It’s week two of sci-fi month here at The Buzz, and we’ve got a great selection for you. From a classic cult chiller on Criterion to arguably the greatest sci-fi short since Georges Melies sent man to the moon, plus the second season of the best comic book television show to date (and quite possibly ever). We also review the new Anton Corbijn thriller and mourn the passing of a legend. It’s Sci-Fi month, so let’s all remember what ol’ Jack Burton says: It’s time for this week’s Buzz.
Movie: It’s hard to find a good, honest spy story these days. Between James Bond and Jack Bauer doing more running shooting and screwing than the entire CIA put together and Homeland only being a realistic depiction of intelligence work if you’re a paranoid Isamaphobe with a terrorist fetish, any hope of seeing an honest depiction of spy work on screen seemed lost until Gary Oldman and co. brought to life the classic tale of espionage by John le Care, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Now, from that same author comes A Most Wanted Man, in the hands of master director Anton Corbijn and a cast led by the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman. How could it possibly be bad?
Well, it isn’t. It doesn’t fail, but nor does it particularly soar. The narrative is compelling enough to keep one watching but lethargic enough to make it obvious its source material was a book, a narrative form afforded the luxury of being able to explore inner-monologues during otherwise dull but necessary stakeouts and observations (one wonders if Freidkin had stuck to the true story in The French Connection how engaging the film would have been). The film is set in Germany, Hamburg to be specific, which gives the film some intrigue solely from presenting u a locale otherwise unseen in an Amero/Anglo-centric cinematic landscape. Yet, such a location brings frustration in the form of the cast, almost all of whom (from Rachel McAdams to Willem DaFoe) are about as far from German as one can get, save Daniel Bruhle. One can justify it in their minds with “Well, what other German actors are even remotely known over here besides him? Just Bruno Ganz, but he’s just an old fat man now” until you realize the lead role in the film is that of an old fat man, given in this case to Phillip Seymour Hoffman with a passable accent.
In fact, just about everything in A Most Wanted Man is passable, from the “let’s recycle Clair Underwood” casting of Robin Wright to the redemption story which still retains some Islamophobia (no, John le Care, we’re not at war with “a Nation called Islam”;), but that’s not a bad thing. A Most Wanted Man never reaches the heights of the other le Care adaptation, but it never truly fails either. It could do with some more action (and from one painful “tracking shot in Kapo”-esque scene, a wholly different editor), but it entertains for the moment. To put it in spy film terms, if Tinker Tailor is From Russia With Love, A Most Wanted Man is Thunderball. And that’s fine by us.
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This week’s classic sci-fi film needs no introduction. Actually, it does, but such an introduction is virtually impossible until someone can actually explain the damned thing. Thousands of interpretations have floated around film forums and internet sites since David Lynch’s directorial debut hit the screen in 1977, and since the Criterion Collection’s inception, Eraserhead has been a holy grail of sorts. A director with DVDs infamously barren of special features getting the Criterion treatment is a tantalizing thought indeed. Would it answer all of the questions the surrealist sci-fi film posed? Or raise even more? Though it doesn’t come with a director’s commentary (a feature Lynch famously opposes), the new Criterion Blu-Ray comes with 2K remasters of six short films, a 4K restoration of the main film, supervised by Lynch, as well as archival and new interviews with the cast and crew, a documentary about the making of the film, and a booklet featuring an interview with the director itself, which is enough to satisfy Lynch fans who’ve learned to settle for any peek into the auteur’s mind they can get. The surrealist masterpiece that launched a thousand imitators is a landmark in several genres, from indie to sci-fi, and it has to be beheld, so pick up the Criterion Blu-Ray at your local brick and mortar store today.
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TV: Let’s face it. When you think of superheroes, the Green Arrow isn’t exactly the first or second. Even in this Iron Man/Dark Knight sparked comic book revival, the seemingly dull, originally-just-a-Batman-knockoff billionaire playboy went unnoticed for a bit. Sure, fans of the character know that the Mike Grell written Longbow Hunters run in the 80’s brought the character a depth and maturity no other comic book character had, and that the “Hard Travelled Heroes” series where he teamed with the Green Lantern tackled social issues like drug addiction (with Oliver’s sidekick Speedy famously addicted to heroin in the classic “Snowbirds Don’t Fly”;), but to most, the emerald archer was completely unknown until the early 2000’s, when the Smallville team got ahold of the character. Of course, the show runners of the popular Superman prequel couldn’t care less about the Green Arrow. They, by their own admission, wanted Batman and weren’t allowed to have him, so gone was the charm and wit Oliver was known of, replaced by brooding and general Batman-ness. So it was with that bit of character assassination that fans of the character (limited as they were) approached the CW’s darkly advertised new take on the character, Arrow, with a good deal of trepidation.
