Stargate in a different universe.

Ok, so let me get one thing out in the open before I tell you what I think of the new Stargate series. I passionately believe that it was an unforgivable mistake for producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper to abruptly end Stargate Atlantis (with a very mediocre series finale I might add) just so that they could start running Stargate Universe. At best it was an obvious case of unrestrained project A.D.D. At worst it was a complete stab in the back to faithful Atlantis fans. That being said let us move on. And really that’s what SGU is about, moving on and taking Stargate to the next level. From its intentionally muddled opening (a sequence intercut with flashbacks leading up to the opening events) SGU clearly tries to differentiate itself from its predecessors (SG-1 and Atlantis) and steer the franchise in a new, more dramatic and mature direction. It would seem that gone are the days of miraculous technological escapes made possible by idiosyncratic genius’s and snarky military tough guys. Gone are the black and white good versus evil morality plays inspiring the audience to cheer when the bad guys get blown up. And gone is the Indiana Jones-eqsue adventure flavor that’s been so much an integral part of the Stargate franchise. Instead we have a much tenser and grittier disaster survival story whose characters are great deal more conflicted and serious than anything we’ve seen in Stargate before…..and it works, at least so far. From the beginning to the end of the pilot I was hooked, much more so than even while watching the pilots for SG1 and Atlantis (and now I can’t wait to watch the third part this Friday night). And while it was nice to see some old school characters make cameo appearances (Daniel Jackson, General O’Neil, and Colonel Carter) it definitely wasn’t necessary to convince me that I was watching Stargate, the show effectively retaining enough familiar elements to successfully appeal to the fan base while it reaches out to broaden its audience. Will this series top SG-1 and Atlantis and make Sci-Fi (that’s how you really spell it) television history? Only time will tell. But Stargate Universe is definitely off to a great start and I am excited to see where the series goes.

A Labor of Love: Making Thomas Destiny

Nearly eight years ago I got together with my good friends Jon Grundvig and Zach Bjorge at a diner not too far from my home to begin planning a feature length film project (something we had attempted several times with only marginal success). Infatuated at the time with Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, we began putting together a story that would blend elements of fantasy adventure with Simpsons-esque comedy. That was the beginning of Thomas Destiny which premiered two and a half years later on April 16th 2004 at the Organ Loft theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah.
What is Thomas Destiny about? Thomas Destiny is a classic story much in the spirit of the Alice In Wonderland, The Wizard of OZ, and The Lord of the Rings about an unlikely hero far removed from home who gets called upon to save the world. Along the way he meets companions who aid him in his quest all the while struggling to overcome his own weaknesses and self doubts. But instead of meeting the normal (operative word here) types of fantasy allies and enemies, Thomas is thrown into a world where the bizarre is commonplace and many of the fantasy genre’s cliché’s are mocked.
So what’s the big deal about a bunch of film maker wannabe’s getting together to shoot a home movie about swords and sorcery? It’s not like that hasn’t ever been done before. True, and much of the movie’s value is sentimental. However, there was a certain magic about the project that clearly shines through on screen. First of all, this film was produced by an all volunteer cast and crew for an estimated two thousand dollars. No one got paid, yet from pre-production to principle photography to post, everyone made sacrifices to bring the story to life. All of us had regular full time jobs and would get together after work and on the weekends, drive all of over Utah (sometimes for hours) just to work on “our” movie. It was an impressive thing to consider the level of dedication to something we all knew was being undertaken simply for the love of film making. And although Thomas Destiny has some minor production quality faux pas, it looks and feels like a professional production with a unique mixture of comedy, drama, action, and adventure. Enjoy the Special Edition!

"No man should have to outlive his fictional wizard"

Half Blood Prince was my favorite installment of the Harry Potter book series, so needless to say I have been looking forward to this movie for quite some time (I was really disappointed that it was not released in November 2008 as originally planned…thank you very much stupid Twilight). First off, let me just say that HBP successfully accomplishes something that few film adaptations of popular novels are able to do, that is make a movie that is enjoyable to the casual theater-goers while at the same time staying true to the many endearing details and overall spirit of the book. In addition, HBP’s dark look is masterfully suited to the tense ”gathering storm cloud” theme of the story, effectively broken up by some beautifully lit scenes of warmth and humor. Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint comfortably play their larger than life alter egos making you really believe that these three young people are close friends as you empathize with their struggles, both the remarkable as well as the mundane. Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman give effectively dramatic performances, and Jim Broadbent is hilarious as the loveable coward, Horace Slughorn. I was also impressed with Tom Felton’s portrayal of a sympathetically desperate Draco Malfoy as well as Helena Bonham Carter’s playfully sadistic Bellatrix Lestrange. Unlike some of the previous Harry Potter installments, HBP comes off as the most believable of the series while at the same time retaining the wonder of its fantastic setting. The effects and score are topnotch, but I was disappointed with a somewhat pointless action scene that takes place in the middle of the movie, one that really did nothing to advance the plot, but just seemed clumsily inserted as a device for waking up the audience and making sure that the studio’s recommended dose of action was dispensed. Also, in the third act, some of the editing felt a little choppy and the narrative a bit rushed (can’t really blame the studio as the movie already runs long at two and a half hours). Overall though, this could arguably be the best of the Harry Potter movies thus far. Three and a half stars for the emotionally involving and truly excellent Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince!
Because this is a series for which I have not posted reviews, I wanted to list my ratings of the previous Potter films:
Sorcerer’s Stone: Two stars.
Chamber of Secrets: Two and a half stars.
Prisoner of Azkaban: Four stars.
Goblet of Fire: Two and a half stars.
Order of the Phoenix: Three stars.

Eating metal can give you magical powers....

