At the Cinema - July 2016

Star Trek:  Beyond – 9

Since 1966 Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the crew of the USS Enterprise have been a presence in my life, intermittently popping in and out, much like the moles that seem to show up in the backyard every couple of years, just much more welcome.  I can’t think of anyone else with that staying power.  That’s 50 of my 63 years, 80% of my life.  No other group approaches that.   It’s only when you have that type of investment – that you watched the show with your dad when you were 13 – that you want it to all fit together like a good jigsaw puzzle.  Be careful with the details and Star Trek will live long and prosper.

We’ve seen classics (Khan), several spin-offs (including an upcoming TV series,) alternative realities that cheapened the past, terrific recasting of parts, and now 13 films.

So, when a new movie comes out, I’m there.  For better (2009) or worse (2013).  What’s the verdict on the 2016 release?  Better.

Here, with a minimum of spoilers, is what you need to know about Star Trek:  Beyond. 

1. Forget about the Enterprise’s vaunted shields.  It’s time to talk about the shields around the main crew.  Despite all the incredible battles, they maintain their perfect half century record of not being so much as grazed by a phaser, laser, or bullet.  It must be said that Spock suffers an injury, and Kirk is again a punching bag, but personal shields are up, as usual.
2. If you were looking forward to the romance between Kirk and Dr. Carol Marcus, it either happened between movies and you’re never going to see it, or you’re going to have to wait.  The five-year mission is a definite inhibitor of love lives….
3. Unless you are Sulu who is either gay, or he’s got a family on every space station.  Even Gene Roddenberry couldn’t have seen this coming.
4. The action is almost non-stop in the hands of Fast and Furious director Justin Lin, who has taken the controls from JJ Abrams.  Character development is at a minimum, but let’s face it.  If we don’t know these people by now…..
5. As you would expect in a Justin Lin movie, there is so much going on that’s it’s a CGI visual overload.  Between the sometime too-up-close blurry action and the immense size of the ships and space stations, it’s sometimes more than the eye can process, especially if you’re a non-video-gamer.
6. Nevertheless, see it in 3D.  This may be the best 3D movie yet.  Nobody even moved when the credits rolled because even they are eye-popping.  I sprung the extra bucks for the IMAX 3D and it was worth it.
7. The classics are timeless.  Shakespeare, Mozart, and apparently The Beastie Boys.
8. The villain is played by Idris Elba, who while he’ll always be Stringer Bell to me, is poised for superstardom.  He’s terrific, especially when they finally let him, well, “emerge.”
9. There’s another new character, named Jayla, and she’s a welcome addition.
10. This installment was co-written by Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty and had the good sense to include a beautifully poignant scene towards the end.  Wait for it.
11. If there's ever been better casting of a movie series, I don't know what it would be.
12. All in all, and despite the over-adrenalinized action, if that’s a word, it’s worthy.  That’s all us Trekkie’s want.

The Free State of Jones – 8

Living in Mississippi and knowing a little bit about the fanatically conservative Jones County makes this movie all the more shocking in its revelations.  Turns out there was a band of Confederate deserters who didn’t like the way the war was going.  Led by Newton Knight, who had deserted first when he decided to take a dead relative home to his mother, they holed up in a swamp and eventually played very effective swamp foxes, controlling a nice swatch of southern Mississippi.  It’s all news to me.  The wonderful girl I once went out with from Ellisville (prominent location in the movie) never mentioned it.  The awesome girl from Laurel I once went out with never mentioned it.  Maybe they would have eventually told me had they not dumped me, joining a long list of dumpers.  Hey ladies – look at me now – I’m blogging.

Back to the movie.  Matthew McConaghey plays Knight with the proper intensity.  He has a couple of families along the way, and the movie goes on too long.  There is a flash forward sub plot that takes place in a courtroom that lengthens the movie.  At first I didn’t like it, but by the end of the movie it had grown on me.  They were trying for an epic, and some of the action fits the bill.  The director eventually has to start overlaying explanations because he’s trying to cover so much historical ground (voting, reconstruction) but somehow he gets the whole story told.

Here’s a note to Hollywood – if you really want to make close to 3 hour epics – give us an intermission.  Gone With The Wind, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady – they all had intermissions.  I had to make a quick trip in the middle of this one and I came back and the war had abruptly ended.  I’ll never know how.  But Newt was off to Soso, Mississippi to settle down after the war, and I actually know someone from Soso, so it was all very interesting.  So, while the movie may have been more fascinating to us Mississippi residents, I would think anyone who likes history is going to find this compelling.  Good stuff.  Well worth seeing.

Jason Bourne – 5

Oops they did it again.  They just had to do another one.  Four in the series, three with Matt Damon, and enough box office money printed to buy one of those countries they inevitably begin in. 

In this one, Jason Bourne is fighting (literally) for money when his old compadre Nicki Parsons (Julia Stiles) comes calling with some totally unnecessary information to hang a movie on, but there are chases to be filmed, carnage to be carned and a body count in the hundreds ahead. 

