Politics, BEWARE…!
Though it has been looked at before, it appears that in these past few days a greater focus seems to be finally, finally developing with regard to Donald Trump’s very odd fascination with Russia and its ruler.
Considering all the things he’s done so far (from changing the Republican platform to the weird private/secret meeting with Putin to the glowing things he’s said about him while lambasting our allies), it’s about time.
Way back in 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in what was arguably his second biggest/best role -after The Terminator, of course- as Dutch in the classic horror/action hybrid Predator…
The movie, directed by John McTiernan (whose next film following this was the criminally forgotten Die Hard… 😉 ), managed to mix horror and action in equal doses and, further, presented a villain in the form of the alien Predator which was truly fearsome and made one wonder how someone as seemingly invincible as Mr. Schwarzenegger would survive.
Three years later a sequel to that film appeared. Cleverly (I kid, I kid) titled Predator 2, the 1990 sequel was directed by Stephen Hopkins (Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, numerous TV credits including 24) and starred Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso, and Bill Paxton…
Unlike Aliens, the sequel to the terrific Alien, the movie wasn’t a huge box-office hit or held in as high esteem. Despite this, the Predator creature proved popular enough to appear in several subsequent films, up to and including last year’s The Predator.
I was curious to re-watch Predator 2 (don’t ask why), and a couple of nights ago I put it on, sat back, and watched it. I found it a most curious experience.
The movie takes the original Predator’s setting from the jungles into the then near future L.A. (the movie, as mentioned, was released in 1990 but the film’s opening states the action takes place in 1997). This near future L.A. was heavily influenced by the original Robocop. It is a hellscape of disorder, gangs, and heavy guns; of cops overwhelmed and dealing with sleazy TV reporters (including a cameo by the late right wing mouth-breather Morton Downey Jr.) eager to report on the latest street-level outrage.
The movie is certainly ambitious in presenting a very full cast of characters. It begins by introducing us to Danny Glover’s Lt. Harrigan (the movie’s protagonist) and his crew. The crew consists of his right hand man Archuleta (Ruben Blades) and right hand woman Cantrell (Maria Conchita Alonso). When introduced they are involved in a street level gang gunfight that’s gone out of control. Thanks to the actions of Harrigan, the bad guys retreat into a building. As Harrigan is about to order a raid on that building, he gets an order from above that he’s to stand down, that someone else will take care of the hoods.
Renegade as he is, Harrigan ignores orders and his crew raid the building. Within the crew find a grisly and bloody massacre. One gang banger is left alive and Harrigan pursues him to the roof and wipes him out. Afterwards, Harrigan spots something… strange (though fans of the original Predator know what it is): A weird figure who isn’t quite visible.
Back on the street, Harrigan is reamed out by Captain Heinemann (Robert Davi, pretty much wasted in what amounts to a cameo role as the cliched “stern Captain”). Another, strange group of people arrive at the scene and take over. They are led by an equally strange Peter Keyes (Gary Busey, also in what amounts to a cameo role), who seem to know more about what’s going on than they’re willing to say.
Once back at the station Harrigan and company meet newbie -and loudmouth- Lambert (Bill Paxton, playing a mild variation of his smart-ass Aliens character) and, with the cast in place, we get to the mystery of what’s killing the violent gangs of L.A., and whether the creature behind these massacres has targeted Harrigan and his people as well.
The problem with Predator 2 versus the first movie is that there are too many moving parts. As I mentioned, Robert Davi’s “stern Captain” is a cliche of a character and, frankly, could have been done away with to give the story proper more time to breath. Further, I got the feeling the theatrical cut of the film left plenty of scenes on the cutting room floor.
Perhaps the biggest example of this is when Harrigan presents to the crusty (another cliche) lab lady the Predator spear-head for examination. Only thing is: We never see Harrigan get the spear head. A certain character gets it before they… get it, but we never see Harrigan pick the piece of evidence up. It’s left to a clumsy voice over to have Harrigan states he got it from a dead person’s hand but never see that actual scene.
Eventually Harrigan goes mano-a-mano with the Predator, and it is in this prolonged bit that the movie’s logic takes its hardest fall. It’s simply impossible to believe after seeing the fierce Predator of the first movie to believe Harrigan could go after this Predator like he does… and actually have him on the run.
Finally, the climactic way Harrigan takes out this Predator requires the fearsome and clever alien become incredibly stupid and allow him(it?)self to get within stabbing distance of our hero.
So, yeah, as a sequel to the wonderful original, Predator 2 falls short.
However, and after saying all this, Predator 2 is far from the worst sequel to a terrific original film I’ve seen. There are serious problems with the film but I admired the film’s makers ambitions even if they ultimately fell short of the mark.
A while back I posted this…
The original covers (for the most part) of my physical copies of the seven books in the Corrosive Knights series.
How about an update?
Yeah, I’m happy! 😉
It’s the 8th of January and, since yesterday for many people and students, its back to work.
