E. R. Torre is a writer/artist whose first major work, the mystery graphic novel The Dark Fringe, was optioned for motion picture production by Platinum Studios (Men In Black, Cowboys vs. Aliens). At DC Comics, his work appeared in role-playing game books and the 9-11 Tribute book. This later piece was eventually displayed, along with others from the 9-11 tribute books, at The Library of Congress. More recently he released Shadows at Dawn (a collection of short stories), Haze (a murder mystery novel with supernatural elements), and Cold Hemispheres (a mystery novel set in the world of The Dark Fringe). He is currently hard at work on his latest science fiction/suspense series, Corrosive Knights, which features the novels Mechanic, The Last Flight of the Argus, and Chameleon.
Though I loath to get too political in this blog, the following news item is just a little too much.
So a bunch of -for the most part- Republican Senators managed to kill a bill that allowed for background checks for gun purchases, a relatively minor and common sense (both in my opinion) proposed law that should have been enacted (again in my opinion) ages ago on the grounds that it was an invasion of personal privacy.
Yet these same people are now defending the NSA spying. When asked about the inherent contradiction of voting against gun buyers’ background checks -because they supposedly invade personal privacy- and defending the NSA spying -which essentially does the same on a much, much larger scale even though it is in the fight against terrorism- they reply that the two issues are very different and comparing them is like comparing “apples and oranges”.
I’ve noted it before and I’ll note it again: The internet and the digital revolution has created a vast new world, one where we’re only now beginning to see the potentially massive changes in how we and future generations will live our lives. Already some of the changes are obvious, from the extinction (for all intents and purposes) of both the video and music store -and coming soon, the extinction of the book store- thanks to online shopping to the fact that companies -not just the government!- now have a wealth of personal information on just about everyone out there which, in turn, leads to programs such as the NSA.
Am I against the NSA program?
It’s tough to form an opinion when I know so little about it. All I do know is that, again thanks to our new information age, it is suddenly much easier for an individual -any individual with access- to spill government secrets with the ease of clicking a button. The scary thing is this: In their zeal to expose what they believe is government overreach or possible corruption, could they be putting other people in danger? If the NSA program has been successful in stopping potential terrorist activity, will the exposure of same -and the potential of terrorists to circumvent what they now know the U.S. government is doing- endanger us? If, heaven forbid, a major terrorist strike occurs in the U.S. or in any friendly nation and scores of people are killed, and we find that the terrorists used the NSA leak to work their way around our security…then what?
But let’s look at the opposite side of the coin as well: What if the massive information the NSA collects is used by individuals to enrich/enpower themselves? If someone could look into the emails of big corporations and gain insight into their next moves, could they not use that information for themselves? And we’re not even talking about potential blackmail material, such the possibility of discovering that a certain CEO likes to hop onto certain pornographic websites or has made incriminating statements in an email…
I’ll repeat it one last time: The internet has changed things on a massive scale. The information age is upon us and privacy isn’t what it used to be, for better or worse.
Fascinating -and sad- article by David Plotz for Slate Magazine concerning a phenomena I know only too well: What happens to all those close friends you had at your side when you got married? How many of them have subsequently faded from your life?
I’m most certainly in Mr. Plotz’s camp. Should I take a look at my old wedding pictures, there most certainly will be a number of people there I see very, very infrequently. Some are due to moving out of our area (indeed, the majority of those are due to this) while I’ve simply drifted apart from others.
Perhaps because marriage (and what follows, from your work to having children, etc.) represents such a big change in one’s previous, non-married life it should not be too surprising that people move away from each other.
Yet there is an undeniable sadness to that realization, to seeing as Mr. Plotz put it, “ghosts” of your past, people you once were great friends with but now are not.
