- Published on
Fandom = fanaticism.
I don't think that there's a truer equation in all of life.
However, the downside to such a simplistic review of reality -- especially as it pertains to our choices in entertainment -- has led us to some very dark places, my friends. This is not to say "I told you so" (though I'm not above doing such), but I think it's clear I've long warned about this tendency since back in the days of the launch of Joss Whedon's Firefly and what it did to the web in general.
For those of you who weren't there to watch it happen in real time, the TV show Firefly was a bit of an internet sensation -- one of the very first genre shows to build a huge following of fans on the Information Superhighway. (No, it most certainly wasn't the first, but that's a debate for another day.) What happened not long after the show aired and was cancelled due to poor ratings was that these 'Browncoats' -- their self-appointed name for Firefly's fan contingent -- took to the web and, essentially, tried to overtake every single message board affiliated with Science Fiction and Fantasy, inundating these places with an incredible amount of traffic. Think of this as the original 'click baiting': these folks would go into every single thread and make it about their show, much to the chagrin of folks showing up to talk about the original theme or property of the post. Because websites were compensated based on traffic, the various webmasters and site adminstrators were fine with this activity -- they saw a pretty big bump in traffic since these fans were everywhere -- so those of us just wanting to talk about SciFi, Fantasy, and/or Horror in general couldn't get a word in edgewise.
The short story is that the Browncoats -- for better or for worse -- destroyed a great many little information holes that many of us used to frequent; I've no idea if many of the boards survive to this date. Given that Firefly has kinda/sorta died down quite a bit, I doubt these places get much traffic these days ... but it is what it is.
My point here is not to take issue with fans of any property. What this behavior fostered as an unintended consequence is that it became easier and easier for fans to pile on in cyberspace. As an example, if I showed up in a post about, say, Captain Kirk, and this post had suddenly been taken over by Browncoats talking about their Malcolm Reynolds, and I tried to talk about Kirk (who was the subject of the original post), then I'd been trashed left and right by said Browncoats because all they intended to do was make that I.P. the center of the big damn shiny universe. Conversations turned ugly very quickly, and site moderators -- wanting to keep their traffic of Browncoats high and profitable -- allowed it to get even uglier day after day.
I bring this up because folks today are kinda/sorta experiencing a similar phenomenon with Disney+'s current Star Wars streaming show Ahsoka. While I've been no fan of the program in particular (you can check out my reviews on the MainPage), I don't hate it in any regard ... but what's starting to rise up is the diehard supporters of it, Dave Filoni, actress Rosario Dawson, and anything else associated with it are flaming anyone trying to critique the show to holy Heaven and Hell below. Those simply trying to point out some storytelling deficiences or even plot holes are being christened as haters, and their good names are being dragged through the mud as a consequence of merely speaking about a TV show.
This is the fanaticism I mentioned above. And I encourage folks to try to keep it all in check.
That's it. That's all. That's my public service announcement for the day, peeps.
Each of us are fans in our own way and our own right. Each of us deserves to have a point of view. That doesn't mean that everyone must and/or should agree with it. It's just -- again -- a TV show, and it's just -- again -- a point of view. Doesn't make it right or wrong ... but bullying -- in whatever shape it takes -- should be stamped out at all costs.
Now ... back to our regularly scheduled program ...
I don't think that there's a truer equation in all of life.
However, the downside to such a simplistic review of reality -- especially as it pertains to our choices in entertainment -- has led us to some very dark places, my friends. This is not to say "I told you so" (though I'm not above doing such), but I think it's clear I've long warned about this tendency since back in the days of the launch of Joss Whedon's Firefly and what it did to the web in general.
For those of you who weren't there to watch it happen in real time, the TV show Firefly was a bit of an internet sensation -- one of the very first genre shows to build a huge following of fans on the Information Superhighway. (No, it most certainly wasn't the first, but that's a debate for another day.) What happened not long after the show aired and was cancelled due to poor ratings was that these 'Browncoats' -- their self-appointed name for Firefly's fan contingent -- took to the web and, essentially, tried to overtake every single message board affiliated with Science Fiction and Fantasy, inundating these places with an incredible amount of traffic. Think of this as the original 'click baiting': these folks would go into every single thread and make it about their show, much to the chagrin of folks showing up to talk about the original theme or property of the post. Because websites were compensated based on traffic, the various webmasters and site adminstrators were fine with this activity -- they saw a pretty big bump in traffic since these fans were everywhere -- so those of us just wanting to talk about SciFi, Fantasy, and/or Horror in general couldn't get a word in edgewise.
The short story is that the Browncoats -- for better or for worse -- destroyed a great many little information holes that many of us used to frequent; I've no idea if many of the boards survive to this date. Given that Firefly has kinda/sorta died down quite a bit, I doubt these places get much traffic these days ... but it is what it is.
My point here is not to take issue with fans of any property. What this behavior fostered as an unintended consequence is that it became easier and easier for fans to pile on in cyberspace. As an example, if I showed up in a post about, say, Captain Kirk, and this post had suddenly been taken over by Browncoats talking about their Malcolm Reynolds, and I tried to talk about Kirk (who was the subject of the original post), then I'd been trashed left and right by said Browncoats because all they intended to do was make that I.P. the center of the big damn shiny universe. Conversations turned ugly very quickly, and site moderators -- wanting to keep their traffic of Browncoats high and profitable -- allowed it to get even uglier day after day.
I bring this up because folks today are kinda/sorta experiencing a similar phenomenon with Disney+'s current Star Wars streaming show Ahsoka. While I've been no fan of the program in particular (you can check out my reviews on the MainPage), I don't hate it in any regard ... but what's starting to rise up is the diehard supporters of it, Dave Filoni, actress Rosario Dawson, and anything else associated with it are flaming anyone trying to critique the show to holy Heaven and Hell below. Those simply trying to point out some storytelling deficiences or even plot holes are being christened as haters, and their good names are being dragged through the mud as a consequence of merely speaking about a TV show.
This is the fanaticism I mentioned above. And I encourage folks to try to keep it all in check.
That's it. That's all. That's my public service announcement for the day, peeps.
Each of us are fans in our own way and our own right. Each of us deserves to have a point of view. That doesn't mean that everyone must and/or should agree with it. It's just -- again -- a TV show, and it's just -- again -- a point of view. Doesn't make it right or wrong ... but bullying -- in whatever shape it takes -- should be stamped out at all costs.
Now ... back to our regularly scheduled program ...
As always, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing ... thanks for being a fan ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
- Published on
As a huge, huge, huge fan of the original Planet Of The Apes' movies, I'm surprised that I'd never seen this bit ...
I was doing a bit of research this morning into some obscure topic (Hell, I don't even remember how I started down this particular rabbit hole at the time), and I jumped over to the reliable YouTube.com to do a bit of further digging. You know the YouTube.com? Great little site, that one is. Anyway, I've been getting some really unusually prompts as a result of the research digging when -- lo and behold -- up comes a suggestion for me to check out this interview actor Paul Williams did with Johnny Carson on the famed set of The Tonight Show. It looks like this thing has been up there for a short while, and I had never heard that Williams showed up for his time in the TV spotlight in full movie make-up for his stint aboard 1973's Battle For The Planet Of The Apes! Good lord! It must've been incredibly hot under all of that make-up, prosthetics, and costume in those lights!
Williams was also a bit of a funny character, and he gets in some great comic insights about his work, the role, and society at large ... so I thought I'd put this up on the MainPage to point others from my era in the direction. At a time when so many (cough cough) young actors and actresses are spewing unmitigated hate and venom on the various intellectual properties they have the good fortune to be paid to represent, I found it goddam refreshing to see a true talent so bought into his experience that he wanted to carry it a step further. Good on you, Mr. Williams ... good on you!
As always, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing ... thanks for being a fan ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
I was doing a bit of research this morning into some obscure topic (Hell, I don't even remember how I started down this particular rabbit hole at the time), and I jumped over to the reliable YouTube.com to do a bit of further digging. You know the YouTube.com? Great little site, that one is. Anyway, I've been getting some really unusually prompts as a result of the research digging when -- lo and behold -- up comes a suggestion for me to check out this interview actor Paul Williams did with Johnny Carson on the famed set of The Tonight Show. It looks like this thing has been up there for a short while, and I had never heard that Williams showed up for his time in the TV spotlight in full movie make-up for his stint aboard 1973's Battle For The Planet Of The Apes! Good lord! It must've been incredibly hot under all of that make-up, prosthetics, and costume in those lights!
Williams was also a bit of a funny character, and he gets in some great comic insights about his work, the role, and society at large ... so I thought I'd put this up on the MainPage to point others from my era in the direction. At a time when so many (cough cough) young actors and actresses are spewing unmitigated hate and venom on the various intellectual properties they have the good fortune to be paid to represent, I found it goddam refreshing to see a true talent so bought into his experience that he wanted to carry it a step further. Good on you, Mr. Williams ... good on you!
