Monthly Archives: July 2017

Movies

xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017), a (mildly) belated review

The other day I reviewed John Wick 2, the sequel to (duh) John Wick (if you’re curious, click here for that review).  Long story short: Though I enjoyed the original film, I hated the sequel… even though the Rottentomatoes.com score among critics and audiences was quite high, I found the movie monotonous, repetitious, and ultimately incredibly boring for something that was purported to be an “action” film.

Today, I review another sequel, actually the third film in a series but second to feature Vin Diesel in the title role (I’ll explain in a moment), xXx: Return of Xander Cage.

The original 2002 film xXx was, to me anyway, an enjoyable “modern” take on the James Bond superspy.  Back then, the X-Games were becoming a big thing and it seemed everyone was into doing “adrenaline” pumping stunts.  Bungee jumping, extreme skiing/snowboarding, parasailing, etc. etc. etc.

Into that setting came xXx, a film that, if memory serves, opened cleverly with a pseudo-James Bondian type spy trying to infiltrate a party filled with these young adrenaline junkies.  He’s sniffed out almost immediately and then snuffed out almost as quickly.

We then are introduced to Agent Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) who realizes that the “old” superspy won’t get the job done.  That what is needed is someone young, someone who is comfortable in the adrenaline junkie world.

Enter Vin Diesel’s Xander Cage.

As far as superspy films go, I thought xXx was a decent piece of entertainment which had its tongue sufficiently in cheek to work.  Vin Diesel, not quite yet the big star of the Fast and Furious films as he is now (at that point, only the very first Fast and Furious film had been released and the second of the franchise, the one not featuring Vin Diesel at all, would be released the following year).

Like Fast and Furious, Vin Diesel would skip this movie’s sequel, the 2005 xXx: State of the Union, which would hint that his character was killed and have Ice Cube come in as the “new” xXx agent, Darius Stone.

I never saw that film but from the reviews, it would appear I didn’t miss all that much.

It appeared the franchise was essentially dead after that point but, because of the box office rise of one Vin Diesel, one must never count out any of his previous projects.

So, twelve years after the release of xXx: State of the Union appears xXx: Return of Xander Cage and it features (you wouldn’t guess in a million years) the return of Vin Diesel’s Xander Cage!

…and…

…its not all that bad.

The film stuck to what made the first one a decent bit of entertainment, even though the whole “X-Games” and “adrenaline junkie” thing isn’t as big a thing as it was when the original film was made.

Further, Vin Diesel no longer looks like the young new guy and, perhaps fittingly, there is no attempt to have him blend in with the “young” crowds like was done in the first film.

The plot of xXx 3 (let’s just abbreviate it to this from now on, OK?) involves a computer device capable of bringing down satellites onto Earth and, thus, using them as a tool for assassination.

I know what you’re thinking: Aren’t there like, a zillion easier ways to assassinate people than to bring down satellites on them?

Of course there are but in this case, if you’re willing to accept this whooper of an absurdity and let the film go, you’ll have a reasonably fun time with it, though I grant you when its all over xXx 3 is nothing more (and for some/many I’m sure a lot less) than a mindless time killer.

Add an all star-action cast, a fun/surprising cameo appearance at the movie’s end, and delightful turns by Toni Collette (almost every scene she’s in she steals the show) and Nina Dobrev (who plays a somewhat ditzy xXx version of Q) and you have a decent time killer and not much else.

(A sidenote: This is the third film this year that’s had Ruby Rose in a smallish role in it, the first two being Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and the film I reviewed before this one, John Wick 2… she’s had a hell of a year appearing in these “B” action films!)

Look, this movie ain’t no Citizen Kane but, if you have a free afternoon and want to park your mind on “Neutral” and let things go, you could do far worse than see what’s up with Xander Cage.

General

Missing couple found… 75 years later

This is one of those articles that is both fascinating, heartbreaking, and, in a way, pleasant in that the remaining living relatives have some closure in what’s left of their lives.

From CNN, the following article by Zoha Qamar, which tells us about…

Missing Swiss Couple Found Frozen In The Alps After 75 Years

At the risk of stepping all over the article, here’s two passages which recount what happened:

Marcelin, 40, and Francine, 37, Dumoulin went missing on August 15, 1942, after leaving to milk their cows in a meadow near their home. They never returned to their family, including their six children.  A worker found the frozen bodies of a man and a woman last week during routine maintenance. The corpses were preserved in the receding Tsanfleuron glacier, near a slew of trendy ski resorts at 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) above sea level.

