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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 10/01/99 -- Vol. 18, No. 14
Chair/Librarian: Mark Leeper, 732-817-5619, mleeper@lucent.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper, 732-332-6218, eleeper@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist: Rob Mitchell, robmitchell@lucent.com
HO Chair Emeritus: John Jetzt, jetzt@lucent.com
HO Librarian Emeritus: Nick Sauer, njs@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 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. This is just a reminder that we will be showing GATTACA in HO
1J-672 Wednesday and Thursday (October 5 and 6) at noon. [-ecl]
===================================================================
2. This last weekend we got the news story I have been expecting.
The President has had his annual check-up and he is healthy, but he
is gaining weight. What did they expect? We are hearing a lot
about declining moral values in the Presidency. Some Presidents
have this tendency to become decadent. But is it any wonder? Here
the President has a whole staff of something like eighteen people
on call to make his meals. Probably graduates of the Cordon Bleu
or some other cooking academy. What do you eat when you have
eighteen highly trained chefs on your kitchen staff?
Three meals a day he probably gets all outlined on little embossed
cards telling him what he is going to get in six terrific courses.
Or maybe the chef tells him directly. When you are the President
of the most powerful country in the world you don't get a cold
meatloaf sandwich and a bottle of beer for dinner, as much as you
might want it. You might start out your term in office trying to
be like Jefferson, but by the end you probably just look like Taft.
I can just picture it. The President trudges out of the Oval
Office at six in the evening. Now he is tired. He has had a hard
day of being Presidential or covering something up or something.
He trudges to the Presidential Dining Room. There is the First
Lady, in earrings no less, sitting at the far end of a candle-lit
table. Standing next to his chair is Pierre, the White House head
chef. His term as White House Chef has taken its toll on Pierre,
his weight and his arteries.
"Good evening Mr. President. At your request we have a light meal
for you this evening."
"Light is good. I really am still full from lunch."
"We hope you enjoy what we have prepared for you. We will start
this evening with a very nice asparagus salad on a bed of
raddicchio and tiny filigree mushrooms."
"Uh, thanks Pierre, but I'm really not hungry."
"Then we will have an appetizer of cold Smoked Whitewater
Salmon,..."
"Now, I've asked you to refrain from using that word. And I just
told..."
"A Viennese Beef Pastry..."
"I had lunch with the Iowa Potato Queen. I had two baked potatoes.
I am still full. Tell you what. Do you have something for
heartburn?"
"Then we will have German Sauerbraten with red cabbage and potato
pancakes."
"Oh God. No, no more potatoes today."
"Then to top it off vanilla ice cream shells with fresh raspberries
en eau-de-vie de framboise."
"How about just a hot dog and a Coke?"
"What is this...hot...dog?"
"Just a hot dog, Pierre. C'mon Pierre, you know what a hot dog
is."
"We do not learn about hot dog at Cordon Bleu. But I will make you
a very special...hot...dog. I will make you Hot...Dog...Pierre."
"And what is that like?"
"It is like German Sauerbraten and Potato Pancake."
(The foregoing play is purely a work of fiction. Any similarities
to real persons living or dead or real dishes, previously served or
in preparation, is purely coincidental. In specific, Pierre is NOT
intended to represent Pierre Chambin, the obese French chef who was
downsized from the White House kitchen staff in 1994 for preparing
too many high-fat, continental-style dishes to a first family that
was trying to be weight-conscious.) [-mrl]
===================================================================
3. THE SIXTH SENSE (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: This is a slow and deliberate
psychological horror film about a boy who sees
visions that terrify him. They are slowly
eating away at his mind and soul. The script
is itself a trap to tantalize the viewer and
snap shut only in the final moments of the
film. And it has one of the best performances
of the year from any actor. But it is
particularly amazing that the actor is young
Haley Joel Osmet. Rating: 8 (0 to 10), high +2
(-4 to +4). Spoiler warning: The trailer for
this film tells the main premise of the plot
which would not otherwise be obvious until well
into the film. This review will reveal no more
than the trailer does. I have not seen any
reviews that do not reveal the premise.
Thematically similar to the current STIR OF ECHOES, THE SIXTH SENSE
is a horror story told so subtly that it is a psychological study
that is told against a backdrop that is almost magical realism. It
is a mystery told so subtly that the viewer does not even recognize
it as a mystery until at the end the solution is presented. Then
the viewer may want to see the film a second time just to verify if
the script is consistent and to see how well the mystery was
hidden.
