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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 10/13/00 -- Vol. 19, No. 15
Chair/Librarian: Mark Leeper, 732-817-5619, mleeper@avaya.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper, 732-332-6218, eleeper@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist: Rob Mitchell, robmitchell@avaya.com
HO Chair Emeritus: John Jetzt, jetzt@avaya.com
HO Librarian Emeritus: Nick Sauer, njs@lucent.com
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the
second Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call
201-447-3652 for details. The Denver Area Science Fiction
Association meets 7:30 PM on the third Saturday of every month at
Southwest State Bank, 1380 S. Federal Blvd.
===================================================================
1. There was a time when the studios would send presentations of
their upcoming films to the World Science Fiction Convention and
enthusiastic audiences would greet them. I think that films seemed
more creative at that time. There was no presentation on upcoming
films but there were several film preview trailers. Some went a
little further than trailers, but I have just the most preliminary
information about these films. For some the audience was openly
hostile. These are the trailers seen at this year's presentation.
BLAIR WITCH 2: This is really a teaser. I liked THE BLAIR WITCH
PROJECT and Massachusetts film critic Dan Kimmel whom I was sitting
with did not. We both agreed, however, that there is absolutely no
need for a second film. For me the original worked because of its
very crudity. The same trick will not work a second time. The
audience actually booed the teaser.
THE WAY OF THE GUN: This has nothing to do with science fiction.
It is a crime film with fast edits and some jokes and did not seem
to have a lot to recommend it.
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM: The second film based on parts of the complex
novel LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN this looks like a story of aimless
teens and drugs. Dan Kimmel has seen it and thinks much what I
thought from the trailer, that the audience appeal will be narrow.
URBAN LEGENDS FINAL CUT: Looks like it is a horror story about
college students who are making films about urban legends, for
whatever education purpose that might serve. I suppose it says
something about the makers of URBAN LEGEND. I have no serious
objection to having the student makers of their own dead teenager
films sliced, diced or whatever. Being as I am a terrific,
sensitive, human sort of guy I have no intention to watch the
ceremony.
EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE: This is a new animated film from Disney. I
do not recognize it as any pre-existing story, which is just as
well since Disney is rarely faithful to source material. It
appears to take place in Pre-Columbian Peru and involves a member
of royalty who is turned into a llama. The scenes of the trailer
were actually funny.
UNBREAKABLE: M. Night Shyamalan who last year gave us THE SIXTH
SENSE brings us another weird tale starring Bruce Willis, this time
he co-stars with Samuel L. Jackson. Two or three trains are
involved in a huge collision and the mayhem kills everyone on board
violently except for Willis. Willis (with shaved head) somehow is
totally unharmed by the incident. People look at Willis as if
there is something supernatural going on.
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?: In Preston Sturges's SULLIVAN'S
TRAVELS, a film director is interrupted making a film of this
title. He is convinced instead of the noble purpose of making
comedies with "a little bit of sex." It looks like the Coen
Brothers have decided to go back and make their vision of that
fictional abandoned film. George Clooney and Holly Hunter star
with John Turturro and Goodman in smaller roles in a tale of riding
the rails and getting into mischief in the Depression Era. A Coen
Brothers film is usually good and always interesting. Their first
film, BLOOD SIMPLE, is currently getting some sort of re-release.
That film is GREAT and hopefully the new film will be good.
HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES: There was sort of an information-free
documentary about this horror film written and directed by Rob
Zombie. (They behaved as if that name should be familiar. It
wasn't.) It looks like a revival of the style of horror films of
the 1970s, like TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and MOTEL HELL. This also
did not play well on the audience, but out of nostalgia, I may be
interested in this one.
THE SPECIALS: This is a comedy about a team of klutz super heroes
much like the team in the X-MEN. It sounds a lot like last year's
MYSTERY MEN. In the film industry it is not the great minds that
think alike.
There was a short piece that appeared to be an ad for THE SPECIALS
action figures. (Don't you love that terminology? "Action
figures." It sells so much better than "dolls.") It was hard to
tell if it was a put-on to advertise the film. It probably led to
confusion about the next entry.
American McGee's Alice: This looked at the beginning to be some
sort of Saturday Night Live sketch, but apparently it is for real.