As always, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing ... thanks for being a fan ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
- Published on
Good morning and Happy Thursday, readers!
Well, well, well ...
Well ... yes, the wifey and I watched Ahsoka last night -- the episode that seemingly broke the Internet, by all indications from fandom -- and I have to say that I don't see what all of the fuss was about. The show still suffers from the same issues it has all along -- I even picked up a rather obvious screen continuity issue, and I rarely catch those -- so consider me not won over with all of the converts. As I always (always) say, folks, it's perfectly fine for you to like what you do: the joy of appreciating art in all of its forms means that each of us are free to be moved, whether that's psychologically or emotionally or whatever. It's just how we're each wired, and there's nothing wrong with that. But in total honestly the show's just not tickling my fancy.
I also managed to squeeze in a home viewing of a little 'something something' called Aporia yesterday. It's one of the films I've been provided by a distributor in exchange for a review. It both is and isn't a time travel flick -- interesting plot device that allows the main characters to avoid creating temporal paradoxes -- and I'm going to get a review up either today or tomorrow, depending upon my time limitations. It's well done ... but, ultimately, very predictable.
Lastly, I do have a few items I'll likely be adding to today's citation page. I have quite a few prepped and ready in the tickler file, so if I can squeeze a few of those up for posterity's sake I'll do that as well. Watch the page as there are a few important genre additions.
Okay, okay, okay ... let me get out of your way ...
Well, well, well ...
Well ... yes, the wifey and I watched Ahsoka last night -- the episode that seemingly broke the Internet, by all indications from fandom -- and I have to say that I don't see what all of the fuss was about. The show still suffers from the same issues it has all along -- I even picked up a rather obvious screen continuity issue, and I rarely catch those -- so consider me not won over with all of the converts. As I always (always) say, folks, it's perfectly fine for you to like what you do: the joy of appreciating art in all of its forms means that each of us are free to be moved, whether that's psychologically or emotionally or whatever. It's just how we're each wired, and there's nothing wrong with that. But in total honestly the show's just not tickling my fancy.
I also managed to squeeze in a home viewing of a little 'something something' called Aporia yesterday. It's one of the films I've been provided by a distributor in exchange for a review. It both is and isn't a time travel flick -- interesting plot device that allows the main characters to avoid creating temporal paradoxes -- and I'm going to get a review up either today or tomorrow, depending upon my time limitations. It's well done ... but, ultimately, very predictable.
Lastly, I do have a few items I'll likely be adding to today's citation page. I have quite a few prepped and ready in the tickler file, so if I can squeeze a few of those up for posterity's sake I'll do that as well. Watch the page as there are a few important genre additions.
Okay, okay, okay ... let me get out of your way ...
As always, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing and/or inviting others to the site ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
- Published on
From a Google.com search:
Aporia: (noun) - an irresolvable internal contradiction or logical disjunction in a text, argument, or theory.
“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
For those unaware, the above is little more than an ad slogan made famous during the 1970’s for Chiffon Margarine. Essentially, what would happen is Mother Nature herself – embodied by actress Dena Dietrich – would show up only to be fooled into thinking that she was tasting margarine instead of real butter. As a consequence of the ruse, she’d look at the camera, mildly threateningly say “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature,” and then release environmental wrath in the form of thunder, lightning, wind, or what have you. Everyone would learn their lesson (especially Chiffon, which ultimately died out as a brand in U.S. and Canada sometime in 2002), and a good time was had by all.
The moral to each of these clever commercials was that trickery against the natural establishment – no matter the shape, size, intent, or form – will likely always be exposed for what it is and will provoke a necessary retribution of perhaps an even greater magnitude. So … don’t try it, users, unless you’re willing to suffer whatever response Fate – or Mother Nature – might unleash.
This central idea has long been the lesson provided to a good number of time travel stories. For example, renowned Science Fiction author Ray Bradbury’s famous short story – “A Sound Of Thunder” – postulates that visitors sent back in time might irrevocably alter their future by some small and/or inadvertent action in the distant past. In the tale, an event as small as unintentionally stepping on a butterfly could fell a series of dominos across time and space, ultimately putting an entire civilization in ruin.
Get it? “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!”
Succinctly, audiences have seen stories like Aporia before, and they’ve seen them plenty of times. In fact, one might argue that the central tenet to any if not all time travel stories is that the players are going to pay a price for fooling Mother Nature, and it’s going to eventually be a very big one. So, critically, the only distinguishing characteristic to any new temporal manipulation yarn is how well its narrative pieces are assembled; and – on that front – Aporia makes for a compelling visit or, at least, one that holds it own in the growing pantheon of Butterfly Effect tomes. It never provides anything fresh or all that different, but it does tinker in a small way with the construct that might draw the attention of cinema academics but probably no one else.
Aporia: (noun) - an irresolvable internal contradiction or logical disjunction in a text, argument, or theory.
“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
For those unaware, the above is little more than an ad slogan made famous during the 1970’s for Chiffon Margarine. Essentially, what would happen is Mother Nature herself – embodied by actress Dena Dietrich – would show up only to be fooled into thinking that she was tasting margarine instead of real butter. As a consequence of the ruse, she’d look at the camera, mildly threateningly say “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature,” and then release environmental wrath in the form of thunder, lightning, wind, or what have you. Everyone would learn their lesson (especially Chiffon, which ultimately died out as a brand in U.S. and Canada sometime in 2002), and a good time was had by all.
The moral to each of these clever commercials was that trickery against the natural establishment – no matter the shape, size, intent, or form – will likely always be exposed for what it is and will provoke a necessary retribution of perhaps an even greater magnitude. So … don’t try it, users, unless you’re willing to suffer whatever response Fate – or Mother Nature – might unleash.
This central idea has long been the lesson provided to a good number of time travel stories. For example, renowned Science Fiction author Ray Bradbury’s famous short story – “A Sound Of Thunder” – postulates that visitors sent back in time might irrevocably alter their future by some small and/or inadvertent action in the distant past. In the tale, an event as small as unintentionally stepping on a butterfly could fell a series of dominos across time and space, ultimately putting an entire civilization in ruin.
Get it? “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!”
Succinctly, audiences have seen stories like Aporia before, and they’ve seen them plenty of times. In fact, one might argue that the central tenet to any if not all time travel stories is that the players are going to pay a price for fooling Mother Nature, and it’s going to eventually be a very big one. So, critically, the only distinguishing characteristic to any new temporal manipulation yarn is how well its narrative pieces are assembled; and – on that front – Aporia makes for a compelling visit or, at least, one that holds it own in the growing pantheon of Butterfly Effect tomes. It never provides anything fresh or all that different, but it does tinker in a small way with the construct that might draw the attention of cinema academics but probably no one else.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Since losing her husband, Sophie has struggled to manage grief, a full-time job, and parenting her devastated daughter, but when a former physicist reveals a secret time-bending machine, Sophie will be faced with an impossible choice.”
I firmly believe that all of us cradle some event in the past that each of us secretly wishes there were a means to alter in ways big and/or small; and that’s the central issue that Aporia confronts reasonably eloquently. For Sophie (played by the luminous Judy Greer), it’s the death of her loving husband Mal (Edi Gathegi), an incident that put both her and her daughter Riley’s (Faithe Herman) lives spiraling out of control. Naturally, Sophie isn’t going to expend countless hours evaluating the pros and cons of using a device to change history – to reach back in time and kill the drunk driver instead of seeing her husband die as a consequence – because her inconsolable grief wouldn’t allow her to. However, once she commits the act – one that brings Mal back but truly only transfers the grief onto another mother and daughter – Sophie’s true conflict begins.
As you can see, Sophie – the everyman of a fairly straight forward melodrama that truly only uses the Science Fiction elements to spin its yarn – isn’t all that different from you or me. Given the same set of circumstances, each of us would likely do the same – we’d bring back a lost loved one – and then we’d be spurred by our guilt to try to help those we’d inadvertently harmed along the way. But in doing so – by employing the same device to now manipulate time even further – Sophie only traps herself further down than rabbit hole wherein Fate – the aforementioned ‘Mother Nature’ – will eventually unleash a fury that’ll change the world into something it was never quite meant to be.
So, yes, if you’ve watched any time travel story, then it’s pretty clear that this is territory that’s been amply explored before. Nothing new – well, except for perhaps how this particular device works – is added to the equation; but the performances by all involved here are quite good, so much so that I found it hard not to be drawn into the occasionally heady web. Greer has always been an actress on my radar – I’ve enjoyed her work in everything I’ve seen – and Aporia does give her more emotional substance to explore. She’s up to the task here, and she’s well-matched with Gathegi as the man who’s momentarily mortified to learn how he’s been drawn into such unfortunate circumstances. Their journey of opening up a temporal Pandora’s box and slowly discovering what they’ve undone along the way makes this an experience worth its running time.
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Since losing her husband, Sophie has struggled to manage grief, a full-time job, and parenting her devastated daughter, but when a former physicist reveals a secret time-bending machine, Sophie will be faced with an impossible choice.”
