Casting Call: Khan Noonien Singh

J.J. Abrams, director of the newest incarnation of Star Trek, had this to say about the future of the franchise to MTV.com.

"Now that we are in a parallel existence with what fans of the original series love so much, we could introduce any number of characters, settings, references and situations that the original series introduced. Dealing with Khan would certainly be a challenge, but we had an equal challenge in finding our crew of the Enterprise."

For those who don't know, Khan is the antagonist of episode "Space Seed" and the very popular movie Star Trek: Wrath of Khan. Khan is one of many genetically engineered supermen gaining a lot of power during the Eugenics War until he was forced to flee Planet Earth is cryo-sleep aboard S.S. Botany Bay with a number of other supermen. Give me a minute to recuperate, that geekiness was astoundingly exhausting.

Anyways, considering the new Star Trek has set itself on an alternate timeline from the original series, they are free to revisit any of the originals former plot points in (fingers crossed) new and exciting ways. According to Abrams and pretty much common sense, Khan, one of the more popular and dramatic exploits of the Enterprise crew, is bound to show up. But who will play him?

Antonio Banderas

Banderas seems like a good idea. He certainly has the habit of melodrama, but still has the potential for great performances, just like Ricardo Montalbaun. Plus he could be thrown a bone. I cannot remember the last good movie he was in.

Javier Bardem

And than theres always the new go to guy villain after his incredibly frightening performance in No Country for Old Men. Bardem has definitely solidified his place in cinema history, only good things should come of it.

Of course, I think the truly best bet is to throw out all possible contenders. With the newest Star Trek, I think Abrams proved to be one of the better judges of talent out there.

Hidden Gem: Sublime

Raw Feed, a direct-to-DVD genre branch of Warner Brothers, presents Sublime, a story centered around George Grieves, an average Joe family man, checking into a hospital for a routine operation. Complications ensue due to Grieves having a similar name to another patient, complications that send him into a never-ending nightmare of his greatest fears blurring the borders of reality. Beginning with the more probable complications, it slowly builds into much stranger realms.

Tom Cavanaugh plays George Grieves. Cavanaugh is known mostly for his comedic/dramedy work starring in a number of failed tv shows with small but loyal fanbases. He really gets to shine here as a voice of reason and skepticism during the entire flick, but maintains a sense of fear and paranoia. If the material was a little better quality than Cavanaugh could be looking at a performance to rival Sam Rockwell in Moon.

The story delivers serious spine-chills and creeps instead of the jump-out-of-your-seat spooks that modern horror fans have become accustomed too. The pacing is undeniably slow, but I feel it compliments the context of the story.

7/10

Review: The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

The brothers MacManus, Connor and Murphy, makes their way back to Boston after setting up camp in Ireland with their dad when they hear an old friend was executed in such a way that it looks like it was them. With the help of their dad and some familiar cops, along with newcomers, Eunice Bloom, Smeckler's protege, and Romeo, a Mexican Bostonian with his ear to the ground, the Saints set out for to clear their name and find justice.

As a fan of the first one, I had very low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised though. I was almost positive it would go in the same direction as most action sequels go; amp up the cheese and over-the-top action and forget about the stories and characters. This is not what happened. Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus slip back into their roles with ease. The two have really great screen chemistry. I could easily buy them as brothers the way they can be joking and having a great time one minute and with the flip a coin be at each others throats. Billy Connelly is possibly in his greatest role as Il Duce. He truly goes above and beyond what the movies deserve being one the coolest badasses in cinema. It was really nice to see the cops have a much bigger role. They offer a lot of laughs especially, Bob Marley (no, not that Bob Marley), whose stand-up is very good as well. Even the bartender with Tourettes and the Irish arms dealer make appearances. The newcomers do not offer much though. Julie Benz's Southern cowgirl, Special Agent Eunice Bloom, lacks serious personality in comparison to Willem Dafoe's very memorable performance from the first one. Romeo, played by Clifton Collins, Jr., offers limited comic relief. Just like Bloom, he lacks the same level of likeability compared with Rocco from the first installment. Fortunately, Roc makes a pretty great cameo with some pretty cool lines. Peter Fonda has also joined the cast as a man with a mysterious connection to the boys' father.

The action is definitely amped up from the original, as is the comedy. This time around though it is much more hit-or-miss than the first. There were a few cringe-worthy lines and a few jokes that just fell flat especially in the beginning that had me worried about the rest of the movie, but it progressed nicely, building enough momentum to easily move on rather than dwell on the low points.