Malcolm Crowe (played by Bruce Willis) is a South Philadelphia
child psychologist. He is so good at what he does he has been
given a citation from the mayor. Currently he is dealing with a
severely disturbed child, Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osmet). Malcolm
knows that the classic treatment and assumptions of treating
children with this syndrome can be wrong. The last similar patient
grew up highly disturbed and blaming Malcolm. In revenge he broke
into Malcolm's house, shooting the psychologist. Malcolm
desperately wants to avoid the same mistakes in treating Cole. But
from the beginning he is having serious trouble connecting with
Cole or in truth with anyone. His bad experience with the previous
patient has left him almost without the emotions to reach out.
What he slowly begins to discover is that Cole is trying to adjust
in any way he can to something beyond an emotional problem. His
problem is that he sees the dead. It is not just that believes he
sees the dead--they really are there and they talk to him. He will
see a dead child, start to talk to him, and then see the back of
the child's head is blown off. He lives with a thousand unpleasant
jolts like this every day. The resulting shock is just more than
he can handle much of the time.
Bruce Willis obviously gets top billing for this film being a
veteran of so many high-grossing films. In fact he turns in one of
his most subdued and best performances here. But he is playing
opposite an even better actor. Haley Joel Osmet has some very
difficult scenes to deliver as the haunted--figuratively and
literally--child. Too young to have gone through the years of
training most of today's actors have, he seems to be a natural
actor capable instinctively of giving a layered performance.
Whether he is remembered at Academy Award time or not he has given
just about the best performance of the year and he has made a
difficult film work. Certainly some credit must go to writer and
director M. Night Shyamalan who must have known exactly what
haunted feel he wanted from Osmet. Shyamalan keeps the pacing slow
and ominous throughout. The James Newton Howard score is not one
of his best but adds to the tension.
This is a film with some clever twists and a really good
performance by a child actor. This may be the surprise film of the
season. I give it an 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +2 on the
-4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
===================================================================
4. AN UNUSUAL ANGLE by Greg Egan (Norstrilia Press, ISBN 0-909106-
12-6, 1983, 200pp, A$14.95) (a book review by Evelyn C. Leeper):
No, this is not a new Greg Egan novel; it is an old Greg Egan
novel. Actually, it is a *very* old Greg Egan novel--his first
novel. Someone discovered a case of them in a basement somewhere
and they showed up at Aussiecon Three, where I immediately grabbed
one. (See last paragraph for availability information.)
The plot of this book is not like Egan's later work, but the wealth
of ideas--and many of the same ideas--that characterize his later
work is. There is a section on how quantum mechanics restored the
concept of free will. The protagonist sends out "viewpoints"--
essentially non-material copies of himself--to perform various
tasks. The protagonist is (literally) making films in his head,
which conjures up a vision of universes within an individual mind,
which in turn conjures up the image of layers of universes. (And
yes, I mean literally--the protagonist claims to have an actual
little film lab in there!)
The protagonist--first-person narrator, in this case--is a student
at what appears to be (in United States terms) a private
preparatory school. Though it many ways it seems to be run by the
same sort of people as the upper management in "Dilbert," the
narrator actually finds some method in their madness. That is,
their insane methods are actually logical to achieve their goals--
it's just that their goals are insane also.
I find it interesting that both Greg Egan and Neal Stephenson both
have their first novel out of print, somewhat disowned by
themselves, and set in an academic environment. I suppose this may
be a function of "write what you know." The value of this
suggestion can be judged by comparing the quality of these authors'
later works--arguably about things they have no firsthand
experience or knowledge of--to their first novels. (And how much
did Shakespeare really know about early Scottish politics?)
This book is out of print (and unlikely to come back into print,
from what I've heard), but Slow Glass Books, GPO Box 2708X,
Melbourne, Victoria 3001 AUSTRALIA may still have a few copies.