For me, the release of both Legacy of the Argus, the concluding chapter of my Corrosive Knights series, and the fact that I was able to get all the covers re-done and revise the first book in the series, Mechanic, couldn’t have been accomplished at a better time. By finishing all that tough work by mid-December, I was able to take a very much needed two week vacation -at least from writing!- and recharge the ol’ battery.
For quite a while now I’ve been showing people this graphic of the Corrosive Knights books:
As you can see from the graphic, I planned an 8th Corrosive Knights book, one that would serve as an “epilogue” to the series/story. I’ve even noted that the book is mostly written, though to be fair the story I wrote is actually more of a novella rather than a full novel (I believe the total word count of that draft wound up being around 20,000 words versus the usual 100,000 words -give or take- of the other novels).
Thing is, the “epilogue” as written is something of a concluding chapter to the Corrosive Knights series and I’m not sure I want to go there quite yet.
Don’t get me wrong: The Epilogue doesn’t “kill off” every/any character or provide some kind of Apocalyptic scenario. But it is set in a future farther from that presented in Legacy of the Argus and, again, I’m not sure if I want to go there yet.
Why?
Because the story is indeed something of a wrap up of the Corrosive Knights series and I feel like there’s more storytelling to do with the characters and the various timelines they’re set in.
Even though the seven books present a nice complete story, over my writing break, I thought about what I wanted to do next and considered the Epilogue and, because it was so short, felt it was best to bulk it up and add a few more elements to it.
And as I did, I started to think about another interesting story line apart from what was in the Epilogue. Yeah, though I may have taken a writing “break”, that didn’t mean my brain wasn’t working on another story.
At this time, I have the building blocks to a new story and, over the next few weeks, I’m going to work on it, chip away as well as build up. See where it takes me.
The story looks like it will NOT be part of that Epilogue, but rather another story set in the Corrosive Knights universe which could serve as an interesting add on without seeming like something I’m pulling out of (excuse my French) ass.
If all works out, it will be a stand-alone story which might just lead into other stories set in my beloved universe.
Give me a little time to work things out.
If you’ve liked what’s come before, you know I won’t release anything unless I’m really happy with it.
I’ll keep you informed!
Wow… the big 100!
Today we have Carolyn Jones, best known for playing Morticia Addams in “The Addams Family”, as Marsha, Queen of Diamonds as she appeared on the Batman TV show!
Ms. Jones was the second member of the Addams Family to appear on the Batman TV series. The first was Ted Cassidy who appeared in a window cameo as Lurch, and the third was John Astin, Gomez Addams, who played an alternate Riddler… hmmm… maybe next?Â
I’ve written many times before of my -I guess you could call it amusement- over the gnashing of the teeth of business/wall-street types toward the supposed “fall” of technological best sellers.
I recall the many articles released years ago -erroneously, IMHO- talking about how the desktop computer market might be “done”, when in reality what I felt was happening was that people simply weren’t buying new desktop computers at the same pace as before because the technology had plateaued.
In other words, in the past, ever year it seemed a far better desktop computer would be released, so much better than last year’s version that you were effectively encouraged to buy the next generation to “keep up” with the latest programs.
But there came a time, around when desktop computers sported the Pentium chips, that the technology had reached that plateau. Suddenly, instead of needing to buy a new computer every year, you could hang on to you “old” computer for many years before needing or wanting a “new” one.
So the time has come with Apple and their iPhone.
Will Oremus at Slate.com wrote this fascinating article which I encourage you guys to read:
Why the iPhone is finally fading
Mr. Oremus notes many of the things I’ve been saying for years now: That there was a time getting a “new” iPhone (in my case, talking about desktop computers) was a thrill. There was something new and magical about jumping from an 8088 processor to a 286, then 386, then 486, and finally Pentium computer.
So too was there magic in going from the early iPhones to the later models. People would stand in ridiculously long lines getting the latest model and reveling in being among the first to have the latest model.
But as with desktop computers, iPhones have plateaued. Perhaps it happened around the time the iPhone 6 was released. Its the model I still have and use. Its camera is pretty weak compared to the more modern iPhones, but otherwise its a perfectly functional cell phone and I suspect I’ll replace it only when it no longer works well with me.
Mr. Oremus goes on to theorize as to what “comes next”. He feels it may be machines like the Amazon Echo, AI machines that you talk to and get what you need from them.
I’m in agreement with him that these machines are certainly intriguing, even if they are also scary regarding privacy.
On the one hand its wonderful to ask the machine what the weather will be tomorrow and get your answer almost right away. Or ask it to play an album or song. Or, if you’re doing some timed task, tell it to set up a timer. If you have the proper devices, you can also have these machines linked to the lights in your home and, instead of stumbling around for a light switch, tell your device to turn on “X” light.
It’s fairly simple stuff -at least what I use it for- but a nice convenience.
But like the desktop computer and the iPhone before it, I suspect these devices will also have their ceiling.
And then we’ll wonder what’s next.
Been a while since working on the old Batman TV show characters. Here’s Vincent Price in the role of… Egghead! He would appear in that role for seven episodes.
