Showbits

In addition to Terminator Salvation, this month's The Dark Knight also saw the debut of the trailer for Watchmen. This movie, like so many others this summer, is based on a comic book (or, in this case, graphic novel), but not one of a comic nature. There's little to find funny about this contemporary to Frank Miller's gritty The Dark Knight Returns. It setting is primarily realistic, with "super"-heroes who are nothing more than costumed crimefighters with a repertoire replete of human flaws. They hide behind their costumes, seeking refuge from a multitude of sins: megalomania, paranoia, violation. Alan Moore's book is often considered one of the greatest graphic novels of all time, and many of its diverse elements and plot threads appear in the trailer:

But to the casual viewer — the vast majority of moviegoers who have never read, or even heard of, a 21-year-old graphic novel — the above montage will likely be unintelligible. It clearly portrays a dystopian setting, but its variety of brooding characters does little to suggest a storyline. I expect the movie will be successful in capturing the book's themes; what I question is the studio's ability to sell it. Will they call it a cross between Sin City and 300? Their pride in Watchmen's printed origin is evident, and given the recent success of other comic conversions, there's certainly nothing to be ashamed of. So they're likely to continue promoting that background, unlike Constantine or Road to Perdition, which you'd think were meant for the silver screen.

It will be interesting to see the evolution of public perception as we near the watching of Watchmen.

Star Trek often serves as a gateway to introduce me to new fiction, as I follow its actors and writers on to new ventures. But rather than new material, the Trek connection sometimes leads me backward to explore the influences that engendered the futuristic franchise. In this case, a recent review of the old TNG episode "A Matter of Perspective" led me to the Akira Kurosawa classic Rashômon.

This 1950 Japanese film is based on a 1915 short story that pioneered (or at least popularized) the literary technique of retelling one event from multiple perspectives, such as recently seen in the 2002 Jet Li film Hero. In Rashômon's case, the story is that of a bandit who lures a woman into the woods by holding her samurai husband hostage. With both people at his mercy, the bandit has his way with the wife … but what happens next? The scene of the crime tells the outcome, but not how the party came to it. The testimonies of the bandit, the samurai, the wife, and a hidden bystander all conflict, casting the characters in very different lights.

Although I am a fan of dramatic older films such as Fail-Safe and Splendor in the Grass, sometimes the gulf in era, genre, and culture is a challenging one to bridge. Despite the degree of style and allegorical and symbolic content, I couldn't connect with Rashômon. Its characters were theatrically, as opposed to realistically, dramatic, and the four variations on the same scene were insufficiently different to keep my interest through the retellings. In Hero, we see the main characters in numerous settings, motivated by unique goals; in Rashômon, we lack that connection to the protagonists, as their stories are recounted by witnesses, and the whole incident of the bandit in the glen was just that — not a mission, not an adventure, but an incident with little impact.

Unlike "A Matter of Perspective", Rashômon leaves the audience with no closure, as the truth of the four tales is never revealed. Perhaps that is where the film's impact lies: in prompting us to question the definition of truth. Its closing scene finally gives the narrators their own story, and the statements made there are more tangible and hopeful than the rest of the movie, offering the audience something more substantial than a Star Trek allegory.

It's been a month since the Get Smart movie was released, and reviews have been surprisingly positive. All the fans I know of the original television series who saw the movie have enjoyed it, which is not what I expected.

What's also unexpected is the alacrity with which Warner Bros. released a sequel — or more accurately, a spinoff. Bruce & Lloyd Out of Control, which came out on DVD the same day its theatrical sibling hit the silver screen, stars Masi Oka (of Heroes fame) and Nate Torrence as their characters from the Get Smart film. While Maxwell Smart saves the world, Bruce and Lloyd get their own adventure to recover an invisibility cloak that's been stolen from Control's tech division. Here's the trailer:

Though the film hasn't enjoyed the favorable reception of Get Smart, I consider it a creative venture nonetheless. It's ingenious that they thought to use all the film's assets and actors while they were already on the set, saving the cost and effort of recreating it later. It also rides on the coattails of its big brother, and vice versa: fans of Get Smart will recognize the brand name when they see it at the video store, while anyone who hasn't seen the theatrical film but liked this lower-budget alternative may be lured to the box office. And my reservations regarding the remake of the television show may not hold true here, since this is an original adventure with original protagonists.

By the holiday season, we may see a two-disc DVD set that contains both movies. In the meantime, the spinoff can also be purchased or rented on iTunes, where a 7-minute, 90-megabyte "making of" featurette is available for free.

Over the past year, I've heard of the film The Squid and the Whale from two sources. The first was my chiropractor, himself something of a philosopher, who'd also successfully suggested to me the film The Razor's Edge. The second is from a list entitled "20 Essential Break Up Movies". Those are two very different contexts in which to receive the same film recommendation — so, my curiosity piqued, I checked it out of the library.

The film, set in 1983 Brooklyn, bears many similarities to Blue Car: we have two children of the same gender struggling with the fallout of a broken home — the younger is the more outwardly distressed, while the older one flirts with romance. There's also a teacher open to having an affair with a student. The differences between The Squid and the Whale and Blue Car is that, here, we see the divorce happening, making its impact more immediate with both parents present.

Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney play the troubled couple, each with a PhD in English. Mr. Daniels plays his character with such ego and arrogance that it's easy to cast him as the villain, but just because his flaws are given more screen time does not mean that his spouse has none of her own. Their two boys each favor a different parent, coping with the stress of separation in a manner roughly analogous to how their preferred parent brought about the divorce. It's intriguing to hear the son speak to his girlfriend with the same words we earlier heard exchanged between his father and mother. But separation does not cure what ails this family, as each parent confuses the situation by quickly moving on to a new love interest (in Mr. Daniels' case, that being a flirty Anna Paquin). All four family members are desperate for attention, but none are

The film is roughly autobiographical of its writer and director, Noah Baumbach. At 81 minutes, it's also makes for a short viewing session, but I found its length just right for a view into the times and trials of a broken home, without the drama or creepiness of Blue Car.

Today is the release of The Dark Knight, for which I, a diehard DC comics fan, am not waiting in line to see. I was thoroughly underwhelmed with its predecessor, Batman Begins — Christian Bale just isn't the man to portray Gotham's caped crusader.

That opinion is a happy consequence of the fact that there isn't one right way to portray the Dark Knight. There have been many interpretations of the character over the years, and Web 2.0 has allowed fans to put him in their own tales as well. The dark, landmark short "Dead End" is one of my favorites, as it plays on many of the grim aspects of both Batman and the comic book medium that are so appealing.

"Dead End" also provides a sharp contrast from which to create more humorous takes on Batman. Ever since Frank Miller (of 300 and Sin City fame) wrote The Dark Knight Returns in 1986, most incarnations of Batman have depicted him as brooding and violent character. So any return to the campiness with which Adam West first brought Batman to life is a welcome relief, such as shown in this recent release, entitled "Batman's Bad Day":

This film is funny for more than showing how superheroes treat each other when not in crisis management mode. Showbits contributor Hiphopguy23 hates the Man of Steel for having every other character's superpower, usurping any other hero's usefulness. It's past time to see him and his god-like brethren put in their place — and the quintessential Boy Scout's uncharacteristic riposte is a great zinger.

Another recent entry into the Batman fanfilm category is one that doesn't feature Batman at all, and again features a surprising ending. I give you "The Interrogator":

This is just a small sampling of the creative output of the Batman fan community; a more complete index can be found at BatmanFanFilms.com. And if you too are uninterested in today's theatrical release, check out Dayton Ward's Batman gallery, which takes the audio and action of the Dark Knight trailer and recreates it using a variety of media, from animation to LEGOs. Finally, remember that the animated film Batman: Gotham Knight is now available on DVD, serving as a bridge between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

I once expressed concern about the ability of the Terminator franchise to successfully reinvent itself as a television series. But Terminator 2 is one of my favorite films of all-time, and the Terminator himself is a fantastic hero and villain — how many characters can claim such duality? These previous impressions encouraged me to set aside my reservations and give The Sarah Connor Chronicles a look when it debuted this past spring. I was pleasantly surprised by the two episodes I saw, sufficiently that I've preordered next month's DVD release of the nine-episode first season.

So, despite a lack of interest in almost anything with Christian Bale (including tomorrow's Dark Knight — sorry, but that kid hasn't impressed me since Newsies), I'm trying to keep an open mind about next year's fourth Terminator installment. In playing to the Balehead crowd, tomorrow's Batman flick includes the official premiere of the first trailer for Terminator Salvation — but you can watch it here, now, for free:

It's not much to go on, and unless time travel is involved, the film will likely lack any of its titular adversaries. Say it with me: it's too early to judge… And hey, if it sucks? There's always RiffTrax.

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Superheroes have been a hot property for decades, but the last few years have been especially generous to fans of the genre. We've seen everyone from Superman and the X-Men to Constantine and Hellboy transition from comic book to silver screen, many of them successfully. Nonetheless, it was a welcome change of pace to take in Hancock, an original property with its own take on superpowered beings living among us.

Secret identities are a mainstay of the superhero genre, and the same is true for Will Smith's John Hancock, but with a twist: his identity is secret even to himself. Hancock is imbued with flight, super-strength, super-speed, and invulnerability, but like Superboy and unlike Superman, he is always "on" as Hancock. He has no normal childhood to serve as a foundation for his self-identity, nor human persona to retreat to and through which to keep in touch with the non-powered populace he tries to serve. The result is a drunken, reckless "hero" frustrated ostensibly with an ungrateful citizenry, but truly with his own inability to connect to the rest of humanity. The opportunity and struggle to overcome that conflict arises when Hancock saves someone (Jason Bateman) who sees the maligned martyr's potential for greatness, and the two team up to create a new image that rectifies the careless flaws for which Hancock has become infamous.

It's an interesting approach, and one, as another review noted, that's welcome after the fantastic though typical fare of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. There's some comedy here, not too much action, and some character introspection — though there could've been more. The film takes an unusual, though not entirely unexpected, turn in the last half-hour. I've heard criticism of this portion of the film, but I found it satisfactorily answered many questions I'd accumulated during the previous hour.

A different script could likely have satisfied both me and the film's critics more uniformly, but that's not the movie we were given. What we got was a character study on the burden of great power — not its inherent responsibility to others, but