I firmly believe that all of us cradle some event in the past that each of us secretly wishes there were a means to alter in ways big and/or small; and that’s the central issue that Aporia confronts reasonably eloquently. For Sophie (played by the luminous Judy Greer), it’s the death of her loving husband Mal (Edi Gathegi), an incident that put both her and her daughter Riley’s (Faithe Herman) lives spiraling out of control. Naturally, Sophie isn’t going to expend countless hours evaluating the pros and cons of using a device to change history – to reach back in time and kill the drunk driver instead of seeing her husband die as a consequence – because her inconsolable grief wouldn’t allow her to. However, once she commits the act – one that brings Mal back but truly only transfers the grief onto another mother and daughter – Sophie’s true conflict begins.
As you can see, Sophie – the everyman of a fairly straight forward melodrama that truly only uses the Science Fiction elements to spin its yarn – isn’t all that different from you or me. Given the same set of circumstances, each of us would likely do the same – we’d bring back a lost loved one – and then we’d be spurred by our guilt to try to help those we’d inadvertently harmed along the way. But in doing so – by employing the same device to now manipulate time even further – Sophie only traps herself further down than rabbit hole wherein Fate – the aforementioned ‘Mother Nature’ – will eventually unleash a fury that’ll change the world into something it was never quite meant to be.
So, yes, if you’ve watched any time travel story, then it’s pretty clear that this is territory that’s been amply explored before. Nothing new – well, except for perhaps how this particular device works – is added to the equation; but the performances by all involved here are quite good, so much so that I found it hard not to be drawn into the occasionally heady web. Greer has always been an actress on my radar – I’ve enjoyed her work in everything I’ve seen – and Aporia does give her more emotional substance to explore. She’s up to the task here, and she’s well-matched with Gathegi as the man who’s momentarily mortified to learn how he’s been drawn into such unfortunate circumstances. Their journey of opening up a temporal Pandora’s box and slowly discovering what they’ve undone along the way makes this an experience worth its running time.
My chief quibble? (You didn’t think that you were getting out of here without at least one, right?)
The film closes on a note of high uncertainty. It’s one of those finales that hangs open, encouraging audiences to ultimately guess the fate of those who spent the previous 100+ minutes tempting Fate. (Yes, yes, and yes: I get that a happy ending is strongly implied, but as we’re given no particulars it’s still inconclusive to this critic.) Writer/director Jared Moshé probably wants viewers to now go off and talk about his ‘did she or didn’t she?’ moment, and – argh – I’m just never a fan of such hocus-pocus. Like the characters manned up to make a hard choice, I prefer stories that definitively do the same. Leave those shenanigans to lesser features.
But – and I do promise this is my last observation – kudos for making what must be one of filmdom’s ugliest time machines! Its sheer hideousness ably demonstrates the unsightliness of the choices these characters faced, and that alone spoke volumes when it mattered most.
Aporia (2023) was produced by Armian Pictures, BondIt Media Capital, Buffalo 8 Productions, and Soapbox Films. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Well Go USA Entertainment. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I thought that the sights-and-sounds were exceptional from start-to-finish. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? The disc includes the theatrical trailer along with a short ‘making-of’ featurette for fans to enjoy.
Recommended.
While there’s little new added to the growing universe of time travel and/or temporal paradox stories, Aporia is held up on the shoulders of its performers; and their emotional discoveries do make for some quality screen experiences. Greer is quite good as the film’s lead – I’d love to see her do more roles with this range – and those around her certainly prove that they’re up to the challenge of pulling at the audience’s heartstrings each time it’s tried. True genre fans will appreciate the heartfelt story, but casual fans might grow a bit weary, knowing such territory has been trod before. Watch it for Greer and Gathegi’s work, though, and you shouldn’t be disappointed.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Well Go USA Entertainment provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Aporia (2023) by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
The film closes on a note of high uncertainty. It’s one of those finales that hangs open, encouraging audiences to ultimately guess the fate of those who spent the previous 100+ minutes tempting Fate. (Yes, yes, and yes: I get that a happy ending is strongly implied, but as we’re given no particulars it’s still inconclusive to this critic.) Writer/director Jared Moshé probably wants viewers to now go off and talk about his ‘did she or didn’t she?’ moment, and – argh – I’m just never a fan of such hocus-pocus. Like the characters manned up to make a hard choice, I prefer stories that definitively do the same. Leave those shenanigans to lesser features.
But – and I do promise this is my last observation – kudos for making what must be one of filmdom’s ugliest time machines! Its sheer hideousness ably demonstrates the unsightliness of the choices these characters faced, and that alone spoke volumes when it mattered most.
Aporia (2023) was produced by Armian Pictures, BondIt Media Capital, Buffalo 8 Productions, and Soapbox Films. DVD distribution (for this particular release) has been coordinated by the fine folks at Well Go USA Entertainment. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I thought that the sights-and-sounds were exceptional from start-to-finish. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? The disc includes the theatrical trailer along with a short ‘making-of’ featurette for fans to enjoy.
Recommended.
While there’s little new added to the growing universe of time travel and/or temporal paradox stories, Aporia is held up on the shoulders of its performers; and their emotional discoveries do make for some quality screen experiences. Greer is quite good as the film’s lead – I’d love to see her do more roles with this range – and those around her certainly prove that they’re up to the challenge of pulling at the audience’s heartstrings each time it’s tried. True genre fans will appreciate the heartfelt story, but casual fans might grow a bit weary, knowing such territory has been trod before. Watch it for Greer and Gathegi’s work, though, and you shouldn’t be disappointed.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Well Go USA Entertainment provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Aporia (2023) by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
- Published on
Sigh.
Well … I hate jumping into the midst of controversy, folks, I really do. As many of you know, I do preach that it deserves being avoided, despite what positive effects it could propose as potential ‘click bait’ tactics to bolster one’s marketshare on the Information Superhighway. I don’t always avoid the politics of blogging in this space, but I have always made a concerted effort that – when I do jump into the fray – I minimally try to offer something fresh to the debate, hoping that you’ll see my two cents as an honest contribution and not some attempt to fan the flames.
Now … that said … it’s pretty clear that in certain circles, Ahsoka’s fourth episode – “Fallen Jedi” – kinda/sorta did set the world on fire, and I’m sorry but I’m standing clearly on the side of the folks who don’t quite understand why. Despite some pretty graphics and tightening of pace here and there, I saw the 40 minutes as more of the same underwhelming potboiling. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that the Peter Ramsey-directed installment felt more like a creative misdirect than it did anything else.
Ok … buckle up.
Here’s the episode’s plot summary as provided by the folks at IMDB.com:
“Hera risk her career to help her friends while Ahsoka and Sabine confront enemies.”
I’ve always had a bugaboo about stories that aren’t specifically if not painstaking clear as to what their central point is. Just this morning, I kinda/sorta ribbed an otherwise very affectionate and heartwarming time travel flick – Aporia (reviewed here) – for taking me on a journey of discovery only then to let me down by not specifically showing me an effective conclusion. What the writer/director does is end with a smile, and – despite evidence to the contrary – I believe it was implied that all of the characters received a happy ending. But without being shown that absolute reality – the entire film was structured around changing the flow of events – I’m left to assume that the lead (the lovely Judy Greer) was justly rewarded by a forgiving universe.
My problem with that is – as a person who is presently alive – I know all too well that our universe is many, many things; but I’d stop short of calling it ‘forgiving.’ Arguably, it’s incredibly unforgiving to those who make a general mess of things – as the characters within Aporia do – so I resent the ambiguity of the conclusion. I accept that the lady found happiness; I just don’t know what shape happiness took. And that matters. It matters greatly given what steps to took to subvert the natural order of things, but I don’t want to get too far into the weeds.
Even titling an episode “Fallen Jedi” leaves a lot for me to dissect. Who? Who is the fallen Jedi of which I’m being directed? Is it Ahsoka? Well, again, I hate to split hairs, but she walked away from the Jedi and the Jedi Order, so why are we merely granting her Jedi status yet again in this universe? The audience has been treated to a small handful of speeches by her as to how wrongheaded the Jedi have been, so … does she even consider herself a Jedi?
Okay, okay, okay … if the fallen Jedi isn’t Ahsoka, then who is it? Baylan? Well – again, sorry with the hairs – he’s not a fallen Jedi as he, too, pretty much walked away from his responsibility of dispensing justice in the universe with the fall of the entire Jedi Order, and he shackled his cart to the villains’ horses … so is that really fallen? He could’ve taken a stand but chose not to, and I’m not inclined to start giving him a ‘free pass’ to get out of galactic jail at this point, not with all that he’s apparently done and is doing.