 

The corpses are indeed believed to be that of Marcelin and Francine and it was thought they fell through a crevasse and froze to death.  Thanks to the receding glacier -perhaps a result of global warming- their corpses were discovered.

 

As  heartbreaking as the story is, the fact that these now grown and elderly children finally get to know what happened to their parents must be a relief to them, if nothing else.
Books/Literature

Vintage scifi available for download!

And its free!

Galaxy Magazine, which hit news stands from 1950 to 1980, is now available for free (and legal!) download over here:

https://archive.org/details/galaxymagazine

There are plenty of fascinating stories to be found in the various issues of the magazine and, credit where its due, I found out about the availability of these issues via the below story, written by Matt Novak and found on gizmodo.com:

Vintage Scifi Mag Galaxy Available For Free Online

Image result for galaxy magazine

TV

Now that’s…nasty…

Over the weekend it was announced that Jodie Whittaker would play the first female Doctor Who.

And then…

Muroch-owned paper publishes nude photos of new female Doctor Who

The above article, by Gabriel Bell and found on Salon.com, reports how The Sun decided to print some nude photographs of Ms. Whittaker, taken in previous roles.

I have to say… that’s a pretty low blow.

There are those who feel Doctor Who is primarily a child’s entertainment (I would disagree) and, by publishing these photographs, one can’t help but realize The Sun is trying to tweak the producers of the show.

For what end?

Do they hope to so turn people off to the “tawdry” photographs that the producers decide to not use Ms. Whittaker?

Why would they gain in shaming an actress with a long list of credits as she’s about to take on what is easily her most high profile role?

It’s nasty business and, worse, petty as hell.

General

Health care…

Beware…

…Politics…

One of the primary chants from the Republican party, and perhaps what got them as far as they have (ie, the Presidency, Senate majority, and House majority), was the statement that they would “Repeal and Replace” the Affordable Care Act (ACA), ie “Obamacare”.

The tactics were effective because they preyed on people’s fear of the unknown and, alternatively, it was difficult for the Democratic Party to defend a bill that was as complex as it was.

Many have stated the ACA, as written, has its problems and, I’m quite certain, it has.

But not having any form of health care coverage seems, in this day and age, a major governmental failure.

Perhaps now that the latest Republican attempt at “their” healthcare system has failed, more even heads can come together and strengthen this system.

TV

New Doctor Who

Over the weekend, along with the sad news of the passing of George A. Romero and Martin Landau, came news that the new Doctor Who would be, for the first time in over fifty years of the show, a woman!

So the new Doctor is being played by Jodie Whittaker, star of the British crime drama Broadchurch.

Immediately there were those who made their displeasure known.  The Doctor is a man!  What will this new Doctor wear, pink?  And you just know where the sonic screwdriver jokes went.

Frankly, I’m intrigued.

Yes, a case can be made that the producers of Doctor Who are purposely shaking things up and, in the wake of the success of Wonder Woman, perhaps reasoned the time was right to try a female version of the Doctor.

Some have argued that because of his (note this word) history, Doctor Who should always be male.  Some even felt he should be an elder gentleman, which is what the majority of the Doctors have been with a few exceptions.

Again, I’m intrigued.

Of all the famous characters out there, the Doctor is perhaps the only one where the concept of changing his race or even sex makes sense.  The reason there have been so many different Doctors, to those who have never seen the show, is because the Doctor regenerates whenever his current body is about to expire.  In reality, of course, this is a gimmick which allows the show to continue with different actors and their different takes on the character and not have any uncomfortable explanation of why.

Having said that, if the Doctor regenerates, why wouldn’t he conceivably regenerate into a female form?

I for one will most certainly catch the new episodes.

Movies

Martin Landau and George A. Romero, R.I.P.

Over the weekend (a busy one, at that), came the sad news that actor Martin Landau and director George A. Romero have passed away.

Martin Landau is one of those actors that I found really intriguing.  When he was very young, he worked as a cartoonist and, when he went into acting, was a friend of James Dean’s.  Perhaps Martin Landau’s best early role was the almost completely non-speaking thug Leonard in the seminal 1959 Alfred Hitchcock directed/Cary Grant starring North by Northwest.