Still hanging around the website and found this intriguing -and humorous- little article by Penn Collins regarding roles offered, but rejected, by Al Pacino:
I can sorta/kinda see him being considered, at the time, for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars. I can also picture him in the Richard Gere role in Pretty Woman. (That’s not to take away the acting by the respective parties that did work in these films…the movies clearly owed a great deal of success to the acting of Mr. Harrison and Gere)
But John McClane in Die Hard?!?
Whoa.
That’s a tough one to wrap your head around.
I’ve mentioned it before and, given the topic, it bears repeating: One of my favorite “what if” roles is that of Dirty Harry, the movie that arguably moved Clint Eastwood from rising star to MEGAstar. The titular role was originally being groomed for…Frank Sinatra. He passed and other actors, from Robert Mitchum to Paul Newman to Burt Lancaster were considered for the role before Mr. Eastwood took it.
I was aware of most of the mentioned works, particularly those whose lead actors died while making the film, Brandon Lee in The Crow and Vic Morrow in The Twilight Zone: The Movie. Both deaths, indeed all the deaths mentioned here were tragedies yet it is interesting to note the hows and whys of each of them, some more grisly than the others.
If there is one positive aspect to all this is the fact that the most “recent” of the listed tragedies occurred back in 1994, nearly twenty years ago. One hopes that those who work on film/TV projects have opted for better security.
Absolutely fascinating article by Michael Chorost for Slate magazine regarding the problems astronauts face if/when humans head to Mars for a long term -even a multi-generational- stay:
Clearly, there are considerable problems to overcome in simply leaving Earth’s atmosphere, much less deciding to inhabit a foreign object such as Mars, and this article goes reasonably deep into the crucial issue of the difficulties involved in feeding astronauts. There are other difficulties to overcome, for sure, such as establishing a reliable source of breathable ai and countering the effects of weightlessness (or lower gravity). Then there is the issue of your habitation and the elevated levels of radiation your target, in this case Mars, may have.
It would seem that whatever journey is taken to Mars at this stage -and for the near foreseeable future- would have to be something relatively brief, with the crew of a theoretical Earth spacecraft journeying to Mars, staying a short time (during which they use up their supplies) and then heading right back.
But a journey of 4-10 months one way is an awful long time and requires a great deal of nutrients/water and supplies. The crew of this theoretical flight would have few options if any sort of difficulty/emergency, medical or otherwise, should arise. They would effectively be on their own and would have to deal with whatever comes up on their own.
I’m convinced space travel will become, over time, a more routine and safe process, not unlike the journeys from the “old world” to the “new” one eventually became. Perhaps the solution is not to aim for Mars but to train for that eventual journey by going to -and establishing a colony on- the Moon. It is far closer to us and thus presents a potentially safer training ground, a place where we can carefully practice, refine, and hopefully perfect long term space journeys and the equipment necessary to make it so.
A fascinating piece by Farhad Manjoo for Slate magazine regarding the reading patterns of people with regard to articles on the web. His findings? Not all that many people bother to read an article from the beginning all the way to the end…
I’m not at all surprised by his findings. More and more I’m convinced we live in a world of hyper-stimulation.
Nowadays, you want to see an older TV show? Download complete seasons or order the same via DVDs/BluRays. Want to read something, from books to comics? Almost everything is available via Amazon nowadays, just download it in seconds and you’re there. Want to hear certain music? Again, download it via Amazon or iTunes in seconds and you’ve got it. Want news? There are hundreds of websites available for any manner of news you may be looking for.
In the past, we didn’t have this near instantaneous (and, arguably, overwhelming) source of information that is the internet. Back then, we had to hunt out older works to enjoy them, be they TV shows (I distinctly recall spending some Saturday and Sunday mornings searching through the few channels available on TV hoping to find re-runs of the original Star Trek or The Wild Wild West and being delighted when such episodes actually aired…never mind which particular episodes the stations deemed to show), movies (like TV shows, in the days before video tape, DVD, and now Blu-Ray, your only hope to catch older favorites was to, again, stumble upon them while channel surfing), books (you picked up whatever was available at the local bookstore, used bookstore, or library), and music (again limited to whatever your local record/music store carried).