Okay, okay, okay … if the fallen Jedi isn’t Ahsoka and it isn’t Baylan, then who is it? Anakin? Anakin Skywalker? The guy that the movies pretty much showed he brought balance to the Force? That guy? He doesn’t show up until the final moments of the episode, brings nothing to the narrative other than a bit of an M. Night Shyamalan twist ending, and … what? Is that ‘dark Anakin’? Is that what you’re referring to, Mr. Filoni, because you ending the installment musically with Darth Vader’s theme, so that’s the only truly fallen Jedi I can detect in the adventure.
Now, I understand fully that there are many who critique television and movies who like engaging in such mental gymnastics. What can I say other than I’m not one of them? If you don’t have the gumption and/or the desire to pony up some authentic story and storytelling within each episode of an ongoing serial, then maybe episodic television really isn’t your strong point. I know that’s not the case with Filoni – I’ve seen him do some very, very, very respectable work on The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch – but I’m seriously at a complete, total, and utter loss to understand where he’s at with this incarnation and where he might be taking us.
Yes, yes, and yes: I’ve watched enough video reviews to fully grasp that this might be precisely where the storyteller wants you to be. As I said, this is my two cents, and – frankly – this is what’s been plaguing me with Ahsoka since the first episode, that being … it appears directionless.
Well … I hate jumping into the midst of controversy, folks, I really do. As many of you know, I do preach that it deserves being avoided, despite what positive effects it could propose as potential ‘click bait’ tactics to bolster one’s marketshare on the Information Superhighway. I don’t always avoid the politics of blogging in this space, but I have always made a concerted effort that – when I do jump into the fray – I minimally try to offer something fresh to the debate, hoping that you’ll see my two cents as an honest contribution and not some attempt to fan the flames.
Now … that said … it’s pretty clear that in certain circles, Ahsoka’s fourth episode – “Fallen Jedi” – kinda/sorta did set the world on fire, and I’m sorry but I’m standing clearly on the side of the folks who don’t quite understand why. Despite some pretty graphics and tightening of pace here and there, I saw the 40 minutes as more of the same underwhelming potboiling. In fact, I’d go so far as to suggest that the Peter Ramsey-directed installment felt more like a creative misdirect than it did anything else.
Ok … buckle up.
Here’s the episode’s plot summary as provided by the folks at IMDB.com:
“Hera risk her career to help her friends while Ahsoka and Sabine confront enemies.”
I’ve always had a bugaboo about stories that aren’t specifically if not painstaking clear as to what their central point is. Just this morning, I kinda/sorta ribbed an otherwise very affectionate and heartwarming time travel flick – Aporia (reviewed here) – for taking me on a journey of discovery only then to let me down by not specifically showing me an effective conclusion. What the writer/director does is end with a smile, and – despite evidence to the contrary – I believe it was implied that all of the characters received a happy ending. But without being shown that absolute reality – the entire film was structured around changing the flow of events – I’m left to assume that the lead (the lovely Judy Greer) was justly rewarded by a forgiving universe.
My problem with that is – as a person who is presently alive – I know all too well that our universe is many, many things; but I’d stop short of calling it ‘forgiving.’ Arguably, it’s incredibly unforgiving to those who make a general mess of things – as the characters within Aporia do – so I resent the ambiguity of the conclusion. I accept that the lady found happiness; I just don’t know what shape happiness took. And that matters. It matters greatly given what steps to took to subvert the natural order of things, but I don’t want to get too far into the weeds.
Even titling an episode “Fallen Jedi” leaves a lot for me to dissect. Who? Who is the fallen Jedi of which I’m being directed? Is it Ahsoka? Well, again, I hate to split hairs, but she walked away from the Jedi and the Jedi Order, so why are we merely granting her Jedi status yet again in this universe? The audience has been treated to a small handful of speeches by her as to how wrongheaded the Jedi have been, so … does she even consider herself a Jedi?
Okay, okay, okay … if the fallen Jedi isn’t Ahsoka, then who is it? Baylan? Well – again, sorry with the hairs – he’s not a fallen Jedi as he, too, pretty much walked away from his responsibility of dispensing justice in the universe with the fall of the entire Jedi Order, and he shackled his cart to the villains’ horses … so is that really fallen? He could’ve taken a stand but chose not to, and I’m not inclined to start giving him a ‘free pass’ to get out of galactic jail at this point, not with all that he’s apparently done and is doing.
Okay, okay, okay … if the fallen Jedi isn’t Ahsoka and it isn’t Baylan, then who is it? Anakin? Anakin Skywalker? The guy that the movies pretty much showed he brought balance to the Force? That guy? He doesn’t show up until the final moments of the episode, brings nothing to the narrative other than a bit of an M. Night Shyamalan twist ending, and … what? Is that ‘dark Anakin’? Is that what you’re referring to, Mr. Filoni, because you ending the installment musically with Darth Vader’s theme, so that’s the only truly fallen Jedi I can detect in the adventure.
Now, I understand fully that there are many who critique television and movies who like engaging in such mental gymnastics. What can I say other than I’m not one of them? If you don’t have the gumption and/or the desire to pony up some authentic story and storytelling within each episode of an ongoing serial, then maybe episodic television really isn’t your strong point. I know that’s not the case with Filoni – I’ve seen him do some very, very, very respectable work on The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch – but I’m seriously at a complete, total, and utter loss to understand where he’s at with this incarnation and where he might be taking us.
Yes, yes, and yes: I’ve watched enough video reviews to fully grasp that this might be precisely where the storyteller wants you to be. As I said, this is my two cents, and – frankly – this is what’s been plaguing me with Ahsoka since the first episode, that being … it appears directionless.
This may clear up once the totality of this adventure is brought to fruition.
Often times, writers will engage in such misdirection – mystery writers, in particular, love to insert McGuffins and plot twists to keep viewers guessing as to whom the guilty culprit could be – and the results could be good, bad, or middling. With Ahsoka, I’m strongly sensing an incredible amount of mismanagement, though, as developments either aren’t organic to what’s come before (hello, smoke creature Marrok), what’s been established in canon (hello, world between worlds), or what’s remotely plausible (hello, just about everything else that doesn’t quite add up). Folks, I’m no Filoni hater – I’ve mentioned before that I’ll agree if anyone deserves the chance to right this sinking enterprise it might be him – but this show is feeling more and more like a two-hour movie bloated out to an eight-hour series … and for absolutely no valid reason.
Sorry, too, to all of those who proclaim that actress Rosario Dawson is doing a fabulous job with the material because – again – I’m just not seeing it. Her delivery is particularly stilted – so much so that I’d have to insist she’s been instructed to deliver both her dialogue and her fight scenes with decidedly leaden effort – and it’s ruining what I thought was an otherwise interesting side character. (I do agree with many who question if this program was, functionally, even necessary; that, too, may not be answerable until we arrive at its ultimate destination.) There’s no sense of urgency to the character on any level. She seems to be going through the moral motions only because someone has to, which leaves me to ask, “Was no one else a bit more interesting available?”
Also, I have to throw just a touch of shade on all of the praise being afforded the late actor Ray Stevenson. (Bite your tongue, haters, and let me make my point.) While I think the man was an immeasurable talent who left our world far too soon, can someone please explain to me why I should give a player major kudos when looking like he’s downright Shakespearean while be paired up with planks of wood? Of course, I’m glad he showed up for work and isn’t phoning it in, but even his delivery in places only begs the question as to what is his true motivation as a villain especially when he claims he’s only doing this for the good of the galaxy? Who defines good? The guy who joined some dark players in order to advance his agenda? Or the guy who apparently walked away and hid while his brothers and sisters were felled in the execution of Order 66? Didn’t we just cheer Hera for pointing out something thematically similar to a New Republic senator? Why are we giving Baylan Skoll a pass? Because we like him?
Has anyone called New Republic Child Services on Hera for her unauthorized ‘take your child to work day’ excursion? Are we not concerned about toting the young’un into battle, or is that perfectly acceptable ‘girl power’ on display?
Has there been a more useless droid in the Outer Rim than Huyang? At least C3PO convinced the Ewoks that they were better off helping the Rebels defeat the Empire. Plus: great comic relief.
At spending an alleged $25M per episode, could we really have not come up with a better line than “going somewhere?” In case you missed it, that’s what Shin confronted Ahsoka and Sabine with in the forest before swords were drawn and blood (erm … smoke?) was spilled.
Does the New Republic employ so few X-Wing fighter pilots that Captain Carson Teva must appear in every show? Good grief? What? Are there only twelve space jockeys on staff? No wonder the Sequel Trilogy undid this useless New Republic so quickly. Even I know better than that, and I’ve never been to space!
Lastly … and I do mean lastly … why was it that the magical ball/map only burned Ahsoka? Sabine touched it. She’s fine. Baylan touched it. He’s fine. Why is it damn near everyone else can get their hands on the thing without being harmed? Again … is that a misdirect … or is something more at work?
Sigh.
I just don’t know.