Paul Greengrass, who is one of my favorite action directors, just overdoes the action.  Yes, all movie action is ridiculous, but the wreckage they make of the Las Vegas strip in the last of three superchases, while not entirely a bad idea, is so ludicrous that its cartoonish.  The hand to hand combat is filmed too closely to see exactly what is going on, but that’s standard in these movies.  The plot centers around privacy, hacking, and social media, but some of the acting, especially by Tommy Lee Jones, is corny with a Capital C.  Here’s hoping Jason can retire soon, but it’s not a spoiler to tell you he probably won’t.  As I was watching, I just couldn’t help but think how much water Matt Damon could have distributed to one of those third world countries with the budget used on this movie.

Scanning the Satellite

The Night of – 10 (after 4 parts)

HBO throws us a summer bone with this limited series which so far has been a riveting murder mystery that goes where mysteries don’t usually go – deep into the jailhouse.

If you haven’t been watching, make like a bottle and ketchup. 

Roadies – 10

But my favorite show of the summer comes from Showtime and the rock n roll creativity of Cameron Crowe.  It focuses on the Roadies who set up the tour of a fictional rock band.  The story is great, and the music’s terrific, especially the Song of the Day, which is pretty much the way some of us roll through life – one day at a time, one song at a time.

Cyberwars – 9

Viceland is a channel that has been added to my Directv.  It’s almost all documentary reports and so far, so good.  Cyberwars focuses on hackers, and it’s way scarier than Jason Bourne.

Lastly there are the two political party conventions and the Olympics which share the fact that they are now largely made-for-tv events.  A great time to have a remote, but that’s just me.

At the Cinema - June 2016

Independence Day:  Resurgence – 2

The original Independence Day in 1996 was a crowd pleaser and has held up as a guilty pleasure.

Unfortunately, the sequel is just plain guilty.

As the movie starts, it’s a completely different 2016, as the world has successfully used the alien technology from the previous invasion to great benefit, making for a peaceful and efficient world.  And that is easily the most interesting part of the movie.  After that it is downhill so fast and so far that the movie is often laughable. 

You see, the Aliens are coming back, and they’re not happy, and that’s before they read the script. 

Apparently the alternate version of 2016 is also totally cliché-ridden, with the female President, played by Sela Ward as the Offender in Chief.  She will probably want to leave this role off her IMDB database, although I'm sure she's cashed the check.

In television it’s known as “jumping the shark” and I don’t know what that moment is called when a movie series goes completely off the rails, but in this one it’s the moment when former President Whitmore, played by Bill Pullman has to fire up a motivational speech to rival his one in the first movie, but this time he barely has an audience, and I could barely contain myself.  Once again the odds are long as the heroes must try their one-in-a-million-chance to defeat the aliens.  Let’s hope the odds are as long for a third installment. 

Scanning the Satellite

TV was much better than the movies this month, so let's take a look:

O J Simpson – Made in America – 10

ESPN, under it’s 30 for 30 documentary banner, commissioned this massive five-parter from director Ezra Edelman.  How good is it?  It’s riveting and enthralling for every single minute.

It changes the documentary landscape and it will be taught in film schools for years to come.  It’s a stunning work.  I've been saying we are in a golden age of documentaries and this is exhibit A.

I remember being mildly bewildered by the O J Simpson trial, the television spectacle, the outcome, and the reaction to the verdict.  Starting with O J’s childhood this documentary takes a look at his stardom on the field, his family relationships, his friendships, his post-football career, and his rejection of his own heritage.

Then there’s the trial which is reviewed in detail.  Almost all the major players consented to an interview.  This includes two of the jurors who basically explain that the Dream team successfully put the LAPD on trial and this was a payback for Rodney King.  Then it goes into the aftermath, including OJ’s ostracization and descent until he ends up in jail, with a little payback sentence for armed robbery.

The documentary may pass itself off as an examination of a single crime, but in doing so it examines a multitude of offenses and race in America in a unique and comprehensive way.  It pries open each layer and it’s not any prettier than I am

I am no longer bewildered, but I remain mesmerized.  

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel – 10

I rarely mention this show because it’s been on HBO  for over 20 years.  But, it has won Emmys and Peabodys for a reason.  It’s in-depth reporting is impeccable.  Just in the last two months there have been extraordinary reports on the AR -15 rifle right before it was used in the Orlando nightclub massacre, an amazing horse program in the inner city of Philadelphia called Work to Ride, and terrific profiles of Arizona Head coach Bruce Arians and Golf Commentator David Feherty,  But the climax of 2 terrific months of shows is the re-visited profile of an amazing gymnast name Jennifer Bricker – who had the unfortunate obstacle of being born with no legs.  She didn’t let that stop her, and her story is one of the most fascinating things you’ll ever see.  If you have the chance to watch this, don't look her up before hand.  Just let it happen.