The story is jam-packed with information, some of it just seemed futile. The flashbacks involving the history of Il Duce were very interesting and well-defined, but the linear storyline was bogged down by multiple bad guys. The mobsters were pretty plain, except for Gorgeous George, who was too corny for words. The hitman sent after the Saints suffered from serious height issues, neither funny or intriguing, it felt like a waste of space. Fonda's Roman was a far superior villain than any of them.

The ending is very............interesting. I am not sure where they are going with it, or how possible another installment is, but they certainly set up for more story, more so than the previous installments' "We continue our work" scenario.

SPOILER: A familiar face appears at the end, possibly the best kept cameo ever.

The movie has serious entertainment value. I had a lot of fun watching it, but it is still not a perfect film, far from it really. It has the intensity and charm of the action movies of the '80s, but with the 90s/00s gloss and appearance. I think fans of the original would certainly enjoy it, but those who hate the first will certainly not come around based on this flick.

7/10

Review: Paranormal Activity

When Kate suspects she is being haunted, her boyfriend, Micah, decided he is going to document events and prove to her it is just her imagination. As the nights go on, the evidence becomes overwhelmingly apparent that they are in fact being haunted. They look to experts with no luck and continue living their lives, but the activity becomes harder and harder to ignore, and eventually puts their lives in danger.

This movie was part of an internet petition to get this into theaters. They needed at least a million, and got that (plus more I think) based purely on trailer footage. Whenever a inexpensive film is hesitantly backed by a studio, I usually put faith in the fact the project is good. And thankfully so.

Kate and Micah (they use their real names) are not award winning actors. For all intents and purposes, they are still amateurs. A lot of the negative criticism has come under their acting skill, usually done in the most disrespectful way possible. I unfortunately have to agree. In the beginning their small talk felt forced, and they were lacking a lot of chemistry as a couple. Yet they were still engaging enough for me to care what happens to them, as well as being incredibly disarming. Plus once they get into the thick of incidents, their reactions seem mostly authentic. They perform the bare minimum in my opinion, so for the most part is works.

The camera visions at night are definitely the star of this movie anyway. A few thuds here, a flickering light there, all nonthreatening individually, but overtime, the idea of coincidence becomes meaningless. The scares come from a really realistic place. Creepy things happen and bring you to the edge of your seats. There is no attempt to jump at the screen and startle you with loud noises or gross you out with crazy over-the-top gore. The filmmakers invest a lot of time in building tension and a sense of dread, and that is better than any masked slasher that the audience actually roots for over the teen stereotypes they happen to be chasing down at any given moment. This movie is popular for the same reason the Ghost Hunter shows are, a dependency on little things that add up to a big haunting allowing the improbable to seem possible.

I should say that there is one attempt to jump at the screen and startle you, and that is in the theatrical ending. The alternative ending is much more appropriate in my opinion.

7/10 Amateurish? Sure. Horrible? No way. Over-hyped? Possible, but I wouldn't let seeing this depend on that characteristic.

Review: Antichrist

A couple travel to their cabin in the woods after suffering the loss of their child. Their the husband, a therapist, coaches his grieving wife through cognitive therapy in order to find out what she truly fears and to grant her solace in the face of losing her son.

There is only one way to describe this movie. FUCKED UP

Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourgh pull of very chilling performances, their characters known only as "he" and "she." They start the movie off as very normal couple. Grieving and emotionally distraught, but normal, human nonetheless. Gainsbourg seems to be dealing the worst, and Dafoe takes responsibility for it. As time goes on, they both seem to move into the darkness, becoming more and more crazy, yet rationalizing themselves in such a way, that makes it incredibly more horrifying than a person who is simply out of control, especially Gainsbourgh, who's bipolar character is the most confusing character to get a read on.

The movie itself is split into 4 chapters including a prologue and epilogue. The first being the prologue where while having sex, the couple do not notice their son near by climbing to look out the window, but accidentally falling to his doom. The next 4 chapters, basically the plot of the movie, follows these two lovers into the woods in order to face their fears. The woods and cabin turn out to be a depressing place working more as an excelerant than a deterrant for their emotional instability.

Visually, there is no movie that compares. If anyone has ever referred to a movie as arthouse, than they have not seen this. They all pale in comparison. The simplest vision or sound bring about feelings of doom and gloom. This movie dares to be disturbing and unforgettable showing the much, MUCH darker side of humanity.

She is studying gynocide, the murder of woman, for a thesis, and during her emotional instability has convinced herself that she, like all the other female victims in her project, deserves to die. She blames herself for the death of their son, for good reason I must say, and drives he to the brinking point.