As I hope you can see, I’m downright befuddled by this show and – to a small degree – both sides of its reception. I can see strengths and weaknesses in every scene, and I can only hope against hope that (cough cough) Anakin’s arrival might help shine a bit of light on just what the maker has intended for this whole, galaxy-hopping affair … because right now? I haven’t a clue.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that I’m beholden to no one to provide a review of Star Wars: Ahsoka streaming series as I’m presently a subscriber to Disney+ … which might be changing in the future as their programming has really gotten a bit stale.
-- EZ
Often times, writers will engage in such misdirection – mystery writers, in particular, love to insert McGuffins and plot twists to keep viewers guessing as to whom the guilty culprit could be – and the results could be good, bad, or middling. With Ahsoka, I’m strongly sensing an incredible amount of mismanagement, though, as developments either aren’t organic to what’s come before (hello, smoke creature Marrok), what’s been established in canon (hello, world between worlds), or what’s remotely plausible (hello, just about everything else that doesn’t quite add up). Folks, I’m no Filoni hater – I’ve mentioned before that I’ll agree if anyone deserves the chance to right this sinking enterprise it might be him – but this show is feeling more and more like a two-hour movie bloated out to an eight-hour series … and for absolutely no valid reason.
Sorry, too, to all of those who proclaim that actress Rosario Dawson is doing a fabulous job with the material because – again – I’m just not seeing it. Her delivery is particularly stilted – so much so that I’d have to insist she’s been instructed to deliver both her dialogue and her fight scenes with decidedly leaden effort – and it’s ruining what I thought was an otherwise interesting side character. (I do agree with many who question if this program was, functionally, even necessary; that, too, may not be answerable until we arrive at its ultimate destination.) There’s no sense of urgency to the character on any level. She seems to be going through the moral motions only because someone has to, which leaves me to ask, “Was no one else a bit more interesting available?”
Also, I have to throw just a touch of shade on all of the praise being afforded the late actor Ray Stevenson. (Bite your tongue, haters, and let me make my point.) While I think the man was an immeasurable talent who left our world far too soon, can someone please explain to me why I should give a player major kudos when looking like he’s downright Shakespearean while be paired up with planks of wood? Of course, I’m glad he showed up for work and isn’t phoning it in, but even his delivery in places only begs the question as to what is his true motivation as a villain especially when he claims he’s only doing this for the good of the galaxy? Who defines good? The guy who joined some dark players in order to advance his agenda? Or the guy who apparently walked away and hid while his brothers and sisters were felled in the execution of Order 66? Didn’t we just cheer Hera for pointing out something thematically similar to a New Republic senator? Why are we giving Baylan Skoll a pass? Because we like him?
Has anyone called New Republic Child Services on Hera for her unauthorized ‘take your child to work day’ excursion? Are we not concerned about toting the young’un into battle, or is that perfectly acceptable ‘girl power’ on display?
Has there been a more useless droid in the Outer Rim than Huyang? At least C3PO convinced the Ewoks that they were better off helping the Rebels defeat the Empire. Plus: great comic relief.
At spending an alleged $25M per episode, could we really have not come up with a better line than “going somewhere?” In case you missed it, that’s what Shin confronted Ahsoka and Sabine with in the forest before swords were drawn and blood (erm … smoke?) was spilled.
Does the New Republic employ so few X-Wing fighter pilots that Captain Carson Teva must appear in every show? Good grief? What? Are there only twelve space jockeys on staff? No wonder the Sequel Trilogy undid this useless New Republic so quickly. Even I know better than that, and I’ve never been to space!
Lastly … and I do mean lastly … why was it that the magical ball/map only burned Ahsoka? Sabine touched it. She’s fine. Baylan touched it. He’s fine. Why is it damn near everyone else can get their hands on the thing without being harmed? Again … is that a misdirect … or is something more at work?
Sigh.
I just don’t know.
As I hope you can see, I’m downright befuddled by this show and – to a small degree – both sides of its reception. I can see strengths and weaknesses in every scene, and I can only hope against hope that (cough cough) Anakin’s arrival might help shine a bit of light on just what the maker has intended for this whole, galaxy-hopping affair … because right now? I haven’t a clue.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that I’m beholden to no one to provide a review of Star Wars: Ahsoka streaming series as I’m presently a subscriber to Disney+ … which might be changing in the future as their programming has really gotten a bit stale.
-- EZ
- Published on
Good morning and happy midweek, ladies and gentlemen and others!
My, my, my ... it's incredible how quickly these weeks are flying by already! Before you know it, Halloween will be here (already started work on my annual decoration additions), then Thanksgiving, and then the big silly season will be upon us. Make sure to start your shopping early this year, folks, as it's never too late to get something on sale for that special someone.
Well ... how about that Ahsoka, eh?
No, no, and no. This is not a review. To be honest, I haven't even watched it yet, but I couldn't help but get caught up in the spoilers leaking all over the Information Superhighway last night. Were I a younger man, I probably would be very upset with folks who dribble such facts in an attempt to either bolster their own online presence and/or destroy mankind's chance of going into any program completely blind. I've really never much cared about knowing some factoids in advance; in some cases, I've even found it a bit helpful (things like Marvel wherein I'm not up on the mythology, etc.). But it definitely looks like the episode stirred the pot more than a bit. I even listened to a few YouTube.com reviews this morning because I couldn't help myself whilst I was doing some graphics work. As I said, I haven't seen it; I'll likely watch tonight (with the wifey) and pen a review thereafter. I will say that I've found the show a tad disappointing thus far: it has some interesting ideas, but I'm really not seeing the sense of urgency behind any of it. Filoni can be a mixed bag for me, but I do think the franchise is in pretty capable hands with him.
As for today's trivia citations?
Oh, my oh my! The big one for me -- and it's really the only major citation so far as I'm concerned -- was the premiere of Superman: The Animated Series on this day back in 1996. From what I recall, I loved the show through-and-through; I've always been a big fan of Supes, and I think the show did as well for me as did Batman: The Animated Series in delving into Supes' mythology, presenting it for modern audiences in such a way as to make all of it very compelling. It had some epic stories -- big and small -- and I do believe it certainly paved the way for the animated Justice League to follow up quite nicely. Actor Tim Daly did a fabulous job in voicing both Clark Kent and the Man Of Steel, and if you haven't seen it (or watched any of it lately) today is as good a day as any to give it a whirl. I suspect you'll like what you find.
Also, the fabulous Anne Lockhart -- she of the original Battlestar Galactica fame -- turns another year wiser today. Back in the days of my youth, she was a somewhat regular across a great number of SciFi and/or Fantasy series. I'll always remember her smiling, and she was such a shining presence whenever she showed up for work. Seriously, I wish we had more actresses like her turning in fabulous turns all across genre properties; there are a few out there, and maybe I'll pen myself a column on that topic sometime in the near future.
In any event ... let me get out of your way now so that I can point you properly in the direction of the real reason you're here ...
My, my, my ... it's incredible how quickly these weeks are flying by already! Before you know it, Halloween will be here (already started work on my annual decoration additions), then Thanksgiving, and then the big silly season will be upon us. Make sure to start your shopping early this year, folks, as it's never too late to get something on sale for that special someone.
Well ... how about that Ahsoka, eh?
No, no, and no. This is not a review. To be honest, I haven't even watched it yet, but I couldn't help but get caught up in the spoilers leaking all over the Information Superhighway last night. Were I a younger man, I probably would be very upset with folks who dribble such facts in an attempt to either bolster their own online presence and/or destroy mankind's chance of going into any program completely blind. I've really never much cared about knowing some factoids in advance; in some cases, I've even found it a bit helpful (things like Marvel wherein I'm not up on the mythology, etc.). But it definitely looks like the episode stirred the pot more than a bit. I even listened to a few YouTube.com reviews this morning because I couldn't help myself whilst I was doing some graphics work. As I said, I haven't seen it; I'll likely watch tonight (with the wifey) and pen a review thereafter. I will say that I've found the show a tad disappointing thus far: it has some interesting ideas, but I'm really not seeing the sense of urgency behind any of it. Filoni can be a mixed bag for me, but I do think the franchise is in pretty capable hands with him.
As for today's trivia citations?
Oh, my oh my! The big one for me -- and it's really the only major citation so far as I'm concerned -- was the premiere of Superman: The Animated Series on this day back in 1996. From what I recall, I loved the show through-and-through; I've always been a big fan of Supes, and I think the show did as well for me as did Batman: The Animated Series in delving into Supes' mythology, presenting it for modern audiences in such a way as to make all of it very compelling. It had some epic stories -- big and small -- and I do believe it certainly paved the way for the animated Justice League to follow up quite nicely. Actor Tim Daly did a fabulous job in voicing both Clark Kent and the Man Of Steel, and if you haven't seen it (or watched any of it lately) today is as good a day as any to give it a whirl. I suspect you'll like what you find.
Also, the fabulous Anne Lockhart -- she of the original Battlestar Galactica fame -- turns another year wiser today. Back in the days of my youth, she was a somewhat regular across a great number of SciFi and/or Fantasy series. I'll always remember her smiling, and she was such a shining presence whenever she showed up for work. Seriously, I wish we had more actresses like her turning in fabulous turns all across genre properties; there are a few out there, and maybe I'll pen myself a column on that topic sometime in the near future.