(Please someone, write me and tell me it is a joke.) This was not
so much a trailer as an ad for a PC game. The scenes are stylishly
wrought images of Alice in Wonderland. The idea of the game is
that Alice is given a mission in Wonderland and an arsenal of
weapons and she must go through Wonderland killing all the dark
images from Lewis Carroll's imagination. Is nothing sacred?
CYBERWORLD: This looks to be a show of computer graphics in IMAX
3-D. They figured that would not sell so they added an animation
of Bart Simpson to take you through. Just what the world needs.
The Simpsons 12 feet high in cyberspace.
THE EXORCIST: Hey, if that guy Lucas can re-release his
blockbusters in doctored form, why not release the 1973 head turner
of a horror film with 11 minutes of added footage. Pea soup *and*
Cream of Mushroom??? Who cares?
CHARLEY'S ANGELS: Cecil B. DeMille started making Biblical films so
that if people complained about the sex he could wrap himself in
indignity and say it was in the Bible. This film has Babes in
skintights because that's being faithful to the source material.
CHARLEY'S ANGELS has three (extremely shapely) female heroes.
Comedy and Kung Fu fighting. Bill Murray plays Bosley. I will
wait to see it on the telepathic Internet some time after we
colonize the moons of Jupiter.
VERTICAL LIMIT: A rich heiress went mountain-climbing and ended up
trapped near the summit of a very high mountain. There is a half a
million dollar reward for anyone willing to climb the mountain and
rescue her. So a bunch of people who need the money take
incredible risks to try to save her. More reason to resent the
wealthy. I think that if you are going for the glamour of mountain
climbing you should have to take the risks as well. This is a
message film and I don't like the message.
THE SIXTH DAY: Arnold Schwarzenegger vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
One day Arnold is told that he is really a clone of the person who
looks identical to himself and who has stepped into his life.
Arnold has doubt as to which one is the real person. Filmmakers
are still thinking of cloning as a way to instantly duplicate
someone. Rules to remember: 1. Cloning is a way to create a
newborn baby with your genetic pattern. That's all it is. Unless
you are cloning a just fertilized egg there will be a severe age
difference. 2. Even if there was no age difference a clone is less
like you than an identical twin would be. Most people who live
with identical twins have no trouble telling them apart. 3. It is
really, really tough to step into even an identical twin's life and
fool close friends that you are that person. This looks like an
action film for the ignorant.
THE GRINCH: This is a little more than just a film trailer. The
leader, which we were probably not supposed to see, said it was for
a generic convention. Then director Ron Howard gets on and says he
could have sent a trailer but wanted to send something "just for
you." Right. I am generally not into Christmas movies, but I have
to admit that Jim Carey really looks like the character and in the
scene I saw the writing was really funny. The writing went way
beyond Dr. Seuss. I admit that my estimation of this film
increased.
FREAKYLINKS: This is a TV show from the from the makers of THE
BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The trailer is pretty much information free.
Again what worked with the film will not work again. There are
going to be a lot of unhappy people if the makers of BLAIR WITCH
PROJECT turn out to be one-trick ponies.
DARK ANGEL: James Cameron's new TV series looks like it is sort of
a comic book for TV having something to do with recombinant DNA.
It has a woman hero and the ads are made to look like THE MATRIX.
RED PLANET: This is the second Mars film of the year. The trailer
did not give too much away, but that Val Kilmer is an astronaut who
crash lands on Mars. In this case better to give away too little
than too much.
I am not sure if it is a positive sign or a negative one, but the
audience definitely seemed hostile where they used to seem adoring.
But the bottom line is probably they will still pay to see many of
these films. [-mrl]
===================================================================
2. DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
(ISBN 0-553-11061-6, 1999, Hardcover, $27.50, 604pp) (a book review
by Joe Karpierz):
When will it end?
The question applies equally to two things:
1) The extension of classic sf universes long after the original
story has been published, and usually long after the series has
lost its appeal, and,
2) The "Dune" series.