They take credit cards, so a letter with your credit card
information and a statement authorizing them to charge it for the
price plus shipping and handling would probably be easiest for
those not in Melbourne. [-ecl]
===================================================================
5. AMERICAN BEAUTY (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: A razor-sharp, merciless look at human
relationships in suburbia goes from a light
satirical comedy to a drama of piercing
intensity. One man's midlife crisis tears
apart a neighborhood. This provocative
theatrical film is the debut of former TV-
writer Alan Ball and it is as perceptive and as
it is unforgiving. Ball keeps no less than six
characters center stage and defines each of
them with brisk and telling dialog. Rating: 8
(0 to 10), low +3 (-4 to +4)
Few films have the power to take American suburban life and really
pin it down for examination like you would pin down a butterfly.
Michael Ritchie's SMILE did a very good job. Still a good job Bill
Persky's SERIAL is just a bit wider of the mark with somewhat
broader humor. Reminiscent of each at times, AMERICAN BEAUTY does
it even better.
The story is narrated by Lester Burnam (Kevin Spacey). Lester is
fast approaching middle age and life is just not working for him.
The advertising magazine where Lester works is probably going to
fire him any day, but he holds tightly to his job putting off
facing of the obvious failure of the current career. But his wife
Carolyn (Annette Bening) is ever-ready to remind him. Dinnertime
with Carolyn has become a constant series of barbs that he parries
as well as he can manage. Carolyn is also failing, but as a real
estate agent who is even more success-oriented than Lester is. She
is constantly on the lookout for the key self-help therapy to make
her a selling genius. Once passionate she has lost interest in any
relationship with Lester beyond the dubious pleasure of grinding
him down. Caught in between is their daughter Jane (Thora Birch)
who hates her parents and feels no connection with them.
Things have been this way for years but are set in motion again by
two events. Lester meets his daughter's best friend Angela (Mena
Suvari) and finds that after years of being sexually deprived he is
attracted to her almost to the point of obsession. When Angela
flirts back it fires off a serious midlife crisis in Lester. He as
much as possible returns to the behavior patterns of the counter-
culture years of his early twenties. He resigns before he can be
fired and takes a job flipping hamburgers. From there it is a
short step to Pink Floyd and marijuana. The other important event
is the arrival next door of the Fitts family. Colonel Fitts (Chris
Cooper) is recently retired from the Marine Corps. His son Ricky
(Wes Bentley) is a hyper-intense boy with a history of mental
problems. His hobby is voyeuristically videotaping his friends and
family to keep as a huge archive of taped memories which he funds
by selling drugs. His tyrannical father deludes himself that Ricky
is getting the money through odd jobs. Ricky comes between Jane
and Angela when Jane is fascinated by him and Angela repulsed by
him.
Spacey's transition from overly tense to extremely mellow is
handled credibly. Bening manages to keep her character less
complex than meets the eye. She has embraced simplistic self-help
regimes that have her repeat endlessly mantras like "I will sell
this house today." She is a cold, heartless woman with no core at
all. It is ironic that Spacey's character while rejecting the
adult world for one of a superannuated teen, still hopes to win
back his wife. Bening claims that she refuses to be a victim, but
it is really he who lives that philosophy. It is Bening's
character who outwardly wants to maintain the image of not changing
but is doing the most to betray the relationship. The Fitts family
is a frightening view of parental oppression. One parent is
explosively violent, a sort of a mad dog apparently created by the
military. Barbara Fitts (Allison Janney) has retreated from life
in a much less healthy way than Lester has. One feel that Jane
should examine this family before judging her own.
The script by Alan Ball (new to film but with TV experience) is
able to cover a large number of characters making them all go
through complex degrees of changes. It manages this without
turning the film into a soap opera by subtly cheating a bit with
the dialog, having characters being just a little more candid and
self-revealing than they would probably really be in life. For
example, Ricky just happens to accuse Angela of being just what it
is her worst secret fear that she is, and by her reaction all is
revealed. By using this technique Ball manages to observe and keep
in focus six characters in the foreground of the story. Directed
by Sam Mendes (a veteran of Broadway but new to film), the
characters are well displayed to allow an appreciation of their
complexity in a pace that never bores. With cinematographer Conrad
L. Hall, he creates some interesting erotic fantasies for Lester.
Almost all the fantasies have rich red imagery of roses. It is
interesting to watch how often roses are included in shots.
This is a perceptive film that flows from humorous to very serious.
It is a quality of writing rarely seen in films these days. I rate
it an 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +3 on the -4 to +4 scale.