In any event ... let me get out of your way now so that I can point you properly in the direction of the real reason you're here ...
Lastly, I am working on a review that I hope to have up later today, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
As always, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing on the Information Superhighway ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
- Published on
Though I’ve often said the best way to both entertain and educate a readership is to be brutally honest, I don’t always follow that rule.
You see, I’ve always tried to exercise a bit of nicety when talking about media in general. While I don’t mind pointing out obvious deficiencies in any production or performance, I do still strive to find something positive and/or substantive to say about any story. I figure that some folks somewhere have gone to the great effort, time, and expense to put this thing together, and it deserves as much constructive criticism – good, bad, and ugly – that I can provide. This doesn’t mean (in any way) that I’m a shill because I’ve never liked anything for the sake of liking it; but having a soft spot for flicks that most audiences don’t give the time of day has taught me to appreciate art no matter how many strengths and weaknesses I might find.
As a consequence, I’ve sat through an inordinate amount of low- and no-budget fare that many who spout off about film online refuse to watch … and, at first blush, that’s precisely what the uninformed viewer might think of Final Cut (2022).
The film’s opening 30+ minutes have the look, feel, and overall aesthetic of a production that didn’t have enough artistic polish to catch the eye of a major studio exhibitor; but that’s only because it’s precisely what you’re supposed to think at that point in the story. The real deal – the tale behind this single-take zombie-fueled short film – begins anew when the director, cast, and crew are assembled to undertake one of the most oddball projects of their storied and ‘unstoried’ careers. Only then does the charm of this incredible experience show, making Cut one of the longest set-ups to deliver its joyous punchline in as dynamic a fashion as was humanly possible.
… and I haven’t laughed so much at a Horror/Comedy in quite some time.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Things go badly for a small film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie when they are attacked by real zombies.”
You see, I’ve always tried to exercise a bit of nicety when talking about media in general. While I don’t mind pointing out obvious deficiencies in any production or performance, I do still strive to find something positive and/or substantive to say about any story. I figure that some folks somewhere have gone to the great effort, time, and expense to put this thing together, and it deserves as much constructive criticism – good, bad, and ugly – that I can provide. This doesn’t mean (in any way) that I’m a shill because I’ve never liked anything for the sake of liking it; but having a soft spot for flicks that most audiences don’t give the time of day has taught me to appreciate art no matter how many strengths and weaknesses I might find.
As a consequence, I’ve sat through an inordinate amount of low- and no-budget fare that many who spout off about film online refuse to watch … and, at first blush, that’s precisely what the uninformed viewer might think of Final Cut (2022).
The film’s opening 30+ minutes have the look, feel, and overall aesthetic of a production that didn’t have enough artistic polish to catch the eye of a major studio exhibitor; but that’s only because it’s precisely what you’re supposed to think at that point in the story. The real deal – the tale behind this single-take zombie-fueled short film – begins anew when the director, cast, and crew are assembled to undertake one of the most oddball projects of their storied and ‘unstoried’ careers. Only then does the charm of this incredible experience show, making Cut one of the longest set-ups to deliver its joyous punchline in as dynamic a fashion as was humanly possible.
… and I haven’t laughed so much at a Horror/Comedy in quite some time.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Things go badly for a small film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie when they are attacked by real zombies.”
Folks, again I find myself having to be perfectly and brutally honest: there’s functionally no way to discuss the premise behind Final Cut without spoiling its structure, so I’ll apologize (right here) in advance and get on about the business of educating you as to why you might not want to miss this clever little gem. Even that synopsis above – from the reliable IMDB.com – is a bit of a misdirect as there are no living, breathing, dead, or undead zombies in the feature. There are actors playing zombies, and they’re doing while filming a film about said zombies … but – if I’m being brutally, brutally honest – Cut is most definitely not a Horror production.
But what it is otherwise is a bit of comic genius. It’s a carnival show with a kinda/sorta storytelling twist that puts on full display the kind of magic one can only find in talented projects that audiences aren’t exposed to every day, so I’m giving this one a full thumbs up from the get-go.
Cut is a film-within-a-film-within-a-film.
Having seen more than my share of independent flicks, I can assure you that the opening chapter very much resembles a countless number of DVDs I’ve been sent to review over the years. This roughly 30-minute short film clearly has its own share of issues – the narrative jumps around uncomfortably with all of it being conceived and shot on a single spool of film with no cuts – with characters coming and going and the plot herking and jerking its way to an obvious symbolic finish … and this is only the beginning of the story.
Writer/director Michel Hazanavicius then picks up from his short film’s fade-to-black by sending the audience back in time a few months to the point wherein the fictional director Remi (played by Romain Duris) is contemplating whether or not he should accept what looks to be a somewhat doomed production of the ‘walking dead’ variety. Japanese investors are looking to remake their box office smash ‘Z’ in France, believing they have one of those rare intellectual properties that can break down barriers and maybe even capture ‘lightning in a bottle’ a second time in a new location. Though Remi initially passes on the chance, he reconsiders once he realizes that his fledgling director daughter has her sights set on meeting Z’s potential leading man, current French sensation Raphaël Barrelle (Finnegan Oldfield). (Oh, the things a parent does for his child!) But – before you know it – Remi finds himself deluged with more problems one might believe humanly possible when cast and crew idiosyncrasies mount well past the breaking point, forcing him to defy all odds by getting this single-take film done seamlessly in any way possible!
Though it’s a bit wacky at times – and the humor is occasionally a bit predictable – the cast of talent here gives one incredibly comic performance after another. Barrelle is incensed with tweaking the shooting script to match what he feels are the socio-cultural motifs that’ll draw the attention of the cultural betters. Ava (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) is hoping to use the whole affair to bolster her burgeoning presence on social media. Philippe Rolland (Grégory Gadebois) hopes to drown out his mounting personal problems by losing himself in his work. Jonathan Mental (Raphaël Quenard) spends his days repeatedly asking for more elaborate perks from the group’s craft services, so much so that managing his requests becomes impossible. And an automobile accident the day of the shoot means both Remi and his wife Nadia (Bérénice Bejo) have no choice but to step in front of the camera as players in order to bring the story to realization … even though Nadia was forced out of the acting business years ago do to her feverish overcommitment to characterization!
But what it is otherwise is a bit of comic genius. It’s a carnival show with a kinda/sorta storytelling twist that puts on full display the kind of magic one can only find in talented projects that audiences aren’t exposed to every day, so I’m giving this one a full thumbs up from the get-go.
Cut is a film-within-a-film-within-a-film.
Having seen more than my share of independent flicks, I can assure you that the opening chapter very much resembles a countless number of DVDs I’ve been sent to review over the years. This roughly 30-minute short film clearly has its own share of issues – the narrative jumps around uncomfortably with all of it being conceived and shot on a single spool of film with no cuts – with characters coming and going and the plot herking and jerking its way to an obvious symbolic finish … and this is only the beginning of the story.
Writer/director Michel Hazanavicius then picks up from his short film’s fade-to-black by sending the audience back in time a few months to the point wherein the fictional director Remi (played by Romain Duris) is contemplating whether or not he should accept what looks to be a somewhat doomed production of the ‘walking dead’ variety. Japanese investors are looking to remake their box office smash ‘Z’ in France, believing they have one of those rare intellectual properties that can break down barriers and maybe even capture ‘lightning in a bottle’ a second time in a new location. Though Remi initially passes on the chance, he reconsiders once he realizes that his fledgling director daughter has her sights set on meeting Z’s potential leading man, current French sensation Raphaël Barrelle (Finnegan Oldfield). (Oh, the things a parent does for his child!) But – before you know it – Remi finds himself deluged with more problems one might believe humanly possible when cast and crew idiosyncrasies mount well past the breaking point, forcing him to defy all odds by getting this single-take film done seamlessly in any way possible!
Though it’s a bit wacky at times – and the humor is occasionally a bit predictable – the cast of talent here gives one incredibly comic performance after another. Barrelle is incensed with tweaking the shooting script to match what he feels are the socio-cultural motifs that’ll draw the attention of the cultural betters. Ava (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) is hoping to use the whole affair to bolster her burgeoning presence on social media. Philippe Rolland (Grégory Gadebois) hopes to drown out his mounting personal problems by losing himself in his work. Jonathan Mental (Raphaël Quenard) spends his days repeatedly asking for more elaborate perks from the group’s craft services, so much so that managing his requests becomes impossible. And an automobile accident the day of the shoot means both Remi and his wife Nadia (Bérénice Bejo) have no choice but to step in front of the camera as players in order to bring the story to realization … even though Nadia was forced out of the acting business years ago do to her feverish overcommitment to characterization!