Frank Herbert's DUNE is nearly universally recognized as one the
greatest sf novels of all time. It multilayered story of the
desert planet of Arrakis, a messianic hero who's birth is the
result of thousands of years of genetic manipulation, and a
universe-spanning empire rife with intrigue, treachery, mystery,
and romance is held up for all to see as one of the greatest
examples of world building in the sf field. It has been regarded
as one of the top 5 sf novels in many polls, online and otherwise.
And therein lies the downfall of the published "Dune" universe.
For the uninitiated, Frank Herbert took DUNE to a host of
publishers, all of whom turned down the manuscript, back in the mid
1960s. A car repair book publisher, Chilton, decided to publish it
back in 1965. After its success, Herbert wrote five more "Dune"
novels, generally recognized as progressively worse, culminating
with the publication of CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE in 1985 (for the record,
I actually found the fifth and sixth books quite good--but as
usual, I was in the minority). Herbert ended CHAPTERHOUSE on a
cliff hanger, and he clearly had something in mind for a seventh
book.
He died in 1986.
And so the series was destined to be incomplete, although rumors
and speculation abounded for years that his son Brian would pick up
the story and finish it.
I won't go into the details that led Brian Herbert and Kevin J.
Anderson to go back into the "Dune" universe. But, needless to
say, the aforementioned downfall is that sometimes a great
idea/story can't be let go. Herbert and Anderson decided that they
would indeed someday write the final "Dune" novel. I spoke with
Anderson very briefly at the meet the pros party at Worldcon in
Chicago this year, and he told me that the completion of the story,
the seventh "Dune" novel, if you will, would only be written after
he and Herbert had written this prequel trilogy, and quite possibly
some books that tell the story of one of the defining events of the
empire as we know it, the Butlerian Jihad.
I fear that one or both of them will die before they finally get
through it all.
You see, they have found Frank Herbert's notes as to what was
supposed to happen in DUNE 7. So, I think the story will end up on
a satisfying note.
But you know, I digress--this is more like an editorial than a book
review.
The "Dune" prequel trilogy, starting with HOUSE ATREIDES,
continuing with HOUSE HARKONNEN (just released), and concluding
with what I've heard will be called HOUSE CORRINO, is supposed to
set up the "Dune" story and universe as we know it to be in the
classic original novel.
But why should anyone care?
I think it does a decent enough job of it, I guess. It introduces
the prior generation or two of the characters we meet in DUNE, and
some of the characters themselves from DUNE. Baron Harkonnen and
Rabban, Shaddam and Fenring, Paul Atreides' grandfather Paulus, and
Paulus' son Leto, Thufir Hawat, Pardot Kynes (the father of Liet
Kynes), Elrood (Shaddam's father), and, of course, a youthful
Duncan Idaho, all play important parts in this story.
As the story opens, the Harkonnens have control of Arrakis, the
only world where the spice melange is produced and found. The
Atreides are on Caladan, their homeworld, Elrood is the emperor,
and well, you get the picture. Herbert and Anderson spend nearly
600 pages taking the status quo and slowly turning it into what the
universe will look like in Dune. There is the usual abundance of
treachery, from the death of Elrood and the framing of House
Atreides for an act it didn't commit, to the mysterious genetic
breeding program of the Bene Gesserit that will eventually produce
the all-powerful superbeing, the Kwisatz Haderach. If you were
looking for all that, well, it's there.
But for me, the story had no life, no excitement, nothing to cause
me to keep turning the pages. To me, it didn't *feel* like DUNE.
And that was its failing. In the second "Foundation Trilogy,"
Benford, Bear, and Brin made me feel like I was back in the
"Foundation" universe. Here, Herbert and Anderson did nothing to
make me feel like I was immersed in the "Dune" universe.
In short, I didn't care. I don't see why you should, either.
Having said all that, I'm going to keep reading these things, much
like I read the original "Dune" series, hoping for it to get
better. And it did. I hope this will too. [-jak]
===================================================================
3. SOLOMON AND GAENOR (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: 1911 South Wales is the setting for
this tragic love story, a sort of Romeo and
Juliet told in the bleak style of Thomas Hardy.
A Jewish boy and a coal miner's daughter fall
in love and grab some small happiness from a
dreary environment only to be torn apart by
their families. Well-acted and frequently
moving. English, Welsh, and Yiddish language.
