had to start somewhere. Technically, the run started in 1978 with Superman The Movie (Boy, am I so happy they didn’t put “The Movie” at the end of “Batman”), but the run of superhero movies started with Batman.

I’m so glad I was alive at the time to enjoy it.

Come back tomorrow for my 2019 review of the movie.

*Here in 2019, I'm celebrating the Summer of '89 Movies by re-watching them and writing current reviews.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Dead Poets Society
When Harry Met Sally
Star Trek V
License to Kill
Ghostbusters 2
Lethal Weapon 2
Parenthood
The Abyss.

Skyscraper is a Roller Coaster of a Movie

I can't think of a more by-the-numbers spectacle movie than Skyscraper...and it's absolutely thrilling

Yes, it's Die Hard in a taller building. It's Die Hard in which the good guy has to get *into* the building. It's a little bit Jurassic Park ("Spared no expense"). Most every beat you can think of is in this movie. I knew most of them going in. Imagine you are writing this script. What would you put in?

Don't care. Enjoyed the film.

Heck, in some of the scenes getting into the building actually induced the queasy-in-my-stomach feeling I always get when standing on a high place. I can imagine watching this film on the big screen, maybe in 3D, and experience actual vertigo.

Dawayne Johnson plays, Will Sawyer, an FBI agent who, in the opening prelude, leads a hostage situation. His decision kills some of his fellows, causes him to injure his leg which leads to amputation below the knee, and makes him rethink his life. That life, ten years later, includes his wife, a combat surgeon played by Neve Campbell, and his twin children.

Johnson has been recruited by one of his former partners to provide a security analysis of The Pearl, the world's tallest  skyscraper. The owner, Zhao Long Ji, needs the security analysis for insurance purposes. Will brings his family along as the first people who will live in the residential area of the tower. He's spent six months studying the layouts and plans and knows the tower inside and out.

Which is exactly what he'll need when things go haywire. As part of the plan, Will is given a tablet with facial recognition. Once activated, only he can use it. The tablet controls everything. So it is a good thing the thief who stole Will's bag didn't get the tablet because it was in Will's jacket.

But the bad guys soon get it after Will's buddy reveals himself to be on the take. Cut to the bad guys starting a fire midway up the tower and they disable all the anti-fire protocols. What do you now how? A towering inferno. Where is Will? Outside the tower, wanted by the police. Where is his family? Inside the building because one of the kids didn't feel well and they returned to the apartment.

All of this is to say you have Die Hard meets The Towering Inferno...except the hero has to get inside the burning building. From a crane. That he has to jump across the void to get into the busted window.

Yeah, those high scenes are definitely thrilling. I even sat  up on the couch, knowing full well Johnson was going to make it, but still reveling in the moment. That's the kind of movie this is: a roller coaster. When you stand in line at the amusement park, waiting for your turn on the roller coaster, you have all that time to watch others ride the ride, hear the screams, and your anticipation builds. That's exactly what you get with Skyscraper.

Oh, and this is a spoiler, but who cares: Johnson's character doesn't fire a gun. At about the halfway mark, I made this realization, and then hoped he wouldn't have to shoot anyone. He didn't. Instead he relied on his brains and his brawn. I found that quite refreshing, as I did the emphasis on family.

Skyscraper is a roller coaster of a film, complete with high, death-defying twists and turns, that'll leave you heart beating just a little faster. It knows what kind of movie it is, understands that, and gives you all you want.

Oh, another fun game? Trying to name some of the visual beats of the film with their inspirations. Example: In Die Hard, the moment when the cop gets the radio call to check out Nakatomi Plaza, he looks up at the darkened building and sees the firefight then ongoing, via gun flashes, on the roof. There's a scene like that in Skyscraper.

Dead Poets Society at 30

I was twenty during the glorious summer of 1989, but one is never too old to learn the message of this movie.

Set in 1959, Dead Poets Society follows a group of boys in a boarding school and their encounters with the new English teacher, John Keating, played by Robin Williams. His distinctive, non-conformist teaching methods gets in the head of many of the youths, showing them that English not only isn't trivial, but that by using their minds, they can break out of the mold and live their lives deliberately.

The Actors

For years afterward, whenever I saw these young actors, I would invariably say "Oh, he was in Dead Poets Society." Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, and Robert Sean Leonard all shared that fate and, considering I never watched House or Sports Night (and other things they did), that mentality still pervades.

And don't get me started on Kurtwood Smith, the overbearing father to Leonard's character. Smith was so overbearing that it took me a long time before I could even watch the occasional episode of That 70s Show and allow Smith the chance to be a funny guy. As a twenty year old, I hated him.

He doesn't fare much better now that I'm fifty and a dad, but the one crucial scene where he finds Neil's body after his son killed himself (c'mon. It's a thirty-year-old movie.) is heartbreaking. Smith plays the distraught father perfectly, especially in his cries as he cradles his son's dead body. Didn't get to me in 1989. Got to me in 2019.

The Ending

What I also cherish is the ending. Loved it then, love it even more now. "O Captain, my captain," Hawke's Todd Anderson declares, stepping up on his desk, to Williams's Keating as the disgraced teacher exits the classroom. Goosebumps and tears all flowed together. It was proof Anderson got the message of all Keating's teachings. He got it, as did others.

We want to think Anderson and the other boys went on to adulthood in the 1960s continuing to think for themselves and making a difference in the world. Maybe they did, but they would have had to do it during that turbulent decade. What would they have made of John Kennedy's death? Or the war in Vietnam? Would any of them have been drafted? Or would they have enlisted, given that some of their dads might've been World War II veterans? What about Watergate, the 1980s, or September 11?

Those boys in 1959 would be in their sixties and seventies now. Do you think they'd still be reading poetry? Do you think they used poetry--or wrote their own--to woo their wives? Do you think they read poetry to their children? Better yet, do you think they sent their kids to Welton Academy?

Those are questions the movies doesn't answer, but they're still fun to ponder.

The Legacy and the Lasting Message

What isn't in question is how good this movie remains. A seminal movie in my way of thinking about the world and my place in it, I've loved this movie's message in how I live my life. Don't like the music I like? Tough. Don't like the books I read or the TV shows I like? Oh well. I'm not contrarian. I just like what I like and don't need anyone else to criticize my choices.

Dead Poets Society taught me not only to appreciate poetry (yeah, I bought a book of poetry as a direct result of this movie) but to appreciate life. I always did (my parents and grandparents instilled a love of life from my earliest memories), but after this movie--and after Neil's suicide in the film--my twenty-year-old self relished all that life brought, the good and the bad, the valleys and the mountaintops. Cut to me becoming a dad and life becomes even more precious. Throw in the undertones of Robin Williams's sad death, and his message about living life to the fullest becomes even more poignant.

This is a movie for the ages, one of my favorites starring Robin Williams, and one all should see and revisit throughout the seasons of our lives.