Is it any wonder, as Mr. Manjoo points out…
Maybe this is just our cultural lot: We live in the age of skimming. I want to finish the whole thing, I really do. I wish you would, too. Really—stop quitting! But who am I kidding. I’m busy. You’re busy. There’s always something else to read, watch, play, or eat.
There’s always something else to read, watch, play, or eat. Indeed there is.
That old quote suggests something that once learned is difficult to forget. Watching The Last Stand, and more specifically the acting of Arnold Schwarzenegger in his first major motion picture starring role -excluding the various small and larger cameo appearances in a handful of films- since Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in (gasp!) 2003, one is struck with the fact that acting, indeed, is decidedly not like riding a bike.
At least for Mr. Schwarzenegger.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger I most recall is the one that could be alternately terrifying, charismatic, and even outright humorous in his motion pictures…sometimes even in the context of a single film. Sure, his acting skills are the type that will likely never merit any serious awards, but at his best he could be a very engaging movie presence, one that audiences flocked to in droves.
Then, of course, Mr. Schwarzenegger moved on to politics and, through a unique set of circumstances got himself elected Governor of California. He spent years away from movies and, having finally finished his term, dipped his toe back into acting via small roles in both Expendables movies (the second of which featured a larger role than the blink and you’ll miss him appearance in the first film).
With 2013’s The Last Stand, Mr. Schwarzenegger took front and center in a motion picture and the results…well, they weren’t all that hot. The Last Stand’s box office, given the film was a relatively cheaply budgeted work to begin with, wasn’t all that great, though based on Rotten Tomatoes it maybe/coulda done better (critics and audiences gave the film a near identical rating, 60 and 58% approved).
So, was The Last Stand a worthy re-entry point for Mr. Schwarzenegger?
As I mentioned above, I found the acting of Mr. Schwarzenegger in this film lacking. He reads his lines (even the “funny” ones) in the same dull tone and appears to my eyes unengaged with the material. Given how wildly ridiculous the premise of the film is, this becomes a BIG problem.
The plot of the movie goes as follows: A nasty drug kingpin is boldly broken out of a “high security” Las Vegas prison transport, then heads out of the city in a souped up Corvette, his intention being to drive himself to Mexico and safety. We find that on top of being a high level drug kingpin, he’s also a professional race car driver, so the Feds are quickly overwhelmed in trying to capture him. Indeed, it becomes clear that all that stands in the kingpin’s way to freedom is the small town of Sommerton Junction and Schwarzenegger’s Sheriff Ray Owens and his few companions.
What could have been a tense (though silly) feature moves along as if it were a documentary on building a fence. There is precious little tension, almost no humor, and certainly no feeling of dread. Once the kingpin arrives in the town (after a big shoot out with his minions), our Sheriff pursues the villain in a Camaro for a bit before going mano-a-mano with him. However, given how gifted our villain supposedly was with driving and how he was driving a super souped up Corvette, one wonders how the Sheriff, in a far less powerful car, could somehow catch up to the villain.
In the end, I have to side with the 40 or so percent of critics/audiences who didn’t like The Last Stand. Given the slate of films Mr. Schwarzenneger has coming, one hopes he can get his mojo back. I’d love to see Mr. Schwarzenneger figure out how to ride that bike once again.
Perhaps the movie I most anticipated for summer release was Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to director J. J. Abrams’ 2009 “reboot” of the original Star Trek franchise. That film proved to be a big success at the box office and was enjoyed by many Star Trek fans new and old.
I, however, didn’t think all that much of the original film.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate it. It just felt like the film after a while devoted a little too much time making references or shout outs to the “old” Trek. Further, the movie’s story had its share of trouble spots. For example, I found it hard to swallow the way –waaaaaay– too convenient manner in which the young Kirk just happens to stumble upon the elderly Spock. I also didn’t like the way Kirk, in the movie’s climax, has the Enterprise fire upon his enemy to kill him, even though at that point the villain is clearly incapable of fighting back.