Clearly, Cut reaches for somewhat farcical dimensions at times, but Hazanavicius keeps the focus and the forward momentum going efficiently, producing one of the most pleasant viewing experiences I’ve had with a film in quite some time. I’m not sure everyone who discovers the film will share that assessment; as I said, there’s a protracted delay before the real story begins, and I suspect many might check out of this campaign with some frustration. Still, I can’t tell you how many of the jokes paid off in fabulous rewards by sitting patiently: everything that raises an eyebrow in the unblemished short film, Z, gets rather hilariously skewered once you know the behind-the-scenes antics necessary to put it together. Cut is a work of genius for those who’ve been in the trenches of making a feature production and lived to tell about it, especially those that didn’t quite come off the way intended.
Final Cut (2022) was produced by Getaway Films, La Classe Américaine, SK Global, Blue Light, France 2 Cinéma, and a few other participants. (If you’re truly interested in the full particulars, they’re available on IMDB.com.) DVD distribution (for this particular release) is being coordinated by the fine folks at Kino Lorber. As for the technical specifications? Because this is a film-within-a-film-within-a-film, there’s some occasionally trickery employed to indicate precisely which version of the production you’re in; that may sound a bit confusing, but trust me when I say you’ll understand it perfectly well when you see it. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? The disc boasts only a short making-of featurette; it’s nice, but I didn’t find it all that interesting.
Highest recommendation possible, but …
Final Cut (2022) both is and isn’t a Horror, and I think some might in the audience might be put off by the obvious association … but that’s honestly small potatoes. The film is far more a Comedy – and a very good one – about filmmakers, the filmmaking process, and the highs and lows of dealing with a variety of ‘personalities’ in a frenetic and complex situation. If patience is a virtue, then those who exercise it fully will be rewarded for doing so: Cut has about a 35-minute set-up that – as mentioned above – is a bit confusing for a variety of reasons that won’t be explained until the feature’s last 35-minutes … but I found the punchline well worth the wait. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong … and it’s nothing short of delicious.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Kino Lorber provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Final Cut (2022) by request for the express purposes of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
Final Cut (2022) was produced by Getaway Films, La Classe Américaine, SK Global, Blue Light, France 2 Cinéma, and a few other participants. (If you’re truly interested in the full particulars, they’re available on IMDB.com.) DVD distribution (for this particular release) is being coordinated by the fine folks at Kino Lorber. As for the technical specifications? Because this is a film-within-a-film-within-a-film, there’s some occasionally trickery employed to indicate precisely which version of the production you’re in; that may sound a bit confusing, but trust me when I say you’ll understand it perfectly well when you see it. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? The disc boasts only a short making-of featurette; it’s nice, but I didn’t find it all that interesting.
Highest recommendation possible, but …
Final Cut (2022) both is and isn’t a Horror, and I think some might in the audience might be put off by the obvious association … but that’s honestly small potatoes. The film is far more a Comedy – and a very good one – about filmmakers, the filmmaking process, and the highs and lows of dealing with a variety of ‘personalities’ in a frenetic and complex situation. If patience is a virtue, then those who exercise it fully will be rewarded for doing so: Cut has about a 35-minute set-up that – as mentioned above – is a bit confusing for a variety of reasons that won’t be explained until the feature’s last 35-minutes … but I found the punchline well worth the wait. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong … and it’s nothing short of delicious.
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Kino Lorber provided me with a complimentary Blu-ray of Final Cut (2022) by request for the express purposes of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
- Published on
Folks, crowdfunding – whether one likes it or not – has quickly become the way of the future in the always-expanding entertainment industry.
Back in its somewhat early days, I honestly was a bit reserved about it. As one who’s never participated in anything like it, I wondered how successful such programs could truly be. We hear a lot about the entertainment industry in cyberspace, and there’s so much out there that one might question the mechanics of how and why certain projects come and go so quickly the way they do … but then I actually ponied up a few bucks here and there to things that sounded interesting. A graphic novel idea here … a popular TV show compendium there … and a small(ish) SciFi film production even … and I can to understand that there are an awful lot of great storytellers beyond the big studios that can use a hand-up in creating content and delivering it to an audience hungry for something different.
Hell, even the other day, Hollywood politico and actor Mark Ruffalo suggested that actors should band together to fund some of the projects that the studio system won’t take a chance on. What a strategy tells me is that – like the saying goes – if you build it, people will come.
So I’m always willing to ‘pass the world along’ via my humble little portal – SciFiHistory.Net – regarding some of these projects that fall within our beloved realms, and – in that regard – Vampire Nuns looks like the kind of thing some of the readers might be tickled pink to know a bit more about. I’ve some press materials that I’m copying and pasting below – along with a few pics – and I encourage those of you who’ve expressed interest in such fare to check out writer/director Warren Speed’s announcement over on IndieGogo.com.
If you can spare a bit of change, then why not help him and his crew out? There are a handful of perk levels – most of them very, very, very reasonable – and you’d be doing your part to help bring a little something special to the marketplace!
As always, thanks for reading ... THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR AIDING INDEPENDENT STORYTELLERS ... thanks for sharing ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
Back in its somewhat early days, I honestly was a bit reserved about it. As one who’s never participated in anything like it, I wondered how successful such programs could truly be. We hear a lot about the entertainment industry in cyberspace, and there’s so much out there that one might question the mechanics of how and why certain projects come and go so quickly the way they do … but then I actually ponied up a few bucks here and there to things that sounded interesting. A graphic novel idea here … a popular TV show compendium there … and a small(ish) SciFi film production even … and I can to understand that there are an awful lot of great storytellers beyond the big studios that can use a hand-up in creating content and delivering it to an audience hungry for something different.
Hell, even the other day, Hollywood politico and actor Mark Ruffalo suggested that actors should band together to fund some of the projects that the studio system won’t take a chance on. What a strategy tells me is that – like the saying goes – if you build it, people will come.
So I’m always willing to ‘pass the world along’ via my humble little portal – SciFiHistory.Net – regarding some of these projects that fall within our beloved realms, and – in that regard – Vampire Nuns looks like the kind of thing some of the readers might be tickled pink to know a bit more about. I’ve some press materials that I’m copying and pasting below – along with a few pics – and I encourage those of you who’ve expressed interest in such fare to check out writer/director Warren Speed’s announcement over on IndieGogo.com.
If you can spare a bit of change, then why not help him and his crew out? There are a handful of perk levels – most of them very, very, very reasonable – and you’d be doing your part to help bring a little something special to the marketplace!
As always, thanks for reading ... THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR AIDING INDEPENDENT STORYTELLERS ... thanks for sharing ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
PRESS RELEASE
Vampire Nuns
A throwback to the 1950s & 60s "nudie cuties"
with a modern twist and comedy horror ...
"Vampire Nuns" will be the fifth B-Movie made by England's answer to Russ Meyer and Roger Corman - Warren Speed. His previous films include "Zombie Women of Satan 1 & 2" (the first of which made a splash at Cannes in 2010), and "Coulrophobia : Terror Trip" (which Empire magazine and Dread Central website both compared to Rob Zombie's early movies.
"Vampire Nuns" tells the rather titillating tale of a group of off-the-rails young women who have all been sent to 'St Mary's Convent For Wayward Women', which is ran by the dominatrix Mother Superior. When they are discovered by a 666 year old vampire (Lord Fang), he puts them under a spell and all kinds of weird, wonderful and salacious things happen. Can the two hopeless vampire slayers Van Hyre and Odd Nob (who also moonlight as house removal experts), save the day?
You can learn more about the movie and also help the producers make the film the best they can by visiting https://igg.me/at/vampirenuns
"Vampire Nuns" tells the rather titillating tale of a group of off-the-rails young women who have all been sent to 'St Mary's Convent For Wayward Women', which is ran by the dominatrix Mother Superior. When they are discovered by a 666 year old vampire (Lord Fang), he puts them under a spell and all kinds of weird, wonderful and salacious things happen. Can the two hopeless vampire slayers Van Hyre and Odd Nob (who also moonlight as house removal experts), save the day?
You can learn more about the movie and also help the producers make the film the best they can by visiting https://igg.me/at/vampirenuns
- Published on
Woof! Will you look at that? September 5th is well on the way to being another memorable day in the world of genre-specific trivia, peeps! Can you believe it? Can you believe all of the goodness?
Ahhh, good morning and Happy Tuesday, readers. Here's hoping this humble little daily post finds all of you as excited as is humanly possible. It's another great day to be alive, and why not celebrate it with a little time-out to read a bit about the people, places, and things that the day as special as it is, hmm?
In case you missed it, I put up a post just moments ago on behalf of a little 'something something' that's presently funding on IndieGoGo.com: Warren Speed's Vampire Nuns does look like the kind of thing that both might produce a few laughs along with a few screams. As happens with independent storytellers from time-to-time, they can use a little extra help from folks out there reading along on the Information Superhighway; and those of you who can help out are encouraged to check out his little stop ... which can be accessed right here. As is always the case, there's absolutely no requirement but as I've always been a fan of talented storytelling I like to pass the word along to those of you who might be interested. Indeed, check it out at your leisure. The perk levels are EXTREMELY AFFORDABLE (unlike many others I've been sent by folks privately), so a very modest investment can go a long way in that universe.