Mr. Landau’s big breakout role would be as Rollin Hand in the wonderful 1960’s TV series Mission: Impossible…

Mr. Landau was rumored to have been considered for the role of Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek series but, of course, that role went to Leonard Nimoy.  Interestingly, when he and his then wife (and knockout beauty) Barbara Bain left the show, Leonard Nimoy would subsequently come in and play a character similar to his!

A few years later Mr. Landau and Ms. Bain and go on to star together in the sci-fi series Space: 1999…

For my money, that remains one of the groovier openings of any TV series.  Sadly, the show itself was no Star Trek and, while a cult favorite, it never reached the heights of that show.

Mr. Landau seemed to essentially disappear after this show, popping up on oddball movies or shows here and there, including playing the crazed “Sarge” in the mostly forgotten (but not by me!) low budget chiller -and Predator pre-cursor- Without Warning.

While it appeared Mr. Landau’s career was faltering, he was about to have a late in life turnaround, appearing in such critically loved films as Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and, in a role that would earn his an Oscar for Best Supporting actor, the foul mouthed and elderly Bela Lugosi in the Tim Burton directed Ed Wood…

A fascinating actor who played many fascinating roles, even if the movies or TV shows he was involved in seemed beneath his talents.  R.I.P. Mr. Landau.

******

The other big passing was George A. Romero, best known as the director of the original zombie epics Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead (a personal favorite), and Day of the Dead.

Given what he created with these three films alone -and ignoring all the other things he was involved in, including his collaborations with Stephen King (Creepshow among them) and the TV series Tales From The Darkside– I hope he received plenty of recognition, if not a percent of the action, from the producers of The Walking Dead, a show that simply wouldn’t exist at all without Mr. Romero’s works.

Mr. Romero would spend his later years continuing to work on his zombie films and to, truth be known, produce far lesser results.  At the time of his passing he was working on what, at least to me, appeared to be a pretty outrageous new zombie concept called Road of the Dead.  According to IMDB, this is the film’s description:

The story is set on an island where zombie prisoners race cars in an arena for the sole purpose of entertaining the rich.

I actually kinda like the concept.  Hopefully, one day we’ll see it and it’ll prove to be something as good as some of George Romero’s best works.  Dark black comedy, bleak horror, and plenty of chills.

R.I.P. Mr. Romero.  And, as the joke making its rounds goes, please don’t come back as a zombie!

E. R. Torre Art

Sketchin’ 4

Here you go, from yesterday…

Looks like I once again made the picture’s dimensions too damn small…must have been a slip of the finger when configuring the image size.  Once the image is “set”, the iPad you doesn’t offer information on the image size unless you double check it.  I consider that a lesson learned.

Still, I’m not too upset.  I like the above image but, of the four I’ve done so far, I’ve been lucky those that were too small are among the ones I’m less satisfied with.

Not that I think the above image is a complete bust but compared to the Raquel Welch and Nosferatu ones, it come next.

Anyway, the Phantom of the Opera!

General

Well, that was quick…Amelia Earhart, redux

Last week and to breathless reporting the History Channel presented a documentary centered around the discovery of a photograph, presented below and supposedly a once top secret image…

A new History Channel special claims this photo is proof Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were in the Marshall Islands after their plane disappeared.

Which, when one zoomed in on the people in the center of the dock, those same folks at the History Channel felt were Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan…

Some experts believe the figure highlighted at left is Fred Noonan and the person sitting, facing away from the camera, is Amelia Earhart.

I’m not going to lie: I found the story as fascinating as most everyone else out there curious about Amelia Earhart and her fate.  In fact, I wrote about it here but noted that I doubted the photo displayed what the History Channel thought it did.

Since it was reported the photograph had once been “classified” and, further, that the person who reportedly took the photograph was eventually executed as a spy (I can’t help but wonder if that part of the story was outright fabrication, considering the below), I suspected that the subject matter was more likely the vessel in the background rather than the few people on the dock.