Of course, such fear was quickly put at ease. The series started with a bang and only got better, modernizing Queen’s origins as a playboy forced to survive on a deserted island for 5 years, while adding new elements to enhance the story (all with their roots in DC comics lore). The show listened to its fans, both in minimizing unconvincing elements (the Oliver/Laurel romance was quashed quick when audiences didn’t buy it, and great pains have been made to bring the Laurel character to a place where such a relationship would make sense) and in increasing fan favorites to series regulars (as is the case with Oliver’s secretary/confidant/will-they-won’t-they Felicity Smoak). The first season (available on DVD/Blu-Ray and for streaming on Netflix) was a solid beginning, having Oliver on a mission (checking off names of bad guys from a list his father left him) and squaring off against the Dark Archer. Yet it was season 2, chock full of easter eggs and iconic DC characters, from Slade Wilson and Brother Blood to Barry Allen and a certain pigtailed former therapist, that set the bar high not just for comic book shows, but for any other action show on TV. Binge through the first season, then get yourself a copy of this brilliant piece of action TV. With the third season introducing the villainous R’as Al Ghul (who was teased in the second season) and the upcoming Flash spin-off, things are only gonna get better, and you don’t wanna get left behind (or stuck watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
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News: It feels somewhat unprofessional to editorialize twice in the span of two weeks, but as a New Yorker, its somewhat common to encounter individuals of some note or acclaim. Lou Reed at a restaurant, Wallace Shawn on the sidewalk. Yet it is rare for those moments to mater beyond a moment of starstruck admiration and an anecdote for parties. When it does, its a testament to the person’s humanity, and not their talent. Joan Rivers was one of those rare individuals to countless people, this author included, so I hope the reader will remit some personal elements within this piece:
It is with the heaviest of hearts that I receive the news of the passing of Joan Rivers. Though we certainly had time to brace ourselves for the worst, we could never prepare for the emotional impact of such a loss. I consider myself fortunate, nee (though I hate the term) blessed to have experienced first hand not just her wit but her kindness. A woman of her notoriety, to say nothing of her famously packed schedule (still touring non-stop while doing a tv show at age 81), it would be forgivable if not expected for Ms. Rivers to simply sign an autograph and walk off. Yet Joan took time to ask me about myself. It was as though, just from the statement “I have a friend. She’s a big fan.”, she could tell there was so much more beneath the surface. Joan wasn’t charitable in the way many public figures are, who have a cause thrust in front of them and toss money at it until it goes away. I had no intention of laying my troubles before Ms. Rivers. She asked for them. She searched for them. Perhaps, after her husband’s tragic suicide, Joan felt compelled to search where others walked past. Perhaps she felt an obligation to dig where she suspected a person hurt. She didn’t just ask “How can I help?”. She patiently listened, and made people feel as though she was an old friend. She was equally compassionate towards those in need and just those who admired her, and though she never received the respect she deserved in her lifetime, she powered through everything when others would have fallen to the wayside. Joan Rivers never let her gender define her, even when the rest of the industry did, and she touched every life she came into contact with. She was one of a kind, and I'm forever grateful for the brief flicker of time I had in the presence of such an icon. She deserved much better than she got (especially the despicable way that, after her death, the lifetime supporter of Broadway was denied the customary dimmed lights by the Broadway Committee). The Oscar-snubbed documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is a must-watch in the coming weeks (as a personal plea, I ask readers to seek it out), and as more stories come out about her compassion and kindness, I hope we all begin to recognize those, both on screen and in our own lives, who look where others walk past, who can laugh at tragedy without diminishing its meaning, and who can never, ever be replaced, and that we tell them while we can. That we can thank them in the way they deserve, so that they might know, even in the darkest of times, that they matter. Thank you, Joan. Thank you.
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Short Film: We here at The Buzz want to bring you shorts that are fresh off the presses and on the cutting edge, yet we would be remiss if we didn’t take Sci-Fi month to highlight one of the greatest in the genre, short film or otherwise. Ranked the 50th Greatest Film Ever Made by the British Film Institute, winner of the Prix Jean Vigo and inspiring both countless music videos and the Terry Gilliam cult classic 12 Monkeys (which essentially lifted the plot of the short, expanded it into a feature and got Brad Pitt an Oscar nomination), the late auteur Chris Marker’s La Jetee is everything sci-fi should be: innovative, cautionary, compelling and provocative. Utilizing almost entirely still images, Marker explores a war-torn future which relies on time-travel as a last ditch effort to save the world. The film evokes both memories of wars at the time not long gone (WWII wasn’t even 20 years old when the film was released) and mind-bending films of the past, like the famous homage to Hitchcock’s classic Vertigo. Films like La Jetee seem to happen but once in a lifetime, and linger with the viewer for just as long. Those who enjoyed the film would benefit from seeking out Marker’s other works, particularly Sans Soleil, and those for whom the film stirred something in their mind, that still recall stray images days, weeks after watching should meditate on just what struck them about Marker’s unspoken message, and how they can better themselves from it.
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