INDEPENDENCE DAY - Review

"WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT! WE WILL NOT VANISH WITHOUT A FIGHT! WE'RE GOING TO LIVE ON! WE'RE GOING TO SURVIVE! TODAY WE CELEBRATE OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!"

God Bless Americ....I mean the world.....Yeah, the world. Cause the movie President says its no longer exclusive to America. So the world.

The Plot

On July 2nd, gigantic spaceships surround the world, hovering over major cities. When a cable company analyst (Jeff Goldblum) discovers a hidden signal from their satellites that acts as a countdown of destruction, he contacts his estranged wife (Margaret Colin) who is aide to the President of the United States (Bill Pullman) to enact a large scale evacuation. But it is too late, as the aliens destroy every major city around the world. On July 3rd, the surviving military forces, including a cocky air pilot (Will Smith), launch an assault on the ships. Only to discover their weapons have no effect. But on July 4th, the aliens move to make their final strike on the planet, as humanity makes one last desperate attack on their invaders.

Review

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July than watching the most patriotic pro-American movie ever made.... but ironically directed by a German Director. Roland Emmerich is pretty much the disaster movie king, a title he earned by creating this very film. Jaws may have been the first blockbuster film, but when people look back at what defines a Summer Blockbuster, it will be this one. 

Independence Day is a type of High Concept Summer Blockbuster film that we don't get much in the post Superhero Age of Cinema. A film that pretty much solidified to studio execs what a blockbuster film should be like. Epic storytelling, epic visual effects, massive amounts of action, and relatable yet extremely heroic everyday characters who don't have to be developed too much. It may not have been the first of its kind, but it is heavily considered the best of its kind. Because this movie was the very definition of what cinematic spectacle is suppose to be. From the dogfights to the epic wide shots of  spaceships the size of cities hovering over a famous landmark, this film has everything that is now attributed with popcorn cinema. And I pretty much love it.

The film was created in 1996, post-Jurassic Park, which means that CGI still hasn't been refined to its fullest potential yet. This is where we see a true blending between our modern visual effects and the old school practical effects that have been around for decades prior. The inferno destruction of the major American cities due to the alien blast, still holds up after so many years. Mainly because the destruction of cities was done with miniatures that were built painstakingly detailed, only to be blown with real explosions. This gives it a very tangible feeling that has gotten lost with CGI films, mainly because no matter how much watching a CGI city getting destroyed may be more accurate, there is still that realm of knowing what you see isn't real. But in here, most of what is seen on the screen is completely real. Yes, there is CGI in the movie. But to create the appearance of massive spaceship and jet fighter armadas in the background, while real miniature models fly in the foreground. It is no wonder why this film won the Oscar for best visual effects, because no matter how old this movie gets I can guarantee it will still hold up.

But that's enough praise for the spectacle and the special effects. Because one of the weakest points of the film is its characters. Yes, Jeff Goldblum, Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Randy Quaid are pretty much the only memorable aspects of the film. And an argument can be made that Brent Spiner, the guy who plays the wacky Area 51 scientist, is also the other most memorable actor in the film. However the fact that I can't remember the names of their characters or any other characters for the matter, kind of tells you how important they really are. Because the film is pretty much all story, with the characters acting as drivers for the plot rather than participants. There is some character arc developments for Goldblum's and Quaid's characters, but the changes are so small that it doesn't really seem like so much of one. Everyone in the film is pretty much a capable and heroic version of what we hope we can be if we were ever put in that situation. And given that the only true bad guys of the film are aliens, performed by animatronic puppets, it is pretty clear that the movie is not going for the type of really in depth characters we demand so much in modern blockbusters. This is a film that brings back the simple notion that the first Star Wars movie was about: Good versus Evil. Simple and clean.

The only thing that would really date this movie though is that it is pretty obvious that it is a product of the 90s. Blockbuster films of that era are known to have an occasional over the top character as well as tech that would make youngsters of this generation cringe. In an age when Superhero movies offer good guys and bad guys with a lot depth, this one is just pure fun good versus evil shoot em up.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this movie is a product of a forgotten age of high concept blockbuster cinema. In the Superhero Age of Cinema, there are rarely any original high concept films like this anymore. The closest that we have to something like this is Pacific Rim, which pretty much has a similar story except we have giant robots to fight with against giant monsters, and San Andreas, a very dumb movie that is high popcorn entertainment. I wish we can return to a time when blockbusters were something worth seeing, and not sequels or reboots of existing properties. Which ironically enough is happening with this film in the form of Independence Day: Resurgence. Why can't we have more new ideas? Why? Oh well. Watch this movie to have fun, and that's all.

SCORE: 8.5/10 - AMERICA! F#CK YEAH!

High Moon - Analysis and Review

"Welcome to the Odd Side of the Moon"

Usually the phrase "Syfy Original Movie" often gets followed by the word, shark. However luckily this time, that is not the case. But to call this a Syfy Original Movie seems to be the wrong word. In reality it should be referred to as, "A Syfy Pilot for a Series that never got the full order." That sounds about right. And who created this 90 minutes Pilot... I mean TV Movie? Well, none other than the man notorious for creating wonderful shows that don't last past season 2 with the exception of NBC's Hannibal, Bryan Fuller.

The Plot

Return to a futuristic world as imagined by the 60s, where the Moon has become a resource mined by all the major nations of the world. And on this dead planet, a flower is found blooming. An impossible feat. But that is only the beginning of many strange occurrences on the Moon as political intrigue and signs of conspiracy begin to unravel in this quirky, zany, campy throwback sci-fi.

Analysis

Bryan Fuller is either one of the most creative geniuses in television, or the most unluckiest. Before his moderately successful yet critically acclaimed show Hannibal got renewed for a Third Season, there was a time when any show Bryan created would be doomed to end either on the pilot or if lucky the second season. I never realized I was a fan of his shows through the years, as when I saw them I wasn't interested in the people behind television shows. But I do clearly remember a weird show called Wonder Falls about a grad student who has unwanted conversations with inanimate objects who want to guide her through her life. I wasn't wowed by the show, probably because I was too young to understand how clever it was, yet for some reason I kept watching each week. However that only resulted into me watching for four weeks straight because it got canceled after four episodes. Luckily I would learn recently that the show had filmed its entire season with a definite ending and is now out on DVD for fans to experience without the fear of cancellation.

It would only be years later that another weird show would pop up called Pushing Daisies. The story about a pie maker who is cursed with the ability to kill those he touches but bring dead people back to life but only under a minute or else someone has to die to take the place of the resurrected. That sounds morbid, but it is actually funny. It was like watching a colorful Tim Burton show with a dash of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The world was highly stylized and resembles more of an exaggerated children's storybook that just happens to be telling adult stories. That sounds like an unusual clash, but it worked out beautifully well. And luckily, this show managed to make it to Season 2. But once again, despite being critically praised and Emmy nominated, it was canceled. But luckily once again, Fuller and his writers were able to deliver a definite ending for all the stories told in Season 2.  

Apparently there was another show on cable that he created called Dead Like Me about a woman who becomes  a Grim Reaper. I haven't seen it personally, but as I predicted, it was canceled after Season 2. Starting to see a pattern with Fuller's work?

It is astonishing though that someone as imaginative and talented as him gets so much praise yet such little viewership concerning his shows. They are so out the box and very weird, that it really does take a specific audience to watch. However, as most critics are not the specific target audience and they love his work regardless, it shows just how brilliant this guy is. But again, his shows just don't have broad appeal. Even his reboot of the classic The Munsters series called Mockingbird Lane was not picked up for a full series, but NBC liked the pilot directed by Bryan Singer so much that they premiered it as a Halloween special. So I am glad that Fuller finally found true success with Hannibal, but I'm also disappointed that despite that success, he still can't get another show started. Which leads us to this little sci-fi gem.

Review

High Moon was not meant to be a movie. It was designed to be a TV Show adaptation of a Young Adult Novel called The Lotus Caves. And from this 80 minute film (90 minutes with commercials) it is obvious that this was always meant to be a Pilot. And with that being said, it would be an excellent crammed first episode, not a movie. 

The show is basically a mash up of several different sci-fi and Sean Connery James Bond films from the 60s during the Cold War. The plot focuses heavily on an American Convict, forced to become a miner on the Moon, discovering a red flower growing on the Moon's surface. This leads to a chain of events that has him labeled as a delusional terrorist who might be working for the Russians, who have been trying to steal from the American mining facilities on the Moon. This brings in the Convict's well connected government official Brother who goes there to discover the truth. Of course if finding a flower on the moon sounds weird, how about Indian assassins, gay Russian spy cyborgs, and gigantic robotic dinosaurs sound? Yeah, there is a lot going on in this "movie."

It should be commended however with how much this Pilot is able to stand on its own as a movie. It does have an ending that resolves the greater plot issues of the story being told, but the ending does leave the viewer wanting to know what happens next. After all a movie is suppose to have broad character arcs and development in order to be called a movie. A show operates on a different level in that the pilot is suppose to introduce you to the world and the characters where they currently stand with their personalities but giving hints of how they will develop later. In other words, there is mini character development in this "film." It is enough for viewers who believe this to be a film to be called efficient development, but it is never large development. However that doesn't mean none of the characters get any development.

Jonathan Tucker plays Stanislov, the aforementioned gay Russian spy cyborg who may or may not be working for the U.S. against the Russian Military stationed on the Moon. He is definitely not the main character, that title goes to the convict and his government brother, but seeing as how I can't remember the names of the other characters except for him and one other player, he definitely stood out the most. Stanislov is the very definition of what Bryan Fuller intended this show to be: James Bond in Space...but good. He is a spy, and being an amputee gives him robotic limbs that act like very James Bond like gadgets. He's Russian, and did I also mention he's gay? He is probably the most fascinating character in the show and the only memorable one. Which could kind of explain why this pilot become a TV movie, because if you can't remember the names of the main characters that does seem like a bad sign. That's not to say that the characters were badly done, because the government brother played by Chris Diamantopoulos actually has some really memorable lines. Particularly an ultra serious conversation about politics with a military general that is filled with breakfast metaphors. But again, none of the main characters are really memorable.

No it really is our gay Russian spy cyborg, Stan, and the sweetly cold Eve Smythe, played by Charity Wakefield, who come off as more memorable. Smythe is probably more memorable because her cold yet unnervingly sweet personality and look at me clothes heavily contrasts the other characters in the show. There is a Japanese character who makes an appearance as the operator of a gigantic robot T-Rex on the Moon, but she didn't have too much character as it is obvious they were planning on saving her for later episodes. So in all out honesty, this show fails in making us care about our main characters, but the story is definitely layered. 

What was being told in this episode is a very nice tale of political intrigue with a bit of sci-fi campiness to make for a strange entertaining flick. Again, while the story does keep developing and interesting ways (did I mention Gigantic Robotic T-Rex) with a very satisfying ending it does leave a level of dissatisfaction that we're only scratching the surface. Too many things happened in this film that could've easily been streamlined to three episodes had it been picked up as a series. I've seen this happened before with NBC's show, Revolution, which had a Pilot that crammed a story worth 5 episodes into a single one in order to get to the fun stuff more quickly. However, I have to reiterate again that while it is crammed, for some reason it still works. Even when we don't exactly remember character names, it still seems to work smoothly.

The throwbacks to the 60s era sci-fi movies and pulp comics are present in this "film," and it is a welcome change from the usual gritty science fiction that we have on TV. It is very whimsical with the right amount of campy and seriousness mixed into a strange tone that is definitely something created by Bryan Fuller. I love the world that was created, and I commend the production design team for bringing back this retro look to contrast with everything else. It is a welcome visual change and is the only visual style that would work for this type of show... I mean... TV movie.

Final Thoughts

Come on, you have to admit that this is F***ING COOL!

It really saddens me that Fuller once again can't get a show on the air. You'd think that with Hannibal's success, this wouldn't be a problem, but alas it was not meant to be. But it really is a strong testament to the power and talent that Fuller has. How often do pilots for unpicked shows get to be aired on television? Rarely. And he's done it twice now. So it saddens me that this "weird James Bond in Space" show will never happen. But I'm glad that the pilot reminds us of Fuller's roots as a writer on Star Trek Voyager and the first season of Heroes. I hope to see him back in the realm of Science Fiction again. But for now, I hope Hannibal can make it to Season Four and that his next show American Gods can at least make it to Season One. Till then, this was a nice reminder of a simpler sci-fi world when things can be fun, weird, political, and smart all at the same time. We'll just never see it again.

SCORE: 7/10 - A lot of potential for a series ultimately wasted as a TV movie