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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 02/12/99 -- Vol. 17, No. 33
MT Chair/Librarian:
Mark Leeper MT 3E-433 732-957-5619 mleeper@lucent.com
HO Chair: John Jetzt MT 2E-530 732-957-5087 jetzt@lucent.com
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 732-949-7076 njs@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist:
Rob Mitchell MT 2E-537 732-957-6330 robmitchell@lucent.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 3E-433 732-957-2070 eleeper@lucent.com
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824
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 New Jersey Science Fiction Society
meets irregularly; call 201-652-0534 for details, or check
http://www.interactive.net/~kat/njsfs.html. 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. Academy Award nominations of science fiction, fantasy, or horror
films include
- Ian McKellen in GODS AND MONSTERS (Best Actor)
- Ed Harris in THE TRUMAN SHOW (Best Supporting Actor)
- Lynn Redgrave in GODS AND MONSTERS (Best Supporting Actress)
- THE TRUMAN SHOW [Peter Weir] (Direction)
- THE TRUMAN SHOW [Andrew Niccol] (Original Screenplay)
- GODS AND MONSTERS [Bill Condon] (Adapted Screenplay)
- PLEASANTVILLE (Art Direction)
- WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (Art Direction)
- PLEASANTVILLE (Costume Design)
- A BUG'S LIFE [Randy Newman] (Music for Comedy or Musical)
- MULAN (Matthew Wilder/David Zippel/Jerry Goldsmith] (Music for
Comedy or Musical)
- THE PRINCE OF EGYPT [Stephen Schwartz/Hans Zimmer] (Music for
Comedy or Musical)
- PLEASANTVILLE [Randy Newman] (Music for Drama)
- "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from ARMAGEDDON [Diane Warren]
(Song)
- "The Prayer" from QUEST FOR CAMELOT (Carole Bayer Sager, David
Foster, Tony Renis and Alberto Testa (Song)
- "That'll Do" from BABE: PIG IN THE CITY [Randy Newman] (Song)
- "When You Believe" from THE PRINCE OF EGYPT [Stephen Schwartz]
(Song)
- ARMAGEDDON (Sound)
- ARMAGEDDON (Sound Effects Editing)
- ARMAGEDDON (Visual Effects)
- MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (Visual Effects)
- WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (Visual Effects)
===================================================================
2. It is, I think, the common wisdom that something has gone wrong
with the science fiction film. We are getting a lot of films like
INDEPENDENCE DAY, GODZILLA, and ARMAGEDDON that are not really very
good science fiction. The whole reason for their existence seems
to be to show off special effects. The feeling is that special
effects have run away with the intelligence of the science fiction
film and we really can expect only big, violent stupid science
fiction films from this point forward. This theory seems to be one
that everybody has noticed and everybody seems to agree upon. I
would like to question if that is what is actually happening.
Instead of special effects domination of the science fiction film,
I would like to suggest that something different is happening. I
think that science fiction is coming to dominate the spectacle
film.
Science fiction films were a rarity before 1950. There are some
notable classic films before 1950, such as METROPOLIS and THINGS TO
COME. Occasionally films that were made for a horror audience
would be more science fiction than horror. This would include
films like THE INVISIBLE RAY. But it really took the dropping of
the atomic bomb on Japan to convince the general public that the
changing world of science would have an effect on real people's
lives. But already common since the silent days were the big
spectacle films like THE MARK OF ZORRO and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN
HOOD.
From the beginning of the 1950s there were better and worse science
fiction films. The first science fiction film of the 1950s was
ROCKETSHIP XM--a quickie rushed through production to exploit the
publicity of the upcoming DESTINATION MOON. The latter film, under
the production of George Pal, made heavy use of visual effects.
They became part (or perhaps always were part) of Pal's style in
science fiction films. Pal completed his trilogy of science
fiction spectacle with WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE and THE WAR OF THE
WORLDS. These were not intelligently written films but their main
entertainment value was in what they created for the eye. The
special effects were not always perfect. But they were sufficient
to advance the plot. It was much like watching a marionette show.
You would not confuse what you were watching with reality. You had
to suspend your disbelief. You occasionally had to do that even in
the big budget adventure films like THE SEA HAWK. The great sea
battles were frequently between rather obvious models. In the
1950s and 1960s though there was some overlap, notably from Pal,
most of the spectacle films were historical epics, especially
Biblical epics. Titles that come to mind are GIANT, THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS, THE VIKINGS, SPARTACUS, and BEN HUR.
Hollywood liked the spectacle film because you always could whip
one up. You invested in enough Viking costumes and enough Viking
ships and a story where two men who loved each other end up
fighting to the death, and there you have a piece of history right
on the screen called THE VIKINGS. You invested in enough togas and
enough chariots and a story where two men who loved each other end
up fighting to the death, and there you have a piece of history
right on the screen called BEN HUR. Sometimes the stories were
good, sometimes not. But you knew from the beginning about what
the costs were. An expert could look at the script and make a back
of the envelope calculation. You might be able to whip up a
FORBIDDEN PLANET, but only if you had the "creatures from the id"
concept. Of course, you could whip up some pretty bad science
fiction films also. But for the most part the science fiction film
was not ready for spectacles. You had a few decent science fiction
films come out and a lot of spectacles, and rarely were they the
same films.