Rating: 7 (0 to 10), +2 (-4 to +4)
The poignant setting is a misty, cold mining town in Wales, 1911.
Not unlike the setting of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF the town has two
nearby communities, one Christian, one Jewish. In the Jewish
community the Lewinsky family is composed of pawnbrokers and cloth
merchants. Solomon (played by Ioan) is about twenty years old,
good-looking, and enjoys his work as a "pacman"--going into the
Christian section leaving samples of cloth and taking orders for
larger pieces. When asked, Solomon denies being Jewish, just to
escape trouble.
Solomon finds himself particularly attracted to one customer, a
woman about his own age Gaenor (Nia Roberts). As he continues to
see her, professionally and otherwise, hiding his religion. He
takes the name Sam Livingstone. Gaenor is from a family of poor
miners. Her very large brother Crad (Mark Lewis Jones) immediately
takes a dislike to the stranger who he thinks is less than a man
since he does not have callused hands. But Solomon and Gaenor are
attracted to each other and are willing to risk the consequences.
The story is very much the star-crossed lover story, but if that
was all there was to this film it would be mundane indeed.
However, writer and director Paul Morrison does not make this the
film expected. First and foremost, the two main characters are not
totally blameless in their fates. There is enough fault in the
plot so just about everybody gets a piece. It would be very easy
to present the Jewish community as blameless and purely the victims
of intolerance as well-meaning literature has done since IVANHOE.
The Jews do appear more sinned against than sinning, but they are
also at fault and have their own intolerance. Gaenor is too fast
to accelerate her relationship with Solomon, whom she hardly knows,
and then refuses to tell him when she needs his help. Even the
countryside comes in for its share of the fault. Instead of the
lovely pastoral scenes that usually grace this sort of film,
cinematographer Nina Kellgren's camera accents the unpleasant in
the climate and locale: the stony landscapes, the cold, the gray
mist, the fog, and the snow. People's lives are as bleak as the
countryside. Everything in the country seems muted blue and gray.
The only bright color is a dress that Solomon sews for Gaenor, red
the color of sin and rebellion. Early in the film we see the Welsh
taking turns having kitchen baths, using the same dirty water.
They sleep two in a narrow bed. The Jewish and Christian community
each has its restrictions an intolerance of the other. The
Christian religion appears to be as bleak and unforgiving as the
landscape, the seem a little more positive. The Jews are given a
slight edge here as we see a meeting where they are discussing the
importance of understanding the writings of Dickens.
Ioan Gruffudd as Solomon seems a little old to be acting in the
irresponsible way that his character does. Gruffudd is best known,
to me at least, as a young Horatio Hornblower from a series of TV
movies. Of the two, Nia Roberts as Gaenor seems the better actor.
She exhibits an odd characteristic of brightening up and being more
attractive when Solomon is around. As tales of star-crossed lovers
frequently are, this is a story of pain and tragedy. There is more
pain in one of Morrison's fist fights than in all of the fighting
and shooting and killing in THE MATRIX. Ilona Sekacz's score
combines Jewish and Celtic themes, an unusual combination.
SOLOMON AND GAENOR is a textured moody love story and quite worth
looking for. I rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +2 on the -4
to +4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
4. MEET THE PARENTS (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: Ben Stiller plays a man brought home
to meet his girlfriend's family. With the
religious and class differences, things would
be bad enough, but the judgmental and
unfriendly father, played by Robert DeNiro, may
just destroy the entire relationship. This is
an uneasy blend of drama, comedy, and contrived
slapstick that only occasionally works. This
is a big budget remake of the 1992 film where
perhaps things may worked a little better in a
more modest production. Rating: 4 (0 to 10), 0
(-4 to +4)
In China in 1982 I turned the tables on our National Guide and
asked him if he had any questions about America. I guess I was
expecting some sort of political question. Instead, I was
dumfounded by what was most on his mind. "In America, do wives and
their mothers-in-law get along well?" He assured me in China that
they did, but I am certain if that were true he would not have
asked. Even in China people seem to have problems relating to in-
laws. Perhaps some of life's most difficult relationships arise
when families are suddenly artificially joined by marriage. A man
trying to relate to his new prospective in-laws and vice-versa
could be the basis of a very strong comedy. MEET THE PARENTS does
not demonstrate that fact, however.