Now, a few days later, a blogger has burst the History Channel’s bubble and you can read all about it in this article by Ruth Graham and for Salon.com…

A blogger exploded the Hot New Theory of Amelia Earhart with 30 minutes of Online Searching

What did Kota Yamano, the blogger in question find?  From the article:

the History Channel’s analysis now seems to be crumbling under 30 minutes of internet research by one military history buff. Kota Yamano, a Tokyo-based blogger, found the same photograph printed in a Japanese-language travelogue published in 1935, almost two years before Earhart and Noonan disappeared. The caption underneath the photo says nothing about the identities of the people in the photograph, which apparently depicts a regular old harbor, rather than a harbor and two missing celebrities.

Whoops!

Here, presented within an article about the same subject by Yoko Wakatsuki and Ben Wetcott for CNN, is that same photograph as it was shown in the book published two years before Amelia Earhart disappeared, and when she was no-where near the Pacific…

This photo was reportedly published in 1935 by Futabaya Gofuku Ten.

Ah well.

It was fun while it lasted, a whole two or three days.

Music

Musical tastes…

There are plenty of things out there that fascinate me (I worry sometimes that I waaaay overuse that word!) and, to add to the list, is this: What makes music popular?  What makes it stick with one generation, then get ignored -or worse- by another?

Yesterday and over at themuse.com, Ellie Shechet offered this article…

A Playlist of Bands We Pretended To Like As Teenagers

As a Proverbial-Old-Fart™, I’m amused that most of the artists listed came after my own personal music hey-day, though there are bands listed I do like, even to this day (For example, I still think Hole’s Live Through This is a terrific album even though I’ve not gotten into any of the other albums Courtney Love has done nor am I terribly interested in her…celebrity or not).

Now if you scroll past the article itself, someone with the handle GinAndTonic, Potential Grizzly (some of these poster’s names can be quite… interesting) wrote:

U2 makes me want to blow my brains out.

The post has a large number of “likes” and was a response to another poster who noted (but didn’t necessarily put down) U2.

What fascinates (see, I’m using that word again!) me about the post is the venom many seem to have today, especially the younger generation, toward U2.

In part I suspect this was due to the ill-advised 2014 give away of their latest album, Songs of Innocence, via iTunes… whether the iPhone/iPad/iWhatever user wanted it or not.

I wrote about this here and here, noting that while there was absolutely nothing wrong with releasing an album by a big band like U2 free for anyone with an iPhone/iTunes/iWhatever to get free, it was not a good idea to automatically have it download to everyone’s device whether they asked for it or didn’t.

It was a way to take something good (the giveaway) and make it bad.

And I can’t help but think that this poisoned the well for U2 with today’s youth.

I grew up with U2’s rise and, personally, love almost every one of their albums -from start to finish- from The Unforgettable Fire to Zooropa.  Don’t get me wrong: I like many songs in the albums previous to The Unforgettable Fire, including this song, found on the album War, which proved my first big awareness of them back in the early 1980’s (boy, we were young back then)…

I felt, roughly until Rattle and Hum, that U2 could do no wrong.  That album felt bloated and, though it had a few good songs here and there, seemed to be a band moving without much direction.  Then came Achtung Baby, their best later stage album, IMHO, and the “throwaway” experimental album Zooropa, a wild one-two punch that I loved.  That album concluded with this interesting collaboration between U2 and -of all people!- Johnny Cash:

But their follow-up album to Zooropa, Pop, was absolutely dreadful, IMHO, and I could only listen to it once and haven’t given it another try since.  Their subsequent albums have featured decent enough songs here and there but, sadly, I feel the band simply lost itself and the magic it had.

This is, by the way, something that seems to happen to almost all acts, especially those that constantly try to do something new and interesting.  Sometimes, new and interesting takes you into areas that lose fans.  While I can certainly appreciate that they’re still trying, most of the stuff that’s come post-Zooropa just hasn’t been my cup of tea.

Which is a shame but goes a long way from declaring hatred toward them and their music!

My eldest daughter, a big music fan, can’t handle U2 and will not listen to them either and, I feel, that’s a shame.  They created some great music but, as I mentioned way back at the start of this posting, music tastes change and what can work for one generation may not work at all for another.

Was the Apple download fiasco a big part of the reason some of today’s youth hate U2?  I suppose.  But I also suppose that today’s youth seek their own music and they simply cannot look at what are now middle aged -and older!- musicians strutting their stuff and accept them as cutting edge music they’re interested in pursuing.