Also ... can you belive it: Batman: The Animated Series -- one of the absolute very best animated shows to come to television ever -- turns an astonishing 31 years young today! OMG, where does time go? Seriously, folks, if you've never had the opportunity to see what some exceptional storytelling in animated form looks like, then you're missing something that's top notch. I can't tell you how much I love that incarnation of Batman -- in fact, I've always argued it's the unquestioned highpoint in Batman mythology -- and you should stop what you're doing right now to check it. I don't care what your boss says. Screw him. Tell him you owe it to the world of art. Put it on the TV in the breakroom, and introduce all of your coworkers to it.
Lastly but never leastly (is that a word?): today is also reknowned for the birth of Raquel Welch. (Sadly, this lovely lady is no longer with us.) Welch knew more than a thing or two about turning heads, and she wasn't afraid to traffic in the circles of genre entertainment, either, which was a huge plus for the start of her cinematic career. She burst onto the scene as one of the technician miniaturized and sent on the mission of a medical emergency in 1966's Fantastic Voyage; and she followed that up with little more than patches of fur covering her lady parts in 1966's One Million Years B.C. for Hammer Films. To top those off, she also paid two visits to the world of TV's SciFi/Sitcom Mork & Mindy for good measure.
As for anything else associated to September 5th? Well, ask ... and you shall receive ...
Ahhh, good morning and Happy Tuesday, readers. Here's hoping this humble little daily post finds all of you as excited as is humanly possible. It's another great day to be alive, and why not celebrate it with a little time-out to read a bit about the people, places, and things that the day as special as it is, hmm?
In case you missed it, I put up a post just moments ago on behalf of a little 'something something' that's presently funding on IndieGoGo.com: Warren Speed's Vampire Nuns does look like the kind of thing that both might produce a few laughs along with a few screams. As happens with independent storytellers from time-to-time, they can use a little extra help from folks out there reading along on the Information Superhighway; and those of you who can help out are encouraged to check out his little stop ... which can be accessed right here. As is always the case, there's absolutely no requirement but as I've always been a fan of talented storytelling I like to pass the word along to those of you who might be interested. Indeed, check it out at your leisure. The perk levels are EXTREMELY AFFORDABLE (unlike many others I've been sent by folks privately), so a very modest investment can go a long way in that universe.
Also ... can you belive it: Batman: The Animated Series -- one of the absolute very best animated shows to come to television ever -- turns an astonishing 31 years young today! OMG, where does time go? Seriously, folks, if you've never had the opportunity to see what some exceptional storytelling in animated form looks like, then you're missing something that's top notch. I can't tell you how much I love that incarnation of Batman -- in fact, I've always argued it's the unquestioned highpoint in Batman mythology -- and you should stop what you're doing right now to check it. I don't care what your boss says. Screw him. Tell him you owe it to the world of art. Put it on the TV in the breakroom, and introduce all of your coworkers to it.
Lastly but never leastly (is that a word?): today is also reknowned for the birth of Raquel Welch. (Sadly, this lovely lady is no longer with us.) Welch knew more than a thing or two about turning heads, and she wasn't afraid to traffic in the circles of genre entertainment, either, which was a huge plus for the start of her cinematic career. She burst onto the scene as one of the technician miniaturized and sent on the mission of a medical emergency in 1966's Fantastic Voyage; and she followed that up with little more than patches of fur covering her lady parts in 1966's One Million Years B.C. for Hammer Films. To top those off, she also paid two visits to the world of TV's SciFi/Sitcom Mork & Mindy for good measure.
As for anything else associated to September 5th? Well, ask ... and you shall receive ...
As always, folks, thanks for reading ... thanks for sharing on the World Wide Web ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
- Published on
Good morning, smilers, and welcome to the start of yet one more all-new week in the year that is fastly drawing to a close ... none other than 2023!
Can you believe it? It's actually September. Again. And, yes, this year is just racing by, perhaps even faster than the last one. My, my, my, where do the days go?
Well, if it's any consolation, I have gathered you an incredible 72 different trivia citations with which to begin the day and the week, so there's gotta be something good in there for each of you.
Otherwise ... quiet weekend. We puttered, mostly. We did pick up a copy of Star Trek: Picard's Season 3 -- its final one, thank goodness -- and I will have a little 'something something' to say about it once I put my thoughts in order. Watch for it later in the week. In short, yes, I'd agree with those who loudly championed it online as Picard's best season ... but, alas, that still isn't saying all that much. Briefly, I will suggest it, too, had a great deal of bloat and didn't need to be ten episodes long ... especially not when they really only had about four or five hours of interesting story. The biggest advantage the show had going for it was that, yes, it was great to see the crew back in action. Still, those folks clamoring for yet one more TNG movie -- here's looking at you, Patrick Stewart -- really ought to pipe down. If this is the best you can do, then go out on a reasonable high note instead of delivering audiences yet one more Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), a veritable disaster of a flick if ever there were one.
As the week progresses, I'll likely have a few other reviews up on the MainPage. I do have a short stack of DVDs I have to make my way through, and I think I might even have a streaming link or two. I'm a bit behind because -- as I've mentioned previously, I believe -- one of our feline rescues is very, very, very under the weather. She's so bad I do have to try to feed her by hand these days -- had to even water her by hand part of last week -- and she wasn't doing well over the weekend. This morning -- believe it or not -- she actually seems a bit better, so you never can tell things about this mystery that is life. But it's been an experience to require some of my free time and -- as any furbaby lover can imagine -- it weighs heavily on my mind, too, making it difficult to write freely. I end up writing reviews in sections over these last two weeks, so ... it is what it is.
Lastly, I have had a few of you reach out to ask me more on my thoughts about Ahsoka, but -- in all honesty -- I really can't bring myself to do more with that show at this point than pen my episode reviews. I think that the first three episodes have been poorly written but certainly not as awful as some others have been lamenting online. The central issue is that Filoni and company haven't really created all that much atmosphere that's fresh and new -- many of the show's best moments feel a bit like their nostalgia trips off of Star Wars' other incarnations -- and that stuff usually leaves me a bit flat. They're nice, but they're not the stuff of memorable writing. Also, it's kinda/sorta hard to see where they're going with all of it; so I'm inclined to wait and see.
But here's the real reason all of you are here ...
Can you believe it? It's actually September. Again. And, yes, this year is just racing by, perhaps even faster than the last one. My, my, my, where do the days go?
Well, if it's any consolation, I have gathered you an incredible 72 different trivia citations with which to begin the day and the week, so there's gotta be something good in there for each of you.
Otherwise ... quiet weekend. We puttered, mostly. We did pick up a copy of Star Trek: Picard's Season 3 -- its final one, thank goodness -- and I will have a little 'something something' to say about it once I put my thoughts in order. Watch for it later in the week. In short, yes, I'd agree with those who loudly championed it online as Picard's best season ... but, alas, that still isn't saying all that much. Briefly, I will suggest it, too, had a great deal of bloat and didn't need to be ten episodes long ... especially not when they really only had about four or five hours of interesting story. The biggest advantage the show had going for it was that, yes, it was great to see the crew back in action. Still, those folks clamoring for yet one more TNG movie -- here's looking at you, Patrick Stewart -- really ought to pipe down. If this is the best you can do, then go out on a reasonable high note instead of delivering audiences yet one more Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), a veritable disaster of a flick if ever there were one.
As the week progresses, I'll likely have a few other reviews up on the MainPage. I do have a short stack of DVDs I have to make my way through, and I think I might even have a streaming link or two. I'm a bit behind because -- as I've mentioned previously, I believe -- one of our feline rescues is very, very, very under the weather. She's so bad I do have to try to feed her by hand these days -- had to even water her by hand part of last week -- and she wasn't doing well over the weekend. This morning -- believe it or not -- she actually seems a bit better, so you never can tell things about this mystery that is life. But it's been an experience to require some of my free time and -- as any furbaby lover can imagine -- it weighs heavily on my mind, too, making it difficult to write freely. I end up writing reviews in sections over these last two weeks, so ... it is what it is.
Lastly, I have had a few of you reach out to ask me more on my thoughts about Ahsoka, but -- in all honesty -- I really can't bring myself to do more with that show at this point than pen my episode reviews. I think that the first three episodes have been poorly written but certainly not as awful as some others have been lamenting online. The central issue is that Filoni and company haven't really created all that much atmosphere that's fresh and new -- many of the show's best moments feel a bit like their nostalgia trips off of Star Wars' other incarnations -- and that stuff usually leaves me a bit flat. They're nice, but they're not the stuff of memorable writing. Also, it's kinda/sorta hard to see where they're going with all of it; so I'm inclined to wait and see.
But here's the real reason all of you are here ...
As always, thank you for reading ... thank you for sharing ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