Despite my somewhat lukewarm feelings for that original film, I was nonetheless cautiously optimistic regarding a sequel. Like most everyone else with internet access, it was hard not to pick up on bits and pieces of the movie’s creation. Early word was that Benecio Del Toro was in line for a part in the film, and that instantly created heavy rumors among fans regarding who he was going to play in this film. Early rumors had it that Del Toro, a latin-American actor, might be playing the best known villain played originally by another famous latin American actor, Ricardo Montalban‘s Khan. This superhuman villain first appeared in Space Seed, an episode of the original Star Trek series and subsequently re-appeared as the same character to menace the Enterprise and her crew in what many (including myself) consider the best Star Trek film ever made, 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
The rumors regarding Mr. Del Toro’s role picked up steam but the studios vigorously nixed them. By now, most savvy movie goers were only too aware of a similar stunt pulled by director Christopher Nolan with his third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, wherein the identity of Marion Cotillard’s character was kept hidden but the fan base figured out who she was playing well before the movie’s release.
Now, before I go on, even though I suspect most people are by now aware of who the villain of Star Trek Into Darkness is, I’ll nonetheless issue the following…
SPOILER ALERT!
Still here? All right, you’ve been warned.
Soon after the announcement of Mr. Del Toro being sought for a role in the new Star Trek film came word he dropped out of the project. Replacing him, curiously enough, was rising British star Benedict Cumberbatch. Despite this radical change in casting -at least from a standpoint of ethnicity- the rumors the role remained that of Khan persisted. More denials were issued and some fans, thinking the studios were being sincere in their denials, looked elsewhere for clues as to who Mr. Cumberbatch was playing. What was becoming clear is that he was playing some kind of superhuman character and two other possibilities immediately sprung to mind to the fans.
First, was it possible this new Trek film would be a remake of the original series’ second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before? Could Mr. Cumberbatch be playing Gary Mitchell, a friend of Kirk’s who assumed God-like power and had to be dispatched before he threatened the universe itself? In that episode, Kellerman played Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, a character that looked an awful lot like Alice Eve, also in the cast of Into Darkness.
Another possibility…was Mr. Cumberbatch playing Zefram Cochrane in a remake of Metamorphosis?
Eventually, Abrams’ and company issued a silly news “release” stating that Mr. Cumberbatch was playing a character called “Jim Harrison”. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knew Mr. Abrams and company were indeed following The Dark Knight Rises playbook.
Finally, Star Trek Into Darkness was given a sneak preview in Australia several weeks before the general release in the United States and the rumors were finally confirmed.
And then came the problems.
Because Mr. Abrams’ and company chose to go so secretive with the identity of Mr. Cumberbatch’s character, a backlash inevitably grew. After all, by using the character of Khan, they effectively were remaking the most beloved of the Star Trek films.
The reviews started coming in and, for the most part, they were positive. Had Abrams’ and company delivered?
For the most part, I would say yes.
Star Trek Into Darkness is certainly not your old Star Trek movie. I think those critical to the film as being more Star Wars than Star Trek are pretty much on the money here. For Star Trek Into Darkness is an unapologetic action film filled with one big set piece after another. There remain logic flaws in the story and there is at least one scene designed to do little more than offer audiences eye candy (I’m referring, of course, to the stunningly beautiful Alice Eve stripping scene, which Mr. Abrams himself has apparently come to realize was unnecessary).
If I had any major beefs with the film, it is in that despite all the well designed action and great effects, the movie’s script could have been so much more than it was. For example, in the opening segment, wherein Kirk violates the prime directive, wouldn’t it have been so much more interesting (and fun!) if instead of on a planet filled with very primitive peoples, the crew were on one of the more interesting “alternative” worlds as presented in the original series? How about the same basic premise (needing to do something to help a humanoid race not be extinguished) but instead have the crew deal with what look like 1920’s era gangsters? Or a world that emulated Nazi Germany? Or the Roman Empire?