[-mrl]
===================================================================
6. MUMFORD (a film review by Mark R. Leeper):
Capsule: Pleasant and amiable is Lawrence
Kasdan's style in this story of two Mumfords.
One is a small town of that name; one is the
name of the town's successful but unorthodox
psychologist. This film does a once-over
lightly on the town and on the nature of
psychological help. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high
+1 (-4 to +4)
Films like PLEASANTVILLE have questioned time-honored American
small town values. But traditionally American films have given us
idealized representations of American small town life. Generally
in American films small towns are where good people live and work.
Films like SHADOW OF A DOUBT have intentionally shown small town
life as really being the American ideal. Hitchcock intentionally
played up the theme in SHADOW OF A DOUBT to show wartime audiences
that small town life was what Americans were fighting for. Films
like DOC HOLLYWOOD press the idea that if you get to know the
American small town you are bound to like it and the people in it.
MUMFORD is a similar film extolling the virtues of the small town
life. DOC HOLLYWOOD was about the outsider trying to leave the
small town but falling in love with the town instead. MUMFORD is a
variation in which the outsider already loves the town and really
wants to stay in the small town in spite of forces to make him
leave.
MUMFORD opens with a sequence that looks like it was from some
luscious, steamy 1940s James M. Cain film adaptation. Are we in
the right movie? Yes. We are in the fantasy life of the Mumford
town pharmacist. The strong, handsome young man of the fantasy
turns out to be plump, balding and nearly blind in real life. He
is on the couch talking to bland, handsome psychologist Dr. Mumford
(played by Lorn Dean). Doc Mumford is disarmingly pleasant and
affable.
Through most of the first third of the film we get to know the
unorthodox doctor and about six of his cases. We watch how he goes
about treating them. Among them are Althea Brockett (Mary
McDonnell) who lives in luxury but is becoming a compulsive buyer.
Young Skip Skipperton (Jason Lee) skateboards through traffic and
runs the most successful modem company in the world. Emotionally
he is still a child just looking for a buddy with whom to talk and
play catch. Then there is Sofie Crisp (Hope Davis) an attractive
divorcee who is living with her parents and developing Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome. Mumford's treatment in each case seems to be in
equal parts pleasant conversation and intuitive pop psychology.
Sooner or later he seems to get each of his patients up to a nice
place in the hills he knows of that has an impressive overlook of
the town. Kasdan's approach to getting to the story is as
unhurried and even as pleasant as life in the American small town
of the title.
Ernest Delbanco (David Paymer) and Phyllis Sheeler (Jane Adams), a
psychiatrist and a psychologist, do not mind that the newcomer is
more successful than they are, but have some reservations about his
style. But we too start to notice something a little off in the
psychologist's style. In shooting the breeze with his patients
Mumford may indiscreetly talk about his other cases. Often his
comments to his patients are a little more direct and frank than we
might expect. He bones up on the Internet for some surprisingly
basic psychological information. He also takes an immediate
dislike to town lawyer Lionel Dillard (Martin Short). It may well
be that Doc Mumford may have some problems of his own,
psychological and otherwise.
In telling his story, Kasdan uses some unorthodox approaches. The
primary story line is delayed well into the film and then only
half-heartedly visited now and again. What drives the film is not
the pace of the plot. Instead, one wants to see each of the cases
Dr. Mumford is treating and how a simple intuitive approach works
to solve problems. Nor is the cast a particularly high-powered
one. Loren Dean, who played the title role in BILLY BATHGATE and
was an investigator in GATTACA, is likeable and inoffensive, but he
borders on being insipid and never generates much dramatic tension.
Alfre Woodard is under-used as a friend and neighbor of Doc
Mumford. Woodard previously shared with Mary McDonnell the films
BLUE CHIPS, PASSION FISH, and GRAND CANYON. Martin Short is
slightly abrasive as the town lawyer. Jason Lee as town
entrepreneur may be familiar as the clueless Banky from CHASING
AMY.
This will not be one of Kasdan's more memorable scripts, but it is
certainly a pleasant way to spend an hour or two. I rate it a 6 on
the 0 to 10 scale and a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. [-mrl]
Mark Leeper
HO 1K-644 732-817-5619
mleeper@lucent.com
The amount of noise anyone can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his mental capacity.
-- Arthur Schopopenhauer
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