Greg Focker (played by Ben Stiller) has been dating and in love
with Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) for ten months and is now ready to
propose to her. He will do it during a weekend visit to meet
Debbie's family and to attend her sister's wedding. From the
beginning the relationship is awkward between Greg and Jack and
Dina Byrnes (Robert DeNiro and Blythe Danner). Through no fault of
his own, the airline has lost Greg's luggage. And he has to ask to
borrow clothing. It is the beginning of a game of one-upmanship in
which Greg is nearly always one-down. As the games go on Greg is
more and more uncomfortable and uneasy which only contributes to
the mistakes he makes. Greg is playing a game he does not
understand, in a league he is new to. But perhaps along the way he
will discover some unexpected secrets about his father-in-law.
This film had potential in its tale of one-upmanship. It has hit
on a situation that many in the audience may find familiar--one
that has not been done overly frequently in films. But the script
by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg is a little too contrived. Too
many coincidences in the story work against Greg. The script could
not decide if the main character was incompetent or simply unlucky.
Certainly he does not help his situation by doing everything wrong
he possibly could, but even when he is trying to do the right
things nature conspires against him. There is an uneven mix of
slapstick sequences and human comedy. Certainly the last part of
the film feels awkwardly written.
The main reason to see MEET THE PARENTS is to see Robert DeNiro's
performance. DeNiro plays the suspicious and not a little
fascistic father as tightly wound and threatening as he can. The
little judgmental expressions on his face are a show in themselves
as Greg digs himself deeper and deeper into his insecurities. But
we do not really see much of that digging. Ben Stiller is an
affable presence in the film but is not really stretching himself
by playing the role as the nebbish to whom so many bad things
happen. It is nice to see Blythe Danner again on the screen. But
her character has a basic conflict between a basic decency and her
love for her husband and the script should have given her more to
do with that.
Randy Newman has written a playful score. In the first few seconds
of the film it does something creative I have never heard a film
score do before. There is a lot of source music that is popular
music of the 1960s. Presumably that is what the upper class
listens to at least in somebody's imagination.
Humor is subjective and some this film has been getting some
favorable comment. But this is a comedy that works only
occasionally for me. I would have to rate it 4 on the 0 to 10
scale and a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
5. SHADOW MAGIC (a film review in bullet list form by Mark R.
Leeper from the Toronto International Film Festival):
Capsule: Delightful (an unusual word to apply
to a Chinese film). The coming of Western
technology to China in the early 1900s is
chronicled in this tale of a young Chinese man
fascinated with an Englishman and his motion
pictures. With his ingenuity the young man
turns the entertainment into the marvel of the
province. Rating: +3
Chinese and English language
- Taiwan and German Production
- Directed by Ann Hu
- One of the most enjoyable Chinese films ever made
- Liu Jung Lun, is young man before his time, technophile.
- Tradition-bound China on whole rejects Western inventions
through chauvinism and superstition
- Liu, working for photographer, alone has fascination with
further inventions that foreign devils have brought to China,
phonograph
- Still photography has been accepted (why?)
- Raymond Wallace, slovenly Englishman, comes with motion
picture (shadow magic) equipment
- Lord Tan, opera performer, is champion of old art
- Liu's fate, including marriage, has been arranged
- Travel China shooting own films
- Liu must choose between the fate expected of him (traditional
system that has comfortable but unfulfilling fate for him) and
the unknown (working in films)
- Old footage in monochrome segues to color
- Some large sets, many people
- Scenes from Forbidden City
- All good ideas seem to come from Liu and not Raymond
- Pieced together from historic characters and incidents, but
everybody is a composite
- View of China in early 1900s
- Cameras thought to steal souls
- End of old order
- Western singing thought ostentatious and lacking refinement
- Seeing Europeans "They have families, I thought they were just
soldiers." "They appear to have feelings."
- Do not want to accept any technology from foreign devil
- Great Wall as symbol for rejection of other cultures
[-mrl]
Mark Leeper
HO 1K-644 732-817-5619
mleeper@avaya.com