What does this movie actually mean though? I don't know. To fathom a guess would only ruin the experience for yourself. One of the movies in a long time that has a truly think-for-yourself ending. For a slow movie, it is surprisingly engaging, but I don't see most people making it through this movie. The entertainment value is incredibly low. This isn't a painting you put in a coffee table book, you hang it in a museum and tell every critic that it is in fact art no matter how much they deny.

6/10 based purely on art.

Top 10 Favorite Sci-Fi Flicks

After seeing Moon this summer and being completely mesmerized by it, I have had science fiction on the brain, particularly the kind that comes with a social conscious and meaningful disposition as well as the future tech and nuanced performances that have become the most common elements of all. Sci-fi really does get a bad rap what with the lonely loser Trekkie stereotype and really REALLY horrible "Sci-Fi (oh my bad SyFy) channel originals...." people just kind of scoff at, even though the numbers suggest they line up for everything that has a killer robot, invading aliens, or spandex-clad superheroes. There is no doubt more Sci-Fi in necessary in modern cinema, especially at this stage of special effects advancement. Here are my top favorite sci-fi flicks for you to whet your whistle on.

10. Equilibrium

Equilbrium takes after Farenheit 451 taking place in a distant future where art is illegal and passionate feelings of hate or love are buried by mandatory, government issue pharmaceuticals. Most art and "sense-offenders" are dispatched by "clerics." Christian Bale plays one such cleric who after missing a dose of his numbing perscription falls deeper and deeper into addiction of feeling all the while pretending he's not. It is probably one of his more impressive performances. Just the little things he does over the course of the day that make him stick out from the other clerics are very subtle yet set in motion the waves of emotion he feels at certain points within the movie. Euqilibirum is also chock full of some of the coolest action scenes, using the directors own blend of "Gun-Kata," gun play meets martial arts, that has to be seen to believe.

9. Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Minds

No robots. No superheroes. No apocalytpic view of the future. Just your average joes of modern times undergoing a procedure that is out of this world. Joel, played by Jim Carey, undergoes mind erasure of a messy break-up and once great relationship he had with Clementine, played by Kate Winslet. Directed by the very fantastic Michel Gondry, the events of their relationship play mostly backwards, as Joel relives the relationship as the technicians erase them. Being conscious during the procedure, Joel drifts off to other memories trying to save his favorite times spent with Clementine.

8. Children of Men

In a post-apocalyptic world, all the women stopped having babies. It sends a number of people into complete apathy, while a select veiw become aggressive and violent. The world is in shambles both emotionally and physically, and no where is really safe as the world is reduced to slums and de-militarized zones. Clive Owen plays a man capable of great hope and love who has lost his way with the rest of the world until he is pulled into an operation by his ex-wife and her revolutionary cohorts to protect a young pregnant woman.

7. 12 Monkeys

Bruce Willis plays a time traveler forced into the past by the remaining humans of the future to gain intel on a disease that would eventually send humans underground. In 12 Monkeys, time travel is not an exact science. A couple of times Willis' character is sent to the wrong time, and he is even convinced he is crazy in modern times. Bruce Willis, known for his bravado and comic timing than his dramatic acting, excels surprisingly well even if Brad Pitt's psycho supporting character steals the show and gains more attention.

6. The Road Warrior

Most of the world knows it as Mad Max 2, but since it was released in the US before the first Mad Max that wouldn't make much sense. In fact, this arm's length distinction between the two works out for the best since the future of Mad Max and the future of The Road Warrior share a number of differences, the biggest being the amount of social decay that has occured. The Road Warrior depicts an Aussie setting where all government and society has completely erased leaving a number of boomtowns and villanous, nomadic gangs littering the highways. Max rises as a definitive anti-hero who's motivation for helping first comes from selfishness as he bargains for gas and equipment and later out of his own honor as he helps the residents of a boomtown escape. The Road Warrior is best remembered for its incredible finale car chase devoid of any CGI, strictly all stunt work.

5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Easily one of the greatest sequels cinema has ever offered, Arnold Shwarzeneggar returns as the wooden robot from the future not as a villain but as a hero protecting young John Connor from a much higher advanced robot combatant. Arnold is truly amazing in this movie. The Terminator itself is characterized by its absence of emotion, and while the leads to some comical interactions with John, you can actually see the Terminator grow and develop as a character in small subtle ways. The key to this change is his ever growing understanding of why humans are the way they are, which also unlocks the doors to why we created the technology that turned on us in the future and why we are worth saving, both of which would usually be answered with entirely opposing intentions.

