Now, "Voyager": in praise of the Trekkiest "Trek" of all | Balder and Dash | Roger Ebert by Ian Grey

As we mourn Abrams’ macho Trek obliteration, it’s a good time to revisit Voyager, at once the most Star Trek-ian of accomplishments and the most despised object of fanboy loathing in the franchise’s nearly 50-year history. From 1995-2001, it offered American audiences something never seen before or since: a series whose lead female characters’ agency and authority were the show. It was a rare heavy-hardware science fiction fantasy not built around a strong man, and more audaciously, it didn’t seem to trouble itself over how fans would receive this. On Voyager, female authority was assumed and unquestioned; women conveyed sexual power without shame and anger without guilt. Even more so than Buffy, which debuted four years later, it was the most feminist show in American TV history.

Voyager wasn’t some grrl power screed in Starfleet regalia. The ideas and emotions it explored were very much in the Star Trek wheelhouse; it just came at them from a fresh–and to some

Now, "Voyager": in praise of the Trekkiest "Trek" of all | Balder and Dash | Roger Ebert

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To call those simpler times would be a whitewash (very white). Although the conjured stuffing of the title bikini is a pulchritudinous redhead, the title song defines beauty as a 36-22-36 blue-eyed blonde: cue the montage of bikini’d torsos — an actual scene from the movie — but mute the nauseating beach song that accompanies the scene.

And, yet, better ten remakes of this awful flick than more slasher gore porn that tragically defines the nadir of modern cinema. Oh, for more innocent times.

Perhaps there is a hint of the sexual revolution here, but not of anyone’s liberation. How did we go from there to Woodstock in just 4 years. (It took a lot of weed.) Even as Hollywood depicted our older siblings as fools frolicking on the beach, they were getting ready to take to the streets and change America for the better. I’m so glad we’re not in that universe anymore.

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (no stars, just one black hole) is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Kudos to the set and costume designers. It’s not easy to visualize future fashion, even if it’s a mild stretch from modern-day parties in LA or San Francisco. What’s old is new again though never quite the way it was. I was fascinated by one character’s beard, of all things.

I still dislike the underlying premise. I distrust Hollywood portraying a world of haves and have-nots, at least one in which the have-nots overcome. Hollywood produces our bread and circuses. Can we trust them more than we do the Koch Brothers? Oh, but why worry about that when we can talk about the upcoming sequel.

The Hunger Games (4 stars) is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Painted Skin: The Resurrection (2012) – IMDb

An ancient fox spirit embarks on a diabolical quest to become human after escaping an icy prison, and becomes bound to a disfigured princess who seeks the love of a noble guard as her kingdom crumbles in this lavish supernatural epic. Confined to a frozen cell for centuries, malevolent fox spirit Xiaowei (Xun Zhou) regains her freedom and seeks to preserve her beauty by seducing men and consuming their hearts. Should a man human offer her his heart willingly, Xiaowei will become mortal, breaking free of the underworld and experiencing living among the living. Meanwhile, as a dark cloud falls over her kingdom, Princess Jing (Wei Zhao) flees, hiding her deep facial scars under a mask of pure gold while seeking the love of her former protector, who remains haunted by his failure to save her years prior. When destiny brings Xiaowei and Princess Jing together, the battle for the princess’ heart begins. Written by Anonymous

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Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011) – IMDb

Set three years after Dragon Inn, innkeeper Jade has disappeared and a new inn has risen from the ashes – one that’s staffed by marauders masquerading as law-abiding citizens, who hope to unearth the fabled lost city buried in the desert.

Director: Hark Tsui

Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (2011) – IMDb

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The Official Netflix Blog : US & Canada: Introducing Netflix Social

Starting today, Netflix members in the U.S. can share their favorite shows and movies on Netflix with friends by connecting to Facebook and agreeing to share.

