::Friday, December 13, 2002::

DON'T BE SO VAIN (STAR TREK: NEMESIS REVIEW) - I have a new rule when going to the movies...expect utter crap. You see that way if the movie is half way decent I'll be happy. It seems to be the way things are working with my movie watching habits.

First I went into "Harry Potter and the Chamber SecretS" expecting another snore fest like the first. I didn't get all the joy that was felt by fans and critics over the first Potter film. I had read the books but found the movie lacking. I didn't even really want to go see Chamber of Secret, but as a lover of all things cinema I felt it almost my obligation to see the movie. It turned out that I loved the Chamber of the Secrets (read my glowing review). I think there's no doubt that my low expectations helped. The exact same thing happened tonight with "Star Trek: Nemesis."

I didn't expect much at all from this film. Having already read Facer's annotated script, I knew what was coming. Heck, Facer had already told me about every cliché and moment of stupidity that the movie held. And yet, once again I was pleasantly surprised (though I had to chuckle every time Picard or Shinzon uttered the words, "On my mark").

First off a lot of the movie looks really great. Credit needs to go to Scott Baird who with his third directorial feature has shown himself a capable action adventure director. He's previous efforts, "Executive Decision" and "U.S. Marshals," while not Oscar caliber films where tight enjoyable thinking-man's action films. It's clear the man knows how to set up a sequence and then execute it well. Jeffrey Kimball the cinematographer ably assists him. Their success lies in creating a dark and menacing film full of light sources that seem just a out of sight and a wonderful use of dark green as the color of evil. The FX people at Digital Domain have also done themselves well. The effects are complete without looking digital and are completely convincing at every turn.

The script, as those who have read it know, is the weak point. We spend the first 3/4's of this film in constant exposition. There are two chase sequences thrown, the second of which is much better. But basically we spend that first hour and a half hearing a whole lot of talking. We learn about the crew, about androids, about clones, about Remens, about starships, about Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart duh!) and some kind of strange radiation. It's all mostly useless, with the notable exception of some scenes between Picard and his nemesis Shinzon (Tom Hardy). These succeed more because of the acting abilities then the trite exposition they have to spew. When Shinzon utters, "Don't be so vain," you will feel a chill.

But when we get to the films final act (which takes place in a kind of "Space Rift" stolen right out of Star Trek II) the film really takes hold. If the film has been evolving slowly then it really takes hold here. From there on the film is fantastic as we see two players (Shinzon and Picard) try again and again to out smart and out wit each other in a battle of life and death. Just when you think it's over another card is played and the game continues. I could watch that final forty or so minutes over and over again. There are some wonderful tricks and effects in the sequence and is clearly the movies highpoint. It completely redeems the film's earlier weaknesses.

The films ending, which I knew more then a year before I saw it on the screen, brought emotions to me I thought could not be stirred because of my advance knowledge. Baird hits the right note here, opting more for silence then frail remorseful language. Having seen it now, it deserves not to be spoiled.

On the whole "Nemesis" is a wonderfully looking film with good performances from a cast that knows their roles so well, they can hardly be seen as anything else. Rick Berman is still a cancer on the Star Trek franchise and Paramount would be wise to dump him. This isn't his film; it's the director’s and the casts. If it is their final journey it's a worthy and enjoyable one (perhaps I should expect it to be the last one).
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 3:37:37 AM| Link This ::

UPDATES - I updated the archive today by making a page for the month of November and adding one for December. The page with all my movie reviews is completely up to date as is the central archive.

The past month had the highest traffic my little site has seen since it opened in April of last year. Pretty cool. I mean it's not much (an average of about 70 visits per day) but it's something.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 10:02:26 AM| Link This ::

WHAT RYAN'S READING -

From the opening pages of Crichton's electrifying new thriller, his first in three years, readers will know they are in the hands of a master storyteller (Timeline, Jurassic Park, etc.). The book begins with a brief intro noting the concerns of Crichton (and others) with the nascent field of nanotechnology, "the quest to build manmade machinery of extremely small size, on the order of... a hundred billionths of a meter"-for this is a cautionary novel, one with a compelling message, as well as a first-rate entertainment. Rare for Crichton, the novel is told in the first person, by Jack Forman, a stay-at-home dad since he was fired from his job as a head programmer for a Silicon Valley firm. In the novel's first third, Crichton, shades of his Disclosure, smartly explores sexual politics as Jack struggles with self-image and his growing suspicion that his dynamic wife, Julia, a v-p for the technology firm Xymos, is having an affair. But here, via several disturbing incidents, such as Jack's infant daughter developing a mysterious and painful rash, Crichton also seeds the intense drama that follows after Julia is hospitalized for an auto accident, and Jack is hired by Xymos to deal with trouble at the company's desert plant. There, he learns that Xymos is manufacturing nanoparticles that, working together via predator/prey software developed by Jack, are intended to serve as a camera for the military. The problem, as Crichton explains in several of the myriad (and not always seamlessly integrated) science lessons that bolster the narrative, is that groups of simple agents acting on simple instructions, without a central control, will evolve unpredictable, complex behaviors (e.g., termites building a termite mound). To meet deadlines imposed by financial pressures, Xymos has taken considerable risks. One swarm of nanoparticles has escaped the lab and is now evolving quickly-adapting to desert conditions, feeding off mammalian flesh (including human), reproducing and learning mimicry-leading to the novel's shocking, downbeat ending. Crichton is at the top of his considerable game here, dealing with a host of important themes (runaway technology, the deleterious influence of money on science) in a novel that's his most gripping since Jurassic Park. In the long run, this new book won't prove as popular as that cultural touchstone (dinos, nanoparticles aren't), but it'll be a smash hit and justifiably so. And by the way film rights were sold to 20th Century Fox five months before the novel was published (not bad).

I tore through Prey in two days and am re-reading it now. If you do read the novel you will understand why this novel, like say "The Sixth Sense," is completely different on a second look. I love the way Crichton writes so franticly in first person. He literally propels you along at a breakneck pace. I could not put this novel down, and only did so when my hands where shocking so voilently form anxiety.

Crichton has always been my favorite author. Jurassic Park was the first book I ever really read. That was in 8th grade and my best friend was Derek Alexander. I haven't stopped reading since. I read through all of Crichton books and moved onto Tom Clancy (whose is my 2nd favorite). From there it spread as I read everything I could get my hands on. But it all really started with picking up that paperback copy of Jurassic Park in the Pharmhouse book department oh those many years ago.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 2:58:05 AM| Link This ::

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