But as the years went by the film industry had a bigger and bigger
problem with the spectacle. History education was not what it once
was. A filmmaker knew exactly what it cost to put a Viking on the
screen, but was less and less sure that the viewer in the audience
actually knew what a Viking was. Hollywood filmmakers see audience
members saying, "Who are these Vikings? You know, they seem to be
a lot like old-time Klingons." So the big, often dumb, spectacle
films are moving from historical themes to science fiction ones.
Science fiction is the mythology of our age.
I am sure no filmmaker sat down and said, "You know, I am really
worried about what might happen if a giant mutant iguana should
attack New York City." What the filmmaker more likely said was,
"We have the special effects to do it. Let's show a giant monster
trampling New York City." You still have a few decent science
fiction films come out each year, films like GATTACA, THE TRUMAN
SHOW, and DARK CITY. But a bigger and bigger piece of the
spectacle output is also science fiction. Yes, we get our films
like BRAVEHEART, our films like THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, but they
are getting rarer. Instead we get some big science fiction
spectacles--often dumb, sometimes not so dumb. So by proportion it
looks like special effects are taking over the science fiction
film. In fact we are getting about the same number of decent
science fiction films that we have gotten for decades and the
spectacle films that at one time would have been historical are now
in large part science fiction. [-mrl]
===================================================================
3. PAYBACK (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: Several months ago Porter, played by
Mel Gibson, was double-crossed and left for
dead after he participated in a robbery. He
wants his $70,000 share and is willing to burn
down or kick his way through anybody who stands
in his way. He faces bigger and bigger
enemies, who intend to stand between him and
his money, but he is tougher than any of them.
And he knows how to play hardball. It is
obvious that whomever Porter faces is going to
come out second. The fresh characters keep the
film watchable, but even a large cast of
veteran actors cannot make this remake of
1967's POINT BLANK believable. Rating: 4 (0
to 10), 0 (-4 to +4)
Several months earlier Porter (played by Mel Gibson) planned a
clever robbery. He was supposed to get a cut of $70,000 as his
share. Instead he got nothing but bullets in the back before being
left for dead. As the film opens he is being treated by the just
about the most nightmarish doctor imaginable. It is a painful
scene to watch and will not be the last painful scene by a long
shot. It was not easy getting back on his feet, but now he is and
he wants his money. But the proceeds of the robbery went to the
Syndicate, an organization not generally known for fast and
friendly refunds. The harder Porter pushes for his money the
harder he is pushed back by people who have the power to push back.
But Porter is able to counter-punch for every punch. Along the way
we get amusing portraits of hoods with sado-masochistic tastes,
crooked cops, prostitutes with hearts of gold, prostitutes who are
nothing but greed, and bizarre Mafiosi. This is a film with many
bizarre characters, not all as funny as the trailers would have you
believe.
PAYBACK had the potential to be a modern OUTLAW JOSEY WALES if the
lead had held the film together. But Porter is just not a very
well written character. Occasionally he is smart but more often he
gets out of trouble by being lucky. Somebody shows up at just the
right time, or he is just in the right place because he needed
cigarettes. When someone tries to kill him with a bomb he knows to
check just the right object in the room. Or over the telephone he
hears just the right background conversation. And in a fight he
hits harder and shoots straighter than anybody else. In fact he is
saved so often by contrivances that the story becomes predictable
and one rarely has to watch the film. We just know he will come
out all right even if painfully the worse for wear. He is
basically Superman and the bad guys do not know it yet, but they
are way over-matched. The script was a cooperation between Terry
Hayes and Brian Helgeland. Hayes wrote the excellent thriller DEAD
CALM. Helgeland (who also directed) wrote the scripts for L.A.
CONFIDENTIAL and CONSPIRACY THEORY. He also did work on the script
for THE POSTMAN. PAYBACK itself is a remake of POINT BLANK (1967).
Here, however, their character's capabilities are just not very
plausible and Gibson cannot carry the film the way Lee Marvin did.
Among the familiar faces in all-too-brief roles are William Devane,
James Coburn, and Kris Kristofferson. Coburn just lights up the
screen. All three are Syndicate members of various ranks. David
Paymer is a small-time hood with the wrong friends in the police
department. Maria Bello of ER plays Porter's friend and confidant.
Ericson Core's camera-work keeps the colors muted, mostly in blues
and grays. This has much of the emotional impact of black and
white photography, without actually using black and white.
We have seen before the story of the good-guy crook who plays
hardball with anyone who gets in his way. For better thrills, the
viewer might want to rent the original POINT BLANK. This remake
gets a 4 on the 0 to 10 scale and a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-
mrl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3E-433 732-957-5619
mleeper@lucent.com
Marriage is the only adventure open to the cowardly.
-- Voltaire
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