Being a fan of the Wheel of Time series, I wanted to make sure I sampled Brandon Sanderson’s writing before The Gathering Storm (part one of the Memory of Light trilogy-finale to the Wheel of Time) is released this November, to see if Sanderson really was a worthy choice to conclude the late Robert Jordan’s epic masterpiece. And so I decided to read Mistborn: The Final Empire. Mistborn is the story of Vin, an orphaned teenage girl who is trapped in the criminal underworld and seemingly consigned to a life of thievery and abuse. However, all that changes when Vin meets the infamous adventurer-thief, Kelsier “the survivor of Hathsin.” But Kelsier is no ordinary rogue. He is an Allomancer – a person who can burn certain ingested metals giving them supernatural powers. Kelsier recognizes that Vin has the same gift and recruits her to participate in a mad scheme to overthrow a virtually immortal tyrant, one who has ruled the world for a thousand years, oppressing Kelsier and Vin’s people, the Skaa. Thus begins a rich fantasy drama that introduces a freshly original system of magic and an intriguingly dismal post-apocalyptic world. Mistborn could be the perfect fantasy-fiction novel, complete with emotionally involving characters, an expertly mixed dose of humor, exciting action scenes, and an intelligently organic plot. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this book and was thoroughly impressed with Sanderson’s writing ability. Thus I am pleased to report that the future of the Wheel of Time series is in good hands. On a scale of 1-10, Mistborn: The Final Empire gets a perfect 10!

Star Trek do-over

Ok, this will come out sooner or later so I might as well confess it here and now. I am a Trekkie. Surprise! Mom and dad are crying and blaming themselves, and the wife now knows where I’ve been secretly spending all my free time. It’s been a long time since we had new Trek, so I’ve been excitedly drooling over the trailers for the past six months. This can be dangerous as hype is a double edged sword, sometimes raising expectations to impossible levels. But in this case, Star Trek paid off the promotion, and for the most part I was pleased with J.J. Abram’s interpretation. First, let me say that Star Trek’s special effects are glorious! Gone are the days of stationary space battles where two ships have to be facing each other at point blank range in order to trade blows. All the ships, planets, phasers, and torpedoes look amazing. The score is emotionally charged with an epic flavor, and the new actors are all topnotch. The added dose of humor will help general audiences swallow the geekier elements of the movie, and the action and pacing are artfully executed. Yet as much as I enjoyed Star Trek, I did feel let down in a few areas. My biggest problem with the film is Abram’s deliberate abandonment of the hallmark Trek techno-babble and scientific approach to problem solving. I know, I know. That’s part of the barrier that kept Trek from previously being this widely accepted. However, that element of intelligent science fiction that is the very spirit of Star Trek was all but eliminated, leaving me feeling like the geeky friend who gets snubbed when his other friends want to impress the cool kids (yes, that analogy is autobiographical). Another thing that disappointed me was Leonard Nimoy’s surprisingly terrible performance. I realize that he’s never been an Oscar worthy actor, but he seemed to be at a personal worst, his lines sounding read from cue cards. And then there was the weak plot line (the recycled premise of the Star Trek Enterprise series), with its two dimensional villain, Nero, who seemed like a re-hash of old Trek bad guy Khan Singh. I do have to give Paramount and Abrams credit for their brilliant marketing strategy of using the alternate timeline template to clear the slate, making possible a total Star Trek re-invention. And although I am as attached to the old Trek history as I am to my wife and children, I am interested to see where Abrams will take the franchise. Three stars for the dumbed-down, yet thoroughly entertaining Star Trek!

Haunted by the ghost of unoriginality....

For some reason I have a morbid affinity for movies that freak me out. I'm not talking about slasher films - I've never really cared for or been scared by those - but movies that send me home with a creeped-out feeling that makes me want to hug a teddy bear and sleep with the lights on. Such was my experience watching the Haunting in Connecticut. When her son begins an experimental treatment for his cancer, Sara Campbell (Virginia Madsen) moves her family to an old house in upstate Connecticut so that they can be closer to the hospital where her son is receiving treatment. Unfortunately, the former funeral home has a dark history that includes corpse desecration, necromancy, and ectoplasmic séances (sounds like Never land Ranch). True to form, the family begins experiencing the classic symptoms of a haunted house (self breaking plates, disappearing figures, and homicidal shower curtains), all culminating in a fiery climax that reveals dozens of mummified corpses being used as wall insulation. Although loaded with several wet-your-pants level "boo" moments, Haunting is disappointingly mediocre and predictable and comes off more as a low budget Poltergeist meets the Messengers. Two stars for the creepy, but woefully unoriginal "The Haunting in Connecticut."

Fablehaven Grows Up

A shining star among the recent proliferation of Mormon fantasy novels has been Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series. And now with the release of the fourth installment, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary, Mull raises the stakes of his story, as well as the quality of his writing. In Dragon Sanctuary, Kendra and Seth Sorensen spend most of their time away from their grandparent's preserve for the protection of magical creatures, as Kendra is kidnapped early on in the book and then ventures to the forbidden Dragon Sanctuary, Wyrmroost, to search for a key to finding one of the artifacts that can unlock the great demon prison. As with the previous Fablehaven novels, Dragon Sanctuary hooked me from the first chapter, but this time I was pleasantly surprised to find that Mull's writing had significantly improved. There was a noticeable decrease in the embarrassingly silly character banter that has afflicted the series, the narrative was smoother, and the overall feel of the book was more professional. Dragon Sanctuary is also more intense and exciting than its predecessors - Mull throws a dramatic curveball toward the end that I didn't see coming, but which I thought worked surprisingly well. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a book as much as I did Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary earning it a 9 on a scale of 1-10.