4. Dark City

Influenced by the tone of film-noir, this mystery-thriller involved a group of aliens, known only as The Strangers, who lack any kind of differentiating characteristics, have taken it upon themselves to study the life and love of humans by systematically rearranging the elements of a small population of people's lives to see how they would unfold. One such human ends up being more than he appeared having the same reality warping powers as The Strangers. Now immune to their changes, he tries to piece together his far fragmented life and earn back the woman he loves, yet swears he has never met. This movie is chock full of incredible cityscapes resembling Burton's Batman or The Crow (no surprise since they share a director).

3. Empire Strikes Back

A best of sci-fi could not go without some kind of nod to Star Wars, and Empire Strikes Back has clearly been the best installment of that 6-part story in my opinion. First of all, it is Han Solo at his best. Same roguish charmer from A New Hope. Same bull-headed hero from Return of the Jedi. It is also our first introduction to Yoda, the philosophical mentor, and Lando, Han's frenemy for life. It also has the coolest action of any of the first three, and not to intentionaly quote Clerks, but it has an outstanding downer ending leaving the audience wanting more.

2. Blade Runner

A neo-noir detective mystery based on Philip K. Dick's Do Robots Dream of Electric Sheep, Richard Dekard is one the case to find 4 cyborgs (aka replicants) on the rampage after finding out they have expiration dates. The sad realization that they are not immortal and have more in common with humans sends them into a craze, pretty impressive for a computer brain. The tone, visuals, and Harrison Ford downplaying his investigator character and Rutger Hauer playing his sadist replicant up makes for a chilling dynamic. Catch the director's cut for a subtle subplot involving the possibility that Ford's Deckard is also a replicant. Any of the three verisons (at least 3 I know of) all include the sad, thoughtful last words of Hauer.

1. Moon

The reason that I am even making this list is because of this movie. Maybe it is just so fresh in mind and that I have an incredible bias for the talented and underappreciated Sam Rockwell that this new film makes it so high, but it deserves a spot on anyone's Top 10 sci-fi flicks regardless. It is funny, thoughtful, profound, and engaging, all impressive feats for a one-man-in-two-roles show. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell and Sam Bell, one of the same but coming aged three years apart meeting on a space mission to harvest the newly discovered energy source. After spending three years in isolation, anyone would go crazy, but is it really hallucinations or a bigger conspiracy at hand. Stay tuned for Duncan Jones', director of Moon and David Bowie's son, next feature Mute, a piece inspired by Blade Runner, and rumored to show the final fate of Sam Bell.

Honorable Mention: Serenity

I needed to throw some kind of honorable mention in here because there were so many movies I wanted to add but couldn't. For instance Serenity, the continuation of the short lived television series "Firefly." It follows the further adventures of war hero Captain Mal Reynolds and his band of miscreants as they live paycheck to paycheck as mercenaries. This time they get in over their heads with a conspiracy that goes all the way to the head of the new ruling class, the same bad guys who won the war against Mal's side. One part western, one part Star Wars. This is a fun action-adventure with truly charming characters and a great bad guy yet a pretty ham-fisted message.

Review: Carriers

The world has been overrun with a plague. Most of the human population is either dead or dying. A group of 4 are trying to make it to their childhood vacation spot for solace, but their cross country trek does not turn out to be easy. Finding gas, shelter, and protection from the sick and the paranoid proves much harder than they expected.

Carriers is another in a long line of mis-marketed movies. I feel like that is a sentence used far too often nowadays. Carriers promised to be a quick-paced thriller implying that their would actually be "carriers," as in a minority group of infected showing other signs other than death. Instead it is very much a psychological drama. Much of the fear stems from feelings of isolation, desperation, paranoia, and expendability (even in the eyes of your loved ones). These elements work effectively, but make for a much slower movie than expected. It is a bit of a chore to sit through the movie, which is not even that long. The gore factor is also very low; a few blood splattered face masks and rashes.

The acting is top notch though making for a more pleasurable viewing experience. Chris Pine continues being great after his breakout role in Star Trek, and Lou Taylor Pucci is a very promising up and comer. Piper Perabo and Christopher Meloni also give very memorable performances, maybe more so than the two male leads. There were also a few moments of humor, mainly from Pine's character trying to lighten the mood. These light scenes are unfortunately fleeting and lead to stryfe among the survivors.

The movie is very minimalist, relying on atmosphere and key performances all of which just fall short of par. The film is in no way poorly constructed, but the quality of storytelling is just not as high as one would hope.

6/10