Wouldn’t that have been far more interesting than the primitive people they encountered?
Ah well, it is what it is.
Star Trek Into Darkness, while an enjoyable action film, is nonetheless less creative and “heavy” than most of the good Star Trek features. When Kirk and Spock confront each other at the tail end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, those scenes carry an emotional weight this new Trek simply cannot achieve…though they certainly try to copy. Still, the movie remains an enjoyable feature, certainly to my mind better than the first Star Trek film from the same company.
Of my works, the one that remained unavailable via the Kindle was my first one, the graphic novel The Dark Fringe.
No longer.
As of yesterday, The Dark Fringe is now available via Amazon.com for immediate download to your Kindle devices (be they tablets or computers). And, to celebrate this fact, the book can be downloaded FOR ABSOLUTELY FREE through the weekend. This offer expires on Sunday, June the 2nd, so please take advantage!
You can find the e-graphic novel at the link below:
Having just seen Jack Reacher the other day and noting Robert Duvall in a small role within the film toward its end, it was intriguing -in a time travel sort of way- to subsequently see a much much younger Mr. Duvall in the starring role in 1973’s The Outfit, based on the third novel in the popular (and many times filmed) “Parker” series.
For those unfamiliar with the Parker character, he first appeared in the Richard Stark (a pseudonym for Donald Westlake) novel The Hunter. That book would go on to be filmed and released in 1967 as Point Blank and starred the tough-as-nails Lee Marvin. Author Donald Westlake, for whatever reason, didn’t want the movies to use the actual name “Parker” and therefore in Point Blank Parker became Walker. Many years later the film would be re-made with Mel Gibson as the Parker character, this time named Porter, in Payback.
The third book in the series, The Outfit, is the focus of this 1973 film. In many ways, The novels The Hunter and The Outfit are bookends. They tell a larger story between themselves, one which was trimmed a little to make this film version.
When the The Outfit, opens, we follow two hitmen who find and kill a man. We then shift to Macklin (Robert Duvall), who is in jail and is in the process of being released. He’s picked up by Bett Harrow (Karen Black, looking absolutely stunning), who we find is more than a little nervous about being with Macklin. She has good reason to be, as we quickly find that the man killed at the beginning of the film was Macklin’s brother and the mob wants to get rid of Macklin as well. In fact, the mob put considerable pressure on Bett -including torture- to pick up Macklin when he got out of jail and had her set him up for a hit. The mob is upset that Macklin and his brother’s last job, a bank robbery, targeted one of their banks. Needless to say, the outfit will not tolerate such impertinence.
What follows is an intriguing cat and mouse game between Macklin and the mob. With the aid of Bett and old friend Jack Cody (Joe Don Baker), Macklin intends to not only put pressure on the mob to call off the hit, but to also force them to pay him and make amends for killing his brother!
The Outfit features plenty of intriguing and familiar faces. Legendary screen femme fatales Marie Windsor and Jane Greer pop up for a couple of scenes, as do familiar faces such as Richard Jaeckel, Sheree North, Elisha Cook Jr., Joanna Cassidy (in an early, early role), and, as the movie’s main bad guy, Robert Ryan.
The story flows well, never slowing too much and always moving toward its resolution. If the movie has one big fault, to me it’s the character of Bett Harrow. While I felt Karen Black delivered a great performance in the film, her character’s story arc was disappointingly small once all was said and done. Early on in the film Jack Cody states that he and Macklin could do what needs to be done against the outfit without Bett. Macklin disagrees and she stays in the picture but the movie essentially proves Cody was right.
It’s a minor gripe, to be sure, and while I still believe the best “Parker” film ever made remains Point Blank, to me the director’s cut of Payback (avoid the theatrical cut like the plague!) and The Outfit are neck and neck in second place. Recommended.
And, just for the heck of it, trailers for Point Blank and Payback…