The Official Netflix Blog : US & Canada: Introducing Netflix Social

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In the end the moody girl has sex by the lake with her boyfriend, beginning or ending the world; "this is what the garden was for." Only a horny teenaged boy (redundant) could ignore her coital soliloquy (the third recitation of Rumi). All I could think about is how her boyfriend, twice as tall as she, must be humping her knees for their face-to-face missionary lovemaking. That tells you something about how riveting this movie is. Even the cameo by Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network) as the 20-year-old virgin brother was disappointing. At least, he didn’t confuse screaming with acting, favoring perplexed silence (as in, “how will this help my career?” — he may be the only one whose career didn’t sink after this). Five minutes of rain yesterday exceeded the best 5 minutes of this movie, if you can find that many. It is fitting that the stars all wink out near the end — the perfect metaphor for a zero star movie. Please don’t watch it.

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Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) – IMDb

Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) – IMDb

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Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011) – IMDb

Dispatched from his basement room on an errand for his mother, slacker Jeff might discover his destiny (finally) when he spends the day with his brother as he tracks his possibly adulterous wife.

Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011) – IMDb

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I grew up with Kolchak: the Night Stalker, Night Gallery, the original Outer Limits, and the Twilight Zone. I watched The X-Files from the beginning (Fox Maulder was Kolchak’s grandson) until, after 40 years, I grew tired of the monster of the week. I thought Lost was breathtakingly original, but devolved into mythical babble after they made the Others evil (more xenophobic evil-within boogeymen in our mirror — worse than monsters-of-the-week).

Ritualistically, I watched the Fringe series finale. It took me a while to catch up with some characters (September, in particular). I was especially glad to visit Over There (the alternate Universe), which really was my favorite part of the whole series. There were such fascinating differences Over There (coffee is rare, if I remember correctly, and I think we should call an ID a Show-me). Indeed, it’s a little sad that the alternate characters were all more interesting than the one’s on our side. (The same was true of evil Spock in StarTrek.) I wonder, though, why didn’t the Observers conquer Over There? Just our luck.

There was one aspect of Fringe that troubled me more than the gross viscera it wallowed in, even more than the standard video game storylines (pick this up, then go get this, then overcome this setback, repeat every week). Fringe pretended to put Science at its core, but it was really Magic. I don’t mind magic. I hate Magic disguised as Science for an uncritical audience.

Of course, nerds are nothing, if not critical. There are few things nerdier than arguing about the plausibility of sci-fi. It wasn’t just the absurd and gross wet-tech embodied by the awful shape-shifters. It wasn’t the steampunk psychic typewriter. I was irked by Walter and Peter Bishop, both brilliant, quick thinking scientists. Both jargon-spouting conjurers, in truth. Mind you, I love those characters. I just think Walter was really bent over a cauldron calling for Astrid to fetch more eye of newt. Stop invoking Science like a god.

Of course, the epitome of my disappointment was Bell. It was great to see Nimoy again, but by the end of his story he was on an ark seriously intending to ride out the destruction of one universe and the birth of another, which was to be peopled by his Dr Moreau hybrids. (The original Island of Dr Moreau remains the movie that horrified me the most.) That was the end of my interest in the series, which might have stopped there, were it not for the clout of its fans.

The credit the fans get for keeping Fringe alive galls me. Surely, Firefly has more fans, who are more passionate. And we got shit from the same network.

In the end, Fringe lived down to its baser instincts. Long scenes dependent on gunplay attest to bankrupt storytelling. For the good of the cause, countless people can be butchered gorily with a biohazard. Talk about blood-lust. Entire worlds are undone with the wave of a magic wand because heroes don’t take polls.

If I haven’t spoil Fringe for you yet, I won’t spoil the very last scene except to say it was almost worth two hours of irritating nonsense and it harkened to my favorite episode in the series. Of course, moments later, I was scratching my head over time paradoxes and how a message from a time undone ends up in the past. Such a nerd.

PS: Won’t Peter and Olivia be disappointed when Etta grows up to be a completely different person because of her completely different environment. Oh, wait, they have no knowledge of the other Etta. They live in an ideal world where we can rewind and forget the bad times.

PPS: I can’t wait to see Walter Bishop show up in the sequel in an atomic-powered Deloren. But, he’s more of an atomic-powered station-wagon-type. See what happens when writers don’t know when to stop?

I won’t miss Fringe. I still miss Firefly. is a post from: mjh's blog. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh