Edging Towards Tomorrow - Groundhog vs. Aliens

For the second year in a row, Tom Cruise has headlined an interesting, one might even say offbeat Science fiction thriller - last year it was Oblivion and this Summer we were treated to "Edge of Tomorrow." Each movie came prepackaged with a core gimmick - in Oblivion, it was Tom Cruise clones, in Edge it is the Tom Cruise multi-verse.  One might say that Cruise has latched onto a moderately successful formula with these two films - one that seems a bit more interesting than the Jack Reacher or Mission Impossible type vehicles.

The Formula:
Place the affable and ultimately sympathetic Cruise in a solitary, soul-searching predicament - (and alone in this sense can be an actual lack of people around or a lack of people who are sharing the same experience as him - in both cases / movies that translates to basically one or two other characters). In both scenarios of the formula, Cruise is ultimately responsible for saving planet Earth. In both scenarios he hooks up with the girl that seems out of reach and in both films there's a fair bit of action - although much more so in Edge.

Recognize the slogan ? - remember the Mad Men episode where they discuss the invention
of the ad slogan; rinse, add, repeat?

Beside having this new Cruise Sci-Fi formula at its center, what else does this movie have going for it; here's the bullet point rundown:

• The Groundhog Day like transformation of Cruise from scoundrel to hero (we're explore this more in a moment).
• The very cool special effects (even better in IMAX of course).
• An excellent performance by Emily Blunt as tough babe extraordinaire (she is the hard to reach love interest from the formula).
• Lot's of funky, hard to kill aliens - sort of like Tasmanian Devils with an attitude.
• Mind-bending time looping plot twists - just complicated enough to keep it intriguing without becoming too confusing.
• A classic over the top drill sergeant performance by Bill Paxton - who seems to be channeling his old Aliens character in reverse.
• Great exoskeleton body armor combat suites. 
• Lot's of our favorite Sci-Fi cleashes - like the central alien hive mind command and control (won't these aliens ever learn how to decentralize!).

The official Trailer for Edge of Tomorrow

The film reminds me a lot of Groundhog Day and I think the connection here is deliberate. The comparison may seem like a stretch as Tom Cruise is no Bill Murray, but there is actually a fair bit of humor in this film and Cruise pulls it off rather nicely. And the repeating joke in Edge is Cruise getting killed - over and over again. This may appeal both to Cruise's fans and those who can't stand him equally well (thus potentially increasing the audience reach for this film). Although this wasn't enough to beat out some rather lame movies like the Godzilla reboot or 22 Jump Street. Cruise's transformation in Edge of Tomorrow is both entertaining and believable (well, for a sci-fi  premise anyway) and includes lot's of training and new skills (like Bill Murray's piano lessons in Groundhog Day but more violent).

Does he save the world and get the girl - well, what kind of formula would leave him alone as the world's biggest loser?

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Top 10 Reasons We Still Love Wrath of Khan

It's hard to believe that it's been 32 years since Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan hit movie theaters across the world. Wrath of Khan is a remarkable picture on many levels, including:

• the fact that this was indeed the success that actually rebooted the Start Trek franchise
• this is the first movie that used modern CGI animation sequences in a significant way
• it showcased perhaps one of the great movie villains of all time...

Original movie poster from 1982

So, any of you who know much about Star Trek perhaps remember that Khan (played by Ricardo Montalban, former leading man in both Hollywood and Mexican cinema) was a character in the original series from the 1960's. Wrath of Khan brings him back seeking vengeance against Kirk and the Federation. Those who may have caught the latest Star Trek reboot episode - Into Darkness - will no doubt realize that Benedict Cumberbatch's character is if not a direct re-visioning of Khan, certainly an homage to the character. Although, honestly as good as Benedict is, he just doesn't match the intensity Montalban brought to the character.

Khan and Kirk go at it back in the day

But enough of the preliminaries; here are the top ten reasons we still love Wrath of Khan:

1. Wrath of Khan is the ultimate 80's big hair movie. Who knew that genetically superior humans in exile if left to their own devices would resemble Whitesnake?
2. Wrath of Khan gives us the best one word one liner in movie history, oft repeated never equaled - Khannnnnnnnnnnnnnn !!!!!!!!!
3. Kirstie Allen as a Vulcan was quite the treat.
4. It highlights what is without a doubt, William Shatner's best toupee ever - that thing could act all by itself. 
5. Khan provides us the best movie cleavage of 1982, narrowly beating out Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan for the top honor.
6. Best medical procedure ever filmed (application of brain slugs).
7. We get to see the Star Wars planet destroying device fully realized - the special effect was produced by ILM so one can only assume they started off where Star Wars left off. 
8. Best Bromance death scene ever - "the needs of the many..." This would make the toughest veteran or linebacker get teary-eyed. 
9. The most fashion conscious villains ever - the things they can do with sand slug leather!  
10. Best ensemble performance by the original series cast. Now they got together in several follow-ons including the whale hijacking one - but Khan was definitely the best of the lot.  

The official Wrath of Khan Trailer

Our only regret is that there wasn't a way to keep Montalban around for another couple duels with Kirk or maybe even they could have brought him back to kick off the Next Generation TV Series (instead his next major role was as a comic villain in Leslie Nielson's Naked Gun).

Brain slugs, anyone?

It just doesn't get any better than this - another classic that has stood the test of time.

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Guardians of the Galaxy - The Ultimate Playlist ?

It wasn't so long ago that some of us had tape decks in our cars, and the only way to get great tunes while cruising in those days was the "Mix-Tape." It was more or less like the first bipedal hominid in an ultimate evolution to the Cro Magnon near perfection that is the Cloud-enabled, mobile device disseminating Playlist.

The mix tape was an art form - it took time and it didn't always turn out perfect. Sometimes you even had to write out the songs you were thinking about on a piece of paper to keep track and then getting the music - that wasn't always so easy.

The good guys may be funny looking - wait - they're funny too...

The Mix Tape takes center stage in this Summer's biggest hit - Marvel's The Guardians of the Galaxy. It helped inspire us to do our own 70's playlist here this week (of course we had the full power of the Internet working on our side so it's a bit longer than the tape highlighted in the movie).

For us, this movie came out of nowhere, yet easily surpassed ever other Marvel inspired movie we've seen thusfar except one (the original Hulk with Eric Bana). That's not to say that the other Marvel movies haven't been good, a number of them certainly have, but they just weren't in the same league as Guardians and we think we know why - the music. Oh, and it's funny too.

Easily the most under-appreciated film of its time, Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk was perhaps
too edgy to go really mainstream (especially with Nick Nolte's wonderful over the top performance as papa Hulk)

When we first saw the trailer for this - it looked well, pretty stupid (maybe it was the raccoon that threw us). It was one of those rare cases where the movie outshines the trailer. We heard about this one word of mouth. What a contrast this film is to all the gloom and doom floating around in all these other blockbusters - Dark this and Darkness that. Now, Guardians has some darkly disturbing villains - but it makes fun of them rather than reveling in their pathological pursuit of ultimate power or evil. The film builds around a core formula, which turns out to be pretty darn popular; it goes something like this:

• Build clever and sympathetic characters around the good guys
• Make them all underdogs (or Raccoons as the case may be)
• Have them use humor consistently throughout (sharp wit directed at the dark villains and each other)
• Make the villains over the top and fun (sort of) 
• Pack in lot's of action - but not the non stop migraine-producing type of action seen in any Transformers film or even in Marvels the Avengers.
• Add music (mostly from the 1970's) and mix well.

This little tape proved to be box office gold

The manner in which the mix tape became a central theme throughout the movie was clever and endearing at the same time. It gave the movie the excuse to break into song and to let loose with a consistent set of genre music. Even more remarkable is how the film even sets us up the sequel through a sneak peak at volume two of the Awesome mix tape. Genius...

This is the actual mix tape (playlist) from the movie - it is mostly 70's music and quite good

It's not that we don't think that the plot itself isn't worth mentioning - well maybe it it isn't. It's been a couple of weeks and it is getting hard to remember. What has stayed with us are the jokes and silly touches like the dancing sapling (tree dude voiced by Vin Diesel). During the movie itself, we were entertained - it all fit and flowed together and made for a very good time. and in a crowded theater it's even better as a it becomes a group experience.

This may not become a cult film but it certainly could. Chris Pratt does an incredible job of breaking out of his TV persona and almost instantly transforming himself into a megastar. Zoe Saladana is good in her role but it's almost like she is playing the same character in every film nowadays. Dave Batista as the muscle beach alien steals the show every chance he gets - his character is very fun to watch. We also liked former Pushing Daisies star Lee Pace as the super dark villain goof - although he's a lot better in is silicon valley TV series.

Vin diesel is Groot - a character well-rooted in humor

If you haven't already seen Guardians of the Galaxy, you owe it to yourselves to see it in the theater and get the full experience - and if you have already seen it - go see it again

Copyright 2014 - Raving Reviews

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That California Sound

I had the great fortune to spend some time in Northern California this Summer. I've got all my favorite places there; Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay, Muir Woods and Sausalito among others. There is literally nothing like driving up the Pacific Coast highway on a sunny day (on foggy days it's not quite the same). Sometimes words don't do a place justice and then of course we have to turn to music to help capture the experience.

What is the sound of California? Is it the sound of the ocean, the sound of a perpetually sunny clime and clear skies, the sound of a culture that has helped define Western culture for the rest of the world? Or is it the way we feel when we're in California. I tend to think it may be the latter.

A view from this Summer's trip to Northern California, near Monterey - BTW: this isn't far from where they filmed the cliff scenes for both versions of the PBS series "Cosmos."

Naturally, I had to produce a playlist to capture that feeling - it's called "California Dreaming" and its on Spotify. I played it while I was there and now I can play it again and think about where I was while listening to it on my adventure. Hope you enjoy it.

* California Stars is on the soundtrack of a great, yet underrated 

Michael Douglas flick, "King of California"

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The Great American Preview

I have a confession to make.

I love previews. In fact, I like them better than the actual movies themselves. I could easily sit through 90 minutes of trailers - and have - and remain totally absorbed, in awe really. Why is that?

Trailers are the lost American art form, the sad forgotten cousin the more famous TV commercial (which at least now gets worshiped during Super Bowl halftime). It comes from a long line of short features, newsreels and movie cartoons that have largely gone the way of the dinosaur. Now, some theaters have pre-movie programming - but it is just TV in disguise, isn't it?

The Trailer is the one 'short' that can trace its lineage all the back to the Silent era - continuously.  In fact, if we go back far enough, all "movies" were shorts, most of them no longer than a trailer, so the entire realm of film making in some degree owes its existence to the ability of early directors to create visually stunning scenes that had to convey a lot of meaning very, very quickly.

examples of early trailers are hard to find...

When Edison wasn't busy stealing other people's inventions, he was helping to create the foundations of american cinema - or the guys who were working for him were anyway

So, what makes a great movie Trailer anyway? And why is the act of watching them possibly the most satisfying part of any visit to the theater?

Sometimes great Trailers predict great movies, sometimes...

Top 5 Elements of a Great Movie Trailer:

• The mini-soundtrack - only the best of the best gets used - for Jaws, we get the da-da, da-da - well you know. In the actual movie you have to wait 30 minutes to hear it.
• The plot goes out the window; which in some cases is a good thing - but what we're referring to here is an artistic "meta-license." It's the little story that might be related to the movie's story - but it really doesn't have to be.
• The "rapi-cut" - and no that's not the x-ray machine at the airports. This refers to the super quick cutting between scenes which is necessary to jam all the good stuff into 90 seconds or so. 
• The most stunning images. Often in a movie there is great cinematography that's not very important to the story - sort of like window dressing. Well, this is the place to highlight the window dressing... 
• Showing off the talent. So, say you hired Brad Pitt but could only afford 5 minutes of airtime for him? In the trailer you can give him 45 seconds, thus increasing your investment tenfold. False advertising, nonsense - the trailer is its own thing you know - and in that Brad really is the full-time star. Think of it like a music video, but less annoying.

So, how can watching trailers possibly compete with the "Feature." You know most people don't even probably recognize the difference between 'Shorts' and 'Features' anymore. But even though the Shorts have been losing ground, the war isn't over quite yet.

A lot of times the Trailers are way better than the movie

5 Reasons why Trailers Rule and Features Flop

1. In the battle between expectation and experience, expectation invariably loses. I'd say the ratio is about 10 to 1 against any Feature movie living up to its hype and your expectations walking in (unless of course you have really low standards). Now, the Trailers don't play fair in this game - they do one hell of a good job peaking your interest because that's what they're designed to do. But don't be surprised if every good second in the Feature can fit in a two minute trailer - it happens, a lot.
2. Trailers just keep coming, the more the better. Forget Speed Dating - Previews are the ultimate sensory overload experience - a virtual smorgasbord of rapid fire entertainment. And by the way, Trailers have gotten longer in recent decades - they're beginning to turn into Shorts...
3. Trailers are the mini-movies that the Features should have been. The guys who did the trailers ought to be making most of the movies - unfortunately they only get brought in at the end of process.
4. Trailers never disappoint; even if the Feature is a dud, you can be sure that one or more of the previews will be excellent. 
5. Trailers are designed to push our buttons, elicit responses, to interest us into our next impulse buy - the ticket for that Feature that will probably let us down - but we've got to go... 

You don't have to feed your addiction for trailers at the theater anymore - there's youtube and cable on demand services which provide the trailers an enticement to buy. But of course, who needs to buy when one can watch the trailers?

One can only wonder why this movie didn't propel Carrot Top to Super stardom, 

I mean the Trailer is great isn't it?

Copyright 2014, Raving Reviews

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That 70's Playlist

Well, we're back. Yes, it's true we were in hibernation mode for awhile, but when it comes to movies and popular culture, there's no statute of limitations on good reviews.

To kick things off, how about a new playlist? The 1970's were an under-rated decade as far as music went, yet so much happened; Classic Rock matured, Alternative was born, the 60's transitioned from rebellion to acceptance, pop became the force that it is today and there was lots of Funk to go around... Plus there were the 70's originals - Jim Croce, Harry Nilson, Three Dog Night - voices and harmony that can never be matched; they were the 70's embodied.

Three Dog Night - not sure what their title signified...

Those of you who weren't alive during those years still have the opportunity to experience the music anyway; although it isn't quite the same is it? Some of us still remember where we were the first time we heard 'Joy to World' or 'Saturday in the Park'. The world has changed a lot since then, but lucky for us music holds time hostage and binds memory across the decades.

Just a clarification, this list is not an attempt to track any of the songs played during episodes of That 70's Show; while there may of course be some overlap - our list was plucked from every genre and each little nook and cranny in the deep recesses of our middle-aged brains...  Hope you enjoy it.

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