THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
12/26/03 -- Vol. 22, No. 26
El Presidente: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
The Power Behind El Pres: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
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Topics:
Book Title (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Modern Writing (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Barbara at the Drive-In (letter of comment by
Barbara Cormack)
THE COOLER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CYPHER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
NOTHING (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (FRIDAY THE RABBI SLEPT LATE,
THE ADVENTURES OF BRIGADIER GERARD, and CATO)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Book Title (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I saw a book with a title that was one of those combinations of
words that seems stranger the more you think about it. The title
is LIVE LONGER NOW. I'm alive right now. Now is just an instant
of time. Can I add five years to that instant of time? Or if I
live longer is it living longer later? If I am going to live
forty more years and I extend it to forty-five by what I do now am
I really living longer now and just pushing those forty years
forward in time. Three little words and I have an afternoon's
worth of ideas to think about. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Modern Writing (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I downloaded to my PC an episode of the new animation anthology
called THE ANIMATRIX, a collection of anime pieces based in the
universe of THE MATRIX. The animation--I think it was called
"Program"--shows a woman warrior in a world based on historic
Japan. She is in a battle and, aha, she is victorious. It turns
out to be a layer of artificial reality, part of a test for the
woman in the modern world. As she gets up she punches the
instructor. He says she has done very well, except for the last
part when she punched him. The images are very colorful and
engaging. (The animation is not really good but it is up to anime
standards. Few people seem to notice but anime animation is
really not very good.)
This short film is a nice, polished piece of animated film, except
for the plot--or really the lack of a plot. The story is an
assembly of cliches and old ideas I have seen not once but dozens
of times. The main character is a woman who is superbly powerful,
attractive, but who has attitude. Like Ripley in ALIEN. Like
Lara Croft in TOMB RAIDER. Like Elektra in DAREDEVIL. Like Sarah
Connor in TERMINATOR 2. Like Buffy. Like Xena. In fact, you see
that combination in various forms several times a week these days
and it is used here as if it is original. That's it. That is the
whole story. She is a good fighter and has attitude. The
production is polished, but it left me mystified as to why anyone
wanted to tell me this story. I got through it telling myself
that it was just so many minutes of my life wasted. The truth is,
the filmmakers had no story to tell. They just pulled cliches off
the shelf to use to show off their style. They are showing how
good a job that they could do telling a story if they had a story
to tell. But they didn't.
It seems that the most under-valued talent in today's media is the
ability to tell a good story. Stories may be written to hang
special effects on or to allow action scenes, but like the
producers of this short film did, the people who are making the
stories for the media underestimate the importance of actually
having an interesting story to tell. You can hire good special
effects crews; you can hire good stunt people; you can even hire
decent cinematographers. These are called crafts people and ones
who are at least competent are in no small supply. (The really
good ones may be as rare as good writers are.) Good writers are
artists and the ones who tell good stories are in really short
supply. There are no formulae to teach people to write good
stories (though there is a guy named Robert McKee who claims to
have some useful approaches he can teach). But if filmmakers do
not value the few people who can tell good stories, you end up
with some really lousy films. This year we seem to have a lot of
them. This may be why the third Matrix film did so poorly. I say
it may be because I did not see the third film. The second film
was enough for me.
This problem pervades other media also. Back when I was in
college comic books were considered by many people I knew to be a
real art form. Reading Spiderman was suggested. Here was a
superhero with real human problems. Sure he did. There was about
the level of human drama one found in a character in the average
children's film. There were no stirring emotions in Spiderman.
You just have a guy with superpowers who by the way occasionally
had small personal problems to take care of. If the stories were
really well written, I was missing what was so good. If they were
writing really interesting characters, even as interesting as
Richard Blaine in CASABLANCA, it was not obvious to me. The
writer who was supposedly the great master in the field of comics
at that time was Stan Lee. Stan Lee's writing does nothing for
me. Lee would brag in the comic books about how good the stories
he wrote were. But they weren't.
Later there was the European invasion of the comic medium. In
1977 when the comic book HEAVY METAL came out, with translations
of European comic stories, I was interested to see the various
international comic styles that were represented. But I was quick
to see that what passed for a good idea was an image of a Cadillac
in orbit around a planet. Lots of nude women with big breasts.
Lots of robots. Lots of robot women with big breasts. The cover
of the premier issue showed a big-breasted woman robot with a
monkey wrench smashing another robot. That pretty much sums up
what passed for writing in HEAVY METAL. I think I subscribed for
two years and did not find one character I cared about.
THE MATRIX is an entire series of films that does little to
characterize its people. You have placeholders getting into
fights and being digitized in special effects. There were ideas
in the series, but they were never really examined in any depth.
The writing imitated writing that was mystical and profound, but
which was really meaningless. Lots of current films seem that
way.
I think that is why Reality TV appeals so much to the media
moguls. If a character is real he will act real. It does not
take writing talent to make him seem real. Reality TV is to TV-
writing what rotoscoping is to animation.
More than at any time in the last hundred years we have come to
accept our entertainment without demanding that it have good
writing. More so than in the days when the studios turned out a
film a week, entertainment is a factory product. We have to learn
to demand better writing before the media moguls decide that
writing is not important at all. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Barbara at the Drive-In (letter of comment by Barbara
Cormack):
[My article last week got many readers reminiscing about drive-in
movies. Barbara Cormack sent this one. If you have memories you
would like to share, send them in and we will tell the world.
-mrl]
"I also enjoyed Mark's piece on the drive-in movies. My little
story about drive-ins concerns my early attempts at business. I
used to go to the drive-in with my best friend Sherry's family.
Her mom and the two little brothers, in pajamas, got the back seat.
All would soon fall asleep. Sherry and I would arm ourselves with
rolls of paper towels and bottles of Windex, then work our way
through the cars awaiting the movie and offer to clean peoples'
car windshields for $0.25. It is amazing how many people neglect
to clean their windshields before going to the drive-in. Most
people were good-natured about it, some admired our enterprise,
and some gave us the quarter just to get us to go away so they
could return to making out. I once made $14.00 this way, which
was a huge amount of money for a 13-year-old in 1968.... Anyway,
Sherry and I would return to the car, tired out and ready for the
movie. We sat in the front seat with her dad, handed him cans of
beers, ate everything in sight, and felt very grown up." [-bc]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE COOLER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Bernie Lootz is a loser living in Las Vegas making a
living with his contagious bad luck. A casino uses him to spread
his luck to winning high-rollers. But then he meets an attractive
cocktail waitress who likes him and his luck starts to change,
causing problems for the casino. William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin
star in a story that mixes comedy, drama, and a touch of fantasy.
Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
Casino movies are almost as popular as restaurant movies. People
like to see what goes on behind the scenes. Whether the viewer is
attracted to gaming or not, just watching gamblers is absorbing.
Probably all films are about the human drama of taking risks. In
most films someone loses. But films about gambling make that sort
of risk-taking very concrete and in casinos usually the results of
the gamble take just seconds to determine. Maybe that is the
reason, maybe not, but films like CASINO and HARD EIGHT are
fascinating to most viewers. Las Vegas is particularly
interesting because of the bright colors and lights. People are
interested in systems gamblers use. People are interested in the
superstitions of gambling. THE COOLER is about Las Vegas and
about luck. The main character is one Bernie Lootz (played by
William H. Macy). Bernie doesn't gamble with his own money. He
did at one time and he lost in a big way when he could not cover
his bets. Bernie should have known because Bernie always loses.
His luck in life as well as on the gaming table as in the bedroom
is uniformly terrible.
Bernie's life is totally cocked up because of his bad luck. His
wife left him. His son, whom he rarely sees, hates him. But his
luck is so bad that it's good enough to make him a living as a
"cooler." He only has to stand next to a gambler, perhaps touch
his hand, and the gambler loses. That sounds like really bad
luck, but it is music to a casino-owner's ears. Turning gamblers'
winning streaks into losing streaks is a talent that a casino
owner can exploit. Bernie is employed by the Shangri-La, an old-
style casino from the days that the mob ran Vegas. He is the best
luck cooler in the business. That seems to reward him just enough
to live in a sleazy motel and survive.
Bernie's friend and the manager of the casino is Shelly Kaplow
(Alec Baldwin). Shelly is an enigma. He loves his friends and
can be utterly charming. Cross him and he can loose the brutality
of a tiger. Shelly has to deal with the casino owners who want to
modernize the look, feel, and operation of the Shangri-La and for
once Shelly is on the defensive. He also has to deal with
Bernie's announcement that he is leaving the Shangri-La at the end
of the week. But Bernie is having second thoughts about leaving
now that an attractive cocktail Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello)
waitress is showing some romantic interest in Bernie.
THE COOLER is directed by Wayne Kramer, who co-wrote the film with
Frank Hannah. Like Bernie, the script is likable but not really
much of a winner. Plot twists intended to surprise the audience
are predictable. As with a Capra film, we have a pretty good idea
where the film is going, but it still may be enjoyable to see it
get there. Alec Baldwin turns in a dynamic performance with a
combination of sentiment and viciousness. Perhaps Macy's
performance is as good, but if so it is subtler. He starts the
film exuding a sort of limp apathy to his job and slowly injects
energy into this role. Maria Bello somehow reminds one of a
shelf-worn Sharon Stone. Her sex scenes with the clumsy Macy have
a charm all their own. Paul Sorvino is along as a once-popular
lounge singer who is past his prime.
This is an engaging enough story and it has a really magnetic
performance from Alec Baldwin. It won't win any Oscars, but it
delivers its lightweight story with aplomb. I rate it a high +1
on the -4 to +4 scale or 6/10.
[Note: This would make an interesting double feature with Juan
Carlos Fresnadillo's film INTACTO.] [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: CYPHER (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Rating: +3 (-4 to +4)
Many science fiction films of the last few years are based on the
writings of Philip K. Dick. Somehow his paranoid view of the
nature of reality, and how it can be completely different than it
is perceived is an idea that appeals to filmgoers. CYPHER is not
a film that is based on any Dick story, but Brian King's script
captures the Dick feel perhaps better than any other film. Morgan
Sullivan (played by Jeremy Northam) is a nerdish sort dominated by
his overbearing wife. But the job he is taking is anything but
nerdish. DigiCorp and Sunways are among the two most powerful
corporations in the world. They are vicious rivals. DigiCorp has
hired him to spy on Sunways. His job is to not be very
noticeable. He is to attend conferences under the false name Jack
Thursby and during the conference to turn on a recorder disguised
as a pen. Sullivan is fascinated by his new world of codes and
skullduggery and allows himself to be pulled into the strange
labyrinth of industrial espionage and the cold war of the two
giant corporations. Almost immediately the boring conferences get
more interesting when he starts seeing an Asian woman (Lucy Liu)
who may also be playing the same game.
Though films with a similar plot have been made, I found this one
genuinely exciting, and to me it has the feel of a science fiction
novel. While some of the ideas now familiar, standard paranoiac
fantasies, I think the execution is great, creating genuine
excitement. This is a lot for a seven-million-dollar production
to do. The film has little homages to films like NORTH BY
NORTHWEST, SECONDS, and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.
There are some interesting visual tricks. The film begins almost
black and white as Sullivan is unsure of himself in the shadowy
world of industrial espionage. As his character develops and
becomes more sure of himself the colors fill in more and more
vivid. Sullivan's very world has changed. Jeremy Northam
traverses the path from nerdish to superman with impressive grace.
Director Vincenzo Natali (CUBE, NOTHING) has a sure hand and could
be a major talent. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: NOTHING (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4)
Vincenzo Natali could well be a major talent of Canadian cinema
and perhaps even international cinema. Previously he made CUBE
and CYPHER. NOTHING starts as a comedy but soon becomes an
original fantasy. And few films we see really are so original.
Andrew and David have been the picked on by others since they were
boys. They have formed a strong friendship and an alliance based
on self-defense. They share a really ugly house (uh, half a
house), apparently right under a freeway. Life is not great but
at least they have each other.
But the time has come to break their partnership and each to go
his own way. David has a girl and is going to move in with her.
Or so he thinks. In one day each has his world fall apart. David
loses his job, and discovers he never had a girl to lose. David
returns home. Meanwhile Andrew is wrongly accused of child
molestation, David of embezzlement, and the city has determined to
demolish David and Andrew's house. The locals are besieging the
house throwing rocks through the windows. The two are left
cowering on the floor. When suddenly . . . .
There is a white flash and after it Andrew and David hear nothing.
Cautiously they step outside the door and find the reason they are
hearing nothing is that that is what now surrounds their house.
Nothing. Beyond the property line there is a great white expanse
of nothing. Alex and David have been given the ability to wish
things out of existence and everything outside the foundations of
their house is gone. It seems that Andrew and David have the
power to erase things from reality. This is a premise that rates
about a B+. But Natali is quite clever in his search for
implications of this strange power.
Natali's script is constantly inventive in finding implications of
this power. NOTHING has the dimensions of allegory in among other
things being a story that dissects human behavior and the nature
of aggression. The premise is reminiscent of the Jerome Bixby
story "It's a Good Life," best known for being adapted as one of
the best-known of the TWILIGHT ZONE television series. The
special effects used are not expensive, but the plot allows them
to be used very effectively.
Note: This is a very inconvenient title for a film. "What did you
see last night?" "NOTHING." "Then where DID you go?" [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
The library mystery discussion group covered Harry Kemelman's
FRIDAY THE RABBI SLEPT LATE, the first of his long series. I
thought the "expository lumps" about Judaism where a bit un-
subtle, but most of the people (particularly the non-Jews) thought
them well done. At first I thought the portrayal of a
conservative rabbi who cooks, drives, and turns on lights on
Saturday was questionable, but thinking about it, I suspect one
found this more then, with the move back to a more observant
position being a relatively recent phenomenon. I found the book
interesting for its portrayal of a different world: an upper-class
community with maids where people don't even lock their cars. (It
reminded me of the setting of FAR FROM HEAVEN, the recent film set
in the 1950s with Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid.) In any case,
everyone agreed it was an easy-to-read and enjoyable book.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE ADVENTURES OF BRIGADIER GERARD is a
humorous picaresque novel of a French soldier of the Napoleanic
Wars, who is a first-person narrator who doesn't realize he's a
rascal and a bit inept, but manages to let us know. Doyle is, of
course, better known for creating Sherlock Holmes. Though he said
he expected to be remembered for his historical novels, I'm not
sure this was one of the ones he was thinking of.
Somewhere I had read that Joseph Addison's CATO was a favorite of
John Adams, and one can see why. While Shakespeare's JULIUS
CAESAR concentrates on the treachery and in-fighting of the
conspirators against Caesar, Addison looks at the situation from
the point of view of those who genuinely feel that Caesar is
becoming a dictator and destroying Roman freedom, but who don't
necessarily want to assassinate him. That someone like Adams,
concerned about American liberty, would like this play is not
surprising. (It's a bit hard to find; I got it in an anthology
edited by Richard Quintana titled 18TH CENTURY PLAYS.) [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Speak when you are angry and you will
make the best speech you will ever regret.
-- Ambrose Bierce
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