Am I A Movie Critic?

Am I A Movie Critic? I think that is an interesting question. Honestly, I really don’t see myself or think of myself as a movie critic, more accurately I’m a film buff or movie lover.

I think the answer to this question may lie in how one defines a movie critic. First of all, if I am a movie critic, and certainly I am an amateur movie critic. All the way certainly wouldn’t mind being a professional movie critic!

But here in lies the problem. If movie critics go into viewing a movie with a critical eye towards many elements of film, such as plot development, character development, continuity, verisimilitude, and many other topics, then I don’t consider myself a movie critic.

I watch movies to enjoy them not critique them. That’s my primary aim anyway. However, that’s not to say I don’t form an opinion or if certain aspects of the film jump out at me that I notice that may need critiquing. Then in that way I guess you could call me a movie critic. Although, as I mentioned, going in with an intent to later critique a movie is not my motivation.

But I do have an opinion on the movies I watch. One of the reasons I may not consider myself a movie credit is that I’m a very easy going and forgiving movie viewer. Sure, I do have movies I don’t like and even a few have movies I have walked out of the theaters while watching them.

But yet like other movies critics I am simply a human being with an opinion. Hopefully, I will be able to offer my opinion in a logical and reasonable manner.

So in an order to reboot this blog I do want to continue my practice of posting my reviews and opinions about current and past movies. I also want to talk about upcoming news about the certain movies that I like.

So I hope you will all join me on my new journey back into reviewing the movies I love to watch!

All-Female Avengers Endgame Scene

There is a scene in Avengers Endgame that has caused some controversy and some backlash.

The scene in question involves Captain Marvel and her fellow female superheroes. After Captain Marvel single-handedly destroys Thanos’ ship, Sanctuary II, which was a massive warship from which he carried out his life-long mission to eliminate half of all life in the universe, Captain America asks Captain Marvel for further assistance.

The Avengers needed to make absolutely sure that Thanos could not get the Gauntlet used by Professor Hulk in the reverse Snap. The Gauntlet housed the six Infinity Stones. They needed to get the stones back to the past where they belonged, or at least to someplace where Thanos could not get to them.

The place chosen to return the Infinity Stones to was Ant-Man’s van which had been outfitted with a Quantum Tunnel that allows entry into the Quantum Realm.

After Captain America asked Captain Marvel for help she found Spider-Man, AKA Peter Parker cowering in a ditch with the Gauntlet.

Here is the exchange between them.

Peter Parker: Hey, I’m Peter Parker.

Carol Danvers: Hey, Peter Parker. You got something for me?

Peter Parker: [Seeing Thanos’ forces approaching] How are you going to get it through all that?

Wanda Maximoff: Don’t worry.

Okoye: She’s got help.

Suddenly appearing with Captain Marvel is Valkyrie, Mantis, Gamora, Nebula, Wasp, Shuri and Pepper and this all female group comes to defend Captain Marvel while she takes the stone filled Gauntlet to the van.

The Russo Brothers were accused of pandering to the female audience after spending hardly any time with these characters. By focusing on the top female superheroes for just one short sequence many fans felt this was done to just appease female fans and advocates.

Personally, I liked the scene on some level because I did think it was a touching gesture to acknowledge the contribution of female superheros to the Infinity Saga and to the superhero genre in general.

On another level I didn’t care for the scene because as a huge fan of Captain Marvel the scene WASN’T NECESSARY!

Let me explain. The scene goes on to show Captain Marvel leisurely flying to the van, carrying the Gauntlet as the other female superheroes fend off attacks from Thanos’ army. Ultimately they are unsuccessful because as Captain Marvel nears the van Thanos throws his Double-Edged Sword into the van and in a massive explosion he destroys the van and sends Captain Marvel flying as she losses hold of the Gauntlet.

This was all unnecessary due to Captain Marvel’s massive powers which, quite frankly, were not on display in this scene.

Captain Marvel has superhuman speed. For example, we first see her in Endgame as she rescues Tony Stark and Nebula in outer space. The ship is 1,000 light years from Earth and it is almost out of oxygen. She is able to return the Ship to Earth in a very short time.

Although the length of time isn’t mentioned in the movie, we can tell that as she drops the ship off, the oxygen within the ship hadn’t run out yet. We also don’t know if she used the Universal Neural Teleportation Network, which is an artificial network of generating wormholes in the space continuum, called Jump Points, that enables space-ships to fast travel across the universe, to bring the ship home. Either way the return of Stark’s ship to Earth happened incredibly fast.

Ant-Man’s van was maybe 100 or 200 yards away from where Captain Marvel received the Gauntlet, and given her superhuman speed, she should have arrived at the van instantaneously! To our naked eye and with her traveling at her high rate of speed it would have looked like she materialized out of thin air in front of the van.

If she can travel 1,000 light years in a short time….In reality it would take a person 1,000 years traveling at the speed of light to reach Earth…certainly she could make a 200 yard journey in an instant and without needing any help.

However, I do understand if they would have shown that, instead of her leisurely trek to the van, the outcome of the movie would have been very different!

So, since they didn’t show that scene congruent with Captain Marvel’s actual powers, I’ll accept the scene as an homage to female superheroes.

Im a MCU Convert. Part II.

Let me explain further brought about this change.

I do enjoy the Christopher Nolan Batman Dark Knight Trilogy, with Batman Begins as my favorite of the series. I do like the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Returns, However, I was a little bit disappointed with how this Trilogy ended. In my mind Alfred doesn’t abandoned Bruce Wayne/ Batman and Batman certainly doesn’t retire!

I also immensely enjoy Superman Returns starting Brandon Routh as the title character. Although I had wished Superman Returns would have received a sequel, my disappointment was short-lived as Henry Cavill donned the cape and starred as Superman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.

I absolutely loved Man of Steel, although I do know some Superman fans who do not like it at all. I think Henry Cavill is one of the best actors playing Superman and rivals George Reeves in the role of Superman as my favorite Superman. Yes, George Reeves from the 50s TV series “Adventures of Superman” is my favorite depiction of the character. I wasn’t crazy about the massive destruction towards the end of “Man of Steel” but all in all it is a favorite Superman movie for me.

The DCEU began with great expectations and on such a high note for me. Sadly however, with a few exceptions, it’s been all downhill since then. Yes there have been exceptions. I love the first Wonder Woman movie, I love Aquaman, in particularly, I love Shazam! To a lesser extent I also did enjoy the first Suicide Squad movie and the Harley Quinn Birds of Prey movie.

I will leave a further deeper critical analysis of the DCEU for another blog entry. For myself, I simply enjoy the storyline, the characters and the verisimilitude and tone of the MCU. With the exception of Shazam!, the DCEU is a bit too dark and bereft of humor. Growing up I don’t remember the DC Comics and characters being the dark. After all, the 1966 Batman series starring Adam West was one of the first superhero franchises I cut my teeth on.

For myself superhero movies has been a nice mixture thanks Fiction and Fantasy elements, all blended together with action and adventure sprinkled with humor and at some level a little wink and a nod that it
Isn’t all to be taken too seriously. And I certainly don’t mind these movies being more grounded in reality, and to some extent MCU personified this balance, and the DCEU could improve with remembering these movies at some level need to be fun. Well at least for me.

The MCU is grounded in reality, to a point. It is full of action, adventure along with drama and humor. It was able to use humor but not in a campy way. The humor in the MCU was a natural byproduct and expression of the characters and their circumstances and it did not come across as phony, forced or fake. Humor is a natural part of life, and even in dark times we can still find humor, and for me that is what is lacking within the DCEU. I do believe there are exceptions and I am generalizing but humor is scarce in this franchise. The DCEU can be dark and gritty but still strike a balance and having some humor. For me, the MCU is perfect at achieving that balance of humor, action-adventure and drama.

Also my problem with the DCEU is its treatment of Superman. No I didn’t mind the story arc of where Superman was struggling with his place in the world, and that people were suspicious of him being an alien, and it was taking him time to arrive at acceptance of who he is and what his mission is in life. I actually enjoyed that aspect of the character.

However, and I’m one of those who is kind of grateful Zack Snyder cannot complete his vision. I did enjoy his four hour cut of Justice League, and I will be doing an official review of that movie along with a comparison to the theatrical cut; but I wasn’t happy about the vision Zach was going towards with a dark Superman who is with Darkseid and has turned to evil. There are those that say Warner Brothers and Zach Schneider do not understand the character Superman, and I have to agree with them.

I’m also not happy with the fact we haven’t gotten a Man of Steel 2 and from the looks of it, with Henry Cavill being on the outs with Warner Brothers, a Man of Steel 2 is not in the future. Unless there is a massive change I don’t see a future Superman movie in the dceu in a long long time. So overall I’m not happy with the treatment the Superman is getting in the DCEU.

I will watch their movies as they come out, (I am a Nerd after all) but my expectations are very low, so for me my heart and my excitement lies with the future of the MCU. I actually am looking forward to their movies much more. Bring on Captain Marvel in the sequel the Marvels!

I am a MCU convert! Part I.

I’ve been a life long DC Comics fan, or more specifically a Superman fan, followed closely by Batman, but I feel thier supremacy in my love of superheroes and superhero movies in particular is coming to an end.

For me there is a new kid in town, namely, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Well, it’s not that new! I don’t have a large history with the Marvel characters. As mentioned, growing up I was primarily a DC fan. I did like Spider-Man and I was a faithful viewer of the 70s and early 80s TV series “The Incredible Hulk” which aired on CBS and starred Bill Bixby as Dr. David Bruce Banner, Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, and Jack Colvin as Jack McGee.

I also knew of Captain America and Thor and vaguely knew of Iron Man and that’s about the extent of my knowledge of the Marvel Universe’s characters. Up until a few years ago the name Captain Marvel was associated with the character from the DC Universe now known as Shazam!

I used to loved to watch the Saturday morning Shazam! TV series, it was a half-hour live-action television program that was produced by Filmation (the studio’s first non-animated series), based on the superhero Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam, of Fawcett Comics’ (now owned by DC Comics). The program starred Michael Gray as Billy Batson, Jackson Bostwick originally played Captain Marvel, and later Captain Marvel was played by John Davey. With his guardian “Mentor” (Les Tremayne), Billy travels the country in a 1973 Dodge Open Road motorhome, looking for injustices to resolve. It was a lot of fun.

As a kid and a comic book collector, and a consumer of all things superhero, it wasn’t that I had a dislike for Marvel Comics and its characters, it’s just that I naturally gravitated toward the DC panonopoly of superheroes such as Superman, Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Basically, other than Spider-Man, the list of the Marvel Comics characters simply did not interest me.

Today, Captain Marvel, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s depiction of Carol Danvers as a super powered superhero, is now tied with Superman as being my all time favorite superhero. The MCU has become my favorite superhero movie franchise surpassing the DCEU. So here at the age of 57 I’m now a big fan of, and really loving, the MCU’s depiction of Captain Marvel, Iron-Man, Thor, and the Hulk, to name just a few!

So what happened to change me?

It began in 2008 when the movie Iron Man, the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was released. Directed by Jon Favreau the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man alongside Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, andvGwyneth Paltrow. Before the film as I mentioned, I only had a vague knowledge of Iron Man but had never heard of Tony Stark. I absolutely loved the movie!

Then year by year and movie by movie I genuinely fell in love with the MCU, it’s characters and it’s storyline. Personally, Captain Marvel, both the character and film have become my favorites within the MCU. I’ll review both character and movie in a new blog entry in a few days. The dual movies, The Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, that ended the Infinity Saga, were an absolute delight to watch, and they still are!

However, the MCU taking precedence in my love of superhero movies was not due solely to my love for their movies, it was also due to the fact that I did not always like the direction the DECU was heading.

In order to keep this at a digestible level I’ll end it here and I will post more tomorrow.

The Heartbreak Kid. My Review

This will be my first non-science fiction or fantasy review on my re-labeled blog. The reason I chose this film, “The Heartbreak Kid,” made in 2007 was because my wife and I recently rewatched “Along Came Polly” another rom-com starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. I noticed some similarities between the two films, namely, that one member of a romantic couple feels that their marriage was a mistake and then proceeds to fall in love with another person.

I saw this film when it was released in 2007 and I do like Ben Stiller’s comedies such as “Starsky and Hutch,” “Meet the Parents” and “There’s Something About Mary” (another Farrelly Brothers film) to mention a few. I enjoyed this film right up to the end and it is one of those films in which the ending completely ruined the movie for me, so I wanted to watch it again to see if my views would change…they did not.

This review will contain spoilers!

The Heartbreak Kid is an American black comedyfilm directed by the Farrelly brothers. Starring Ben Stiller, it is a remake of the 1972 film of the same name. The film Also stars Michelle Monaghan, Malin Åkerman, Jerry Stiller, Rob Corddry, Carlos Mencia, Scott Wilson and Danny McBride. The screenplay for the 2007 film was written by Leslie Dixon, Scot Armstrong, the Farrelly brothers and Kevin Barnett.

The plot is pretty simple, Eddie (Ben Stiller), the owner of a San Francisco sports shop, is single but ambivalent about starting a relationship. While walking, he sees a thief snatching a woman’s purse. He tries but fails to retrieve the purse. He and its owner Lila (Malin Åkerman) exchange pleasantries and exchanges numbers. Eddie finds Lila to be attractive and funny.

They begin dating and shortly after become exclusive. Each imagines that they are a perfect match. At the urging of both his father, Doc (Jerry Stiller) and best friend, Mac (Rob Corddry), Eddie marries Lila after only dating a few months. Before their wedding night, Eddie and Lila have never been sexually intimate and have not spent a lot of time getting to know each other. During the drive to their honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Eddie learns some new things about Lila he finds annoying. Lila irritates him with incessant singing to a blasting radio. She is very loud and obnoxious. When they get to their resort room, they have sex for the first time and Eddie learns that Lila’s sex drive is so strenuous that he suffers physical pain. Eddie’s disaffection deepens when Lila divulges her history of cocaine abuse, a deviated septum, and her habit of spitting drinks out through her nose. He learns that professionally she was only a volunteer, and that the purse snatcher had been one of her former lovers that she owed money.

Eddie realizes he has made a mistake in marrying Lila, and that he rushed into the marriage without really getting to know her. He is not in love with Lila and finds some of her newly discovered behavior and bad habits to be intolerable. As the enormity of Eddie’s mistake sinks in, he meets Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), a vacationer with her family from Mississippi. Eddie is immediately attracted to Miranda and finds himself spending most of his honeymoon with Miranda and her family while Lila is confined to her room due to the sunburn. Eddie meets Miranda’s family and makes a favorable impression on all of them except for her cousin, Martin (Danny McBride).

When Miranda learns about Lila, she and Eddie fall into the ocean and Eddie is attacked by a jellyfish (Lila treats the stings by urinating on him). After the chaos, Lila and Miranda both abandon him (Miranda for Eddie’s deception and Lila for Eddie’s wanting a divorce). Angry, Lila destroys Eddie’s passport. Eddie sinks into a depression and decides to go to Mississippi to make amends with Miranda.

Border patrol agents repeatedly catch Eddie attempting to cross the U.S. border illegally. Eddie finally gets to Oxford, Mississippi. Upon meeting Miranda’s family, he learns that she has married her previous boyfriend. Despite promising to leave Miranda alone, Eddie sneaks in and awakens Miranda as her husband sleeps. Her husband wakes up when Martin bursts in and attacks Eddie with a baseball bat, until Doc intervenes. Eddie agrees to leave if Miranda says she truly loves her new husband, which she does. Eddie leaves with Doc, without knowing Miranda that looks longingly from her balcony as he walks away.

Eighteen months later, Eddie has lost his sports store to, and is divorced from Lila, and he moves permanently to Mexico. Sometime later, Miranda arrives in Mexico and finds Eddie. She tells him that she has left her husband and wants to be with him. Eddie is thrilled, but hides that he has a new wife, Consuela (Eva Longoria). At the end of the film he finds himself in the same predicament.

The Farrelly Brothers are good at putting characters in awkward and uncomfortable situations. With their frequent use of subversive ideas they have created a non conventional romantic comedy, and therein lies the problem.

Now I certainly don’t mind when a director upends a movie by not adhering to traditional tropes and the Farrelly Brothers do that here but, in the end it’s not emotionally satisfying. The reason being is that there isn’t anyone in the film to root for! Eddie is an unlikeable character and though I felt bad for Lila I didn’t want to see her and Eddie stay together. Although the movie wants us to root for Eddie and Miranda it’s difficult to do so because, like cousin Martin, (played excellently by Danny McBride) I wouldn’t trust Eddie either.

In order to demonstrate their incompatibility, and the fact that they married too soon without knowing one another, they paint Lila as crazy and obnoxious but for me the end result is that Eddie comes across as an unsympathetic jerk. Personally, I didn’t find Lila obnoxious at all. I wouldn’t have been bothered by her singing in the car or her other quirks. If I’m supposed to dislike Lila the way Eddie does, then that attempt failed. Instead I feel bad for Lila because she does love him, appears vulnerable and looking for acceptance. Eddie’s annoyance toward Lila make me think she’s chosen a shallow jerk.

To make matters worse, we’re supposed to root for Eddie who seems to haven fallen in love with the more likable Miranda. Yet we know that in the short term she’s going to get hurt, but we hope in the long run she and Eddie get together. The film is certainly leading us down that path. After Eddie finds out Miranda has married someone else we’re still hoping they get together….as the film plays with our heart strings we tend to forget that Eddie is a jerk….then in the end when Miranda shows up to tell Eddie she’s finally available….the Farrelly Brothers pull the rug out from beneath our feet and we see that Eddie has a new wife and that absolutely nothing has changed

There is no character development. Eddie hasn’t grown this entire journey we’re on with him. We do want resolution. We want our happy ending! However, with the implication that Eddie may dump this new wife yet again for Miranda, what is supposed to be funny feels like nothing but a big middle finger to the audience and an ending that is very emotional unsatisfying. It is to me anyway.

I give this movie a C-

New Blog Title and Slightly Different Focus.

Starting from now on there will be a slight change to this blog. Ever since it’s inception this has primarily been a blog about science fiction and fantasy films and their respective reviews.

However, starting this week, I want to expand my film reviews to include movies from any genre. That is why this blog is now simply titled “Foley’s Film Review Blog.” Despite the change in title I will still primarily review science fiction and fantasy films since those are my favorite types of movies. There are many other types of films that I do enjoy such as mafia movies, romantic comedies, comedies, westerns and classic movies from the 40s through today. I want to format to include these types of movies and instead of starting a new blog I just decided to expand this one.

If there’s any movies that you would like reviewed let me know!

Thanks for following my blog and your continued support!

Liam Foley 👽

The Evolution of the Klingons, Part II: Appearance.

Change in appearance

According to the official Star Trek web site, the Klingons’ varying appearance was “probably the single most popular topic of conversation among Star Trek fans.” While the real reason for the discrepancy between The Original Series Klingons and their feature film and later television series counterparts was a lack of budget, some fans took it upon themselves to contrive an acceptable canon reason for the sudden changes.

Though some fans desired a canonical or an in-universe explanation for the changes in the appearance of the Klingons, many fans, myself included, did not desire a canonical or an in-universe explanation for the changes in the appearance of the Klingons. We’ve understood that it was an increase budget that was responsible for the changes and no in-universe explanation was needed…or desired.

Klingon Commander Kor in the Original Series.

The theories that were postulated that TOS Klingons were humans raised as Klingons, similar to Janissaries (Christians kidnapped by the Ottoman Empire from ca. 1300s to 1800s); that for cosmetic or diplomatic reasons, Klingons removed the ridges via surgery; that TOS Klingons were hybrids with a more human species, or that TOS Klingons were some border race conscripted or deployed near the Federation border.

Simple theories that the different Klingons were different racial breeds were complicated by the fact that the characters of Kang, Koloth, and Kor appeared with smooth features in the original series, yet had a ridged appearance in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and that Worf acknowledged the difference in appearances when the crew of Deep Space 9 returned to the 23rd century in the episode “Trials and Tribble-ations”, but offered no explanation, saying merely, “We do not discuss it with outsiders.”

Klingon Commander Kor in Deep Space Nine.

Worf’s humorous remarks aside, and coupled with the facts Kang, Koloth and Kor had a ridged appearance in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, demonstrates to myself that no explanation for the changes of the appearance of the Klingons was necessary. This trio of Original Series Klingons appearing in Deep Space Nine shows that this is how they always did look…it was a retcon. A retcon is a change, or a reboot, within a franchise that isn’t given an canonical or an in-universe explanation for the changes. Ever since seeing the redesigned Klingons in 1979 in the movie Star Trek The Motion Picture I’ve taken it as a retcon and used my imagination and considered Klingons with ridges were how they always looked.

For 26 years the changes to the Klingons were simply a retcon. However, a canonical explanation for the change was given in a two-part storyline on Star Trek: Enterprise, in the episodes “Affliction” and “Divergence” that aired in February 2005. Attempting to replicate experiments by humans to create augmented soldiers, Klingon scientists used genetic material from human test subjects on their own people, which resulted in a viral pandemic which caused Klingons to develop human-like physical characteristics.

Augmented Klingon

Dr. Phlox of the Enterprise formulated a cure for the virus, but the physical alterations remained in the populace and were inherited by offspring. Phlox indicated that “some day” the physical alterations could be reversed. The head scientist finally mentioned he would go into cranial reconstructive surgery, another nod to ‘restoration’ of the ridges for some Klingons.

I finally broke down and watched these two part episodes in 2017 and it did not change my mind one bit. I reiterate that this explanation of an augmented virus changing the look of the Klingons was unnecessary and while the explanation was a bit creative it was also a bit dumb and reaching. I’m not into the Enterprise series so I simply choose to ignore it and consider the changes to the Klingons to be a simple retcon. I’ve explained my position to some zealous canon fanatics and they’ve angrily told me “I can’t do that” and that the augmented virus explanation is canon and I need to “get behind it!”

In 2009 filmmaker JJ Abrams rebooted the Star Trek movie franchise. The 2009 movie, simply titled Star Trek, had new actors playing the characters from the Original Series with Leonard Nimoy who reprised his legendary role as Mr. Spock. The movie was a bit of a soft reboot and all explanations to the changes made were chalked up to the events there-within taking place in an alternate universe/reality or a parallel universe. Scenes with the Klingons were filmed, albeit with their heads covered, were left on the cutting room floor.

Klingon from Star Trek Into Darkness.

It wouldn’t be until 2013 with the release of Abrams’ movie Star Trek Into Darkness, that we get to see a redesigned Klingon once again. In the movie we only get to see one Klingon. In the film, the villain Harrison/Khan transports to Kronos, homeworld of the hostile Klingons after attacking Starfleet and killing Captain Pike. Kirk leads a team with Spock and Uhura onto the planet in a small landing craft, where they are ambushed by Klingon patrols who order them to land. Uhura leaves the landing craft to talk to the Klingons. They decide to kill Uhura, but Harrison appears and kills the Klingons.

The one Klingon we see is changed yet again. This Klingon had a hybrid look consisting of the spinal column look of the 1979 Klingons and the turtle shell look of the Next Generation era of Klingons. This Klingon also had ornamental piercings in his ridges and was completely bald. JJ Abrams movies have been divisive among the fan base and the redesign of the Klingon in this movie was no exception. Personally, I liked the look. It definitely had the look of a Klingon but even more fierce, harkening back to their characterization in the Original Series.

The last alteration to the Klingons occurred in the current series Star Trek Discovery. This was also a controversial move that I will devote an entire entry to in my next blog post.

The Evolution of the Klingons, Part I: Appearance.

(Captain’s Log: This is my first in a series examining the Klingons. The first entry, done in two parts, will focus simply on thier appearanc while subsequent entries will focus on the Klingon culture).

The Klingons are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise Star Trek.

Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original Star Trek (TOS) series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids characterized by prideful ruthlessness and brutality. Klingons practiced feudalism and authoritarianism, with a warrior casterelying on slave labor.

In subsequent television series and in later films, the militaristic traits of the Klingons were bolstered by an increased sense of honor and strict warrior code similar to those of bushio. The Klingons first appeared in the Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy” (1967). They were named after Lieutenant Wilbur Clingan, who served with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in the Los Angeles Police Department.

John Colicos as Kor from the Original Series episode “Errand of Mercy.”

In the original television series (TOS), Klingons were typically portrayed with bronze skin and facial hair suggestive of Asian people, and possessed physical abilities similar to humans (in fact, Coon’s only physical description of them in his “Errand of Mercy” script is “oriental” and “hard-faced”). The swarthy look of Klingon males was created with the application of shoe polish and long, thin moustaches; budget constraints limited creativity. The overall look of the aliens, played by white actors, suggested orientalism, at a time when memories of Japanese actions during World War II were still fresh.

With a greatly expanded budget for makeup and effects, the Klingons were completely redesigned for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), acquiring ridged foreheads. However, these rigged foreheads were not the typical “turtle shell” look they would soon have. In the pictures below is Mark Lenard, most famous for playing Sarek, father of Spock, in Star Trek; but here is playing a Klingon in Star Trek The Motion Picture.

Mark Lenard from Star Trek the Motion Picture.

He doesn’t have the well known turtle shell look that the Klingons are known to have, instead, they have an extended spinal column that extends up their back over and down the center of their heads, stopping at the bridge of their nose. I greatly enjoy this look and I am disappointed that this look only appeared in this one movie. In the future the Klingons would adopt the turtle shell look and each would be unique to each individual Klingon. However, in Star Trek The Motion Picture each Klingon had an identical look with their spinal ridge in the center of their head. The turtle shell look gave female Klingons a high forehead, while this look rendered the males bald on top…I wonder how a female Klingon would look with this design?

While no Klingon characters were seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, their appearance as the central enemy in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) led to minor alterations. For the third generation of Klingons, the spinal column type ridges of The Motion Picture were redesigned and made less pronounced. Here is the first use of the classic turtle shell design of the Klingons.

Christopher Lloyd as Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.

The release of a new television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, in 1987, set a century later than the original series on the USS Enterprise-D featured a Klingon crewmember, Worf. Makeup artist Michael Westmore needed a consistent reference to base the Klingon look on, as each individual Klingon was to have distinct head ridges. He found what he was looking for in a book of dinosaurs: observing dinosaur vertebrae laid out flat, Westmore cut the designs in half and modified them to suit each Klingon.

Michael Dorn as Commander Worf.

Westmore designed his Klingons’ beards to be Elizabethan, combining prehistoric and aristocratic elements to give audiences a feeling of depth from the appearance. Over time, Westmore and the other makeup artists designed different sizes of prosthetic headpieces which could be quickly applied and modified to save time; the amount of preparation to turn an actor into a Klingon decreased from around three hours to one. While important characters had custom headpieces, background actors used pre-made masks with minor touchup around the eyes and mouth.

This look of the Klingons would remain stable and was used in subsequent series, Voyager, Deep Space 9 and Enterprise.

Batman & Nightwing: The Retcon of Robin

I’d like to retcon Robin. First of all, let me define the concept and term retcon. Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established facts in a fictional work are adjusted, ignored, or contradicted by a subsequently published work which breaks continuity with the former.

I’d like to get rid of Robin, Batman’s sidekick. Well, not completely. I still want Batman to have a sidekick, I’d just like to permanently replace Robin with Nightwing. As a character, Nightwing has appeared in various incarnations, with the Nightwing identity most prominently being adopted by Dick Grayson when he reinvented himself from his role as Batman’s vigilante partner Robin. Although Nightwing is commonly associated with Batman, the title and concept have origins in classic Superman stories.

The original Nightwing in DC Comics was an identity assumed by alien superhero Superman when stranded on the Kryptonian city of Kandor with his friend Jimmy Olsen. Drawing inspiration from Batman and Robin, the two protect Kandor as the superheroes Nightwing and Flamebird. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity reboot in 1985, Nightwing was re-imagined as a legendary vigilante from Krypton whose story inspires Dick Grayson’s choice of name when he leaves behind his Robin identity.

The first incarnation of Robin, with the secret identity of Dick Grayson, debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940). Conceived as a way to attract young readership, Robin garnered overwhelmingly positive critical reception, doubling the sales of the Batman titles. The early adventures of Robin included Star Spangled Comics #65–130 (1947–1952), which was the character’s first solo feature. Robin made regular appearances in Batman related comic books and other DC Comics publications from 1940 through the early 1980s until the character set aside the Robin identity and became the independent superhero Nightwing. The team of Batman and Robin has commonly been referred to as the Caped Crusaders or Dynamic Duo.

One of the reasons I’d like to retcon Robin is that ever since The Dark Knight Returns (alternatively titled Batman: The Dark Knight Returns) a 1986 four-issue comic book miniseries starring Batman, written by Frank Miller, illustrated by Miller and Klaus Janson, and published by DC Comics, the character of Robin doesn’t work so well as the character of Batman has returned to its darker more serious tone. No offense to the Carrie Kelly version of Robin from that series. I have no problem depiction Robin or Nightwing as a woman. Personally, I’ve always felt that Robin worked best as a character when Batman was depicted in a lighter tone such as the comic books of the 60s, the 1966 Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward, and the subsequent Superfriends cartoon series of the 1970s.

This meme actually has some truth to it and one of the reasons I’d like to replace Robin with Nightwing within the Batman mythology. Batman is a vigilante crime fighter who dresses as a Bat and lurks in the shadows striking fear and terror in the heart of Gotham City’s criminal element. Batman dresses in black and gray so he can fade into the night and like a chameleon blends stealthily into his environment. So why dress up Robin in bright red, green and yellow that will stand out and draw attention to himself!? Plus, the name of Robin isn’t too scary or tough.

The costume and name of Nightwing blends well with the look of Batman and let’s face it, Nightwing is a much cooler sounding name for a sidekick! It’s a two syllable word like Robin, and Batman and Nightwing flows off the tongue just as easily Batman and Robin does.

But it’s not just the name and the costume that needs to change. I’d like to envision this incarnation of Dick Grayson as Nightwing not as a circus performer whose family, the “Flying Graysons” were murdered, but more as a troubled street tough orphaned boy who had been from foster home to foster home. This more life hardened Dick Grayson would gel much better with the Darker interpretation of Batman that is more popular with the fans these days. Therefore we can say goodbye old chum to Robin and retcon Nightwing, or Batman and Nightwing, as if he’d always been there by Batman’s side.

Review: Godzilla, King of the Monsters (2019).

I am a Godzilla fan. Let me restate that. I am a HUGE Godzilla fan. My credentials? I own every Godzilla movie on either DVD or Blu-Ray and I watch them all on a regular basis. I also have various books and magazines about Godzilla. I also collect Godzilla figures. I have a dozen or so Bandai Godzilla figures and I have 20 high end Godzilla figures made by X-Plus.

Just by viewing the trailers I knew I’d love this movie…and I do! However, that doesn’t mean I don’t have some issues with the movie…and I do! First here is some basic background information on the film.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (released as Godzilla II: King of the Monsters in some markets) is a 2019 American monster film directed by Michael Dougherty and co-written by Dougherty and Zach Shields from a story by Max Borenstein, Dougherty, and Shields. A sequel to Godzilla (2014), it is the 35th film in the Godzilla franchise, the third film in Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse, and the third Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio.

The film stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, Ken Watanabe, and Zhang Ziyi. It is dedicated to executive producer Yoshimitsu Banno and original Godzilla suit performer Haruo Nakajima, who both died in 2017. In the film, humans must rely on Godzilla to defeat King Ghidorah, who has awakened other Titans to destroy the world.

I’ve watched and read many reviews online and the consensus of those that gave the movie a negative review is that the human aspect of the story is chaotic, nonsensical and ultimately boring with uninteresting characters. This is where I disagree. I found the main characters very interesting and this increased my overall enjoyment of the movie.

This movie takes place in the aftermath of the 2014 Godzilla attacks and fights against the MUTOS. The fact that giant monsters, called Titans, do exist and both science and the government struggle with what to do with them creates the conflict and tensions that feed both the plot and overall tone of the film. The main characters, Dr. Emma Russell, a paleobiologist who works for the Titan-studying organization Monarch and her daughter Madison, are captured by a group of eco-terrorists, led by Alan Jonah, that suddenly attack the base, slaughtering everyone and kidnaps Emma and Madison. This occurs right after Emma and Madison witness the birth of a larva dubbed Mothra. Emma calms Mothra down with the “Orca”, a device capable of emitting frequencies that can attract or alter Titan behavior. Mothra flees and pupates under a waterfall.

Monarch scientists Dr. Ishirō Serizawa and Dr. Vivienne Graham approach former employee Dr. Mark Russell, Emma’s ex-husband and Madison’s father, to help track them down. Mark is reluctant at first, due to his hatred for Godzilla (whom he blames for the death of Madison’s brother Andrew), but he eventually agrees. The Monarch team follows Godzilla to Antarctica, where Jonah intends to free a three-headed Titan codenamed “Monster Zero”.

Emma frees and awakens Monster Zero, which kills several Monarch members, including Dr. Graham, before battling Godzilla and escaping. The team then learn that Emma was not kidnapped by the terrorists, but is secretly working with them. Emma contacts Monarch and argues that the Titans must be awakened in order to heal the Earth from the damages that humans have caused. Many Titans, such as Rodan are set loose to carry out Emma’s and Jonah’s plan. This leaves Godzilla as the sole weapon to combat the other Titans and defend the earth.

In a nut shell, that is the basic plot. At the heart of the story is a family destroyed by the trauma of a giant monster attack that took the life of their son and how they find a way to make sense of their grief. Stuck in between the warring parents is Madison and it is up to her to decide which parent she will support and that will have a measurable effect on the outcome. Also, Emma’s motivation for releasing the Titans is very similar to the motivation Thanos had in Avengers Endgame. Both antagonist felt that by destroying the majority of humanity they could heal the destruction caused by humanity. In their eyes they aren’t doing evil, but an overall good in the context of the bigger picture.

I actually enjoyed the conflicts with in this family. It led to very good character development. Is very easy to create black and white, good and bad simplistic characters. This movie gave the characters motivations that were complex. Both Emma and her ex-husband, Mark Russell believe that their motives completely justified. Both are wrong and it takes the actions of their daughter (and Godzilla) to prove that. This is why I disagree with the negative reviews. Millie Bobby Brown is particularly outstanding in her big screen debut.

But most people don’t watch Godzilla movies for the human story, we come to see Godzilla movies for their giant monster action, fights and throw downs. This movie has these in abundance and it is extremely satisfying! Much of the monster on monster action takes place in the background with the humans in the foreground. I enjoy this aspect of the action scenes for the most part. It creates a sense of scale that displays the giant size of these monsters in a way rarely seen in Toho’s movies. The only minor quibble about this is that I would have liked to have seen a little more lengthy focus on the monsters themselves and their battles.

The four major Kaiju from Toho’s panoply of monsters, Gozilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghodirah have been all redesigned. Even Godzilla has been updated since the 2014 movie. This incarnation of Godzilla is sporting new dorsal plates that resemble the 1954 original. His eyes are slightly larger, his feet have also been enlarged but his tail is a bit shorter.

This design of King Ghidorah is my favorite ever of this Kaiju. Although I’ve liked the Toho version of the monster I never cared for his wing design. His wings just seemed attached to him and beyond his control and worked independently of him. This design takes care of that issue. His wings are attached with armlike appendages similar to a bat. This way you can see Ghidorah flap and control his wings. Below is some fan art that demonstrates this point.

One of my issues with the movie is the color saturation and pallet. The above pictures scattered through my review demonstrates this issue. With the majority of the Kaiju battles taking place during inclement weather, along with this color saturation, renders the CGI creatures a bit unrealistic or not so lifelike from time to time. This doesn’t happen all the time but enough for me for it to be an issue. I just hope with next years Godzilla vs King Kong they have some Monster scenes in the daytime!

Director Michael Dougherty really did make this movie for the fans. The movie has tons of Easter eggs and nods to the franchise. Some have complained that this constitutes fan service and that it is just there to please the fans without any real relationship to the film. I found only one moment like that and it is the reference to the Oxygen Destroyer. It actually made me cringe! It was definitely there for the fans. They could have named this weapon anything. The problem is that the two times this trope was used (in the 1954 original and the 1995 movie Godzilla vs Destroyer) it was vital and essential to the plot. In this movie it wasn’t that essential, at least the name wasn’t, it just came out of the blue, it didn’t work and was never heard from again. If you’re going to use this iconic symbol of the franchise I think it needs to be used in a manner that is more vital to the plot and not a throwaway reference to please the fans.

All in all this was what I expected from a Godzilla movie. An enjoyable story with great special effects and thrilling monster on monster fights in a tone that is fun and mixed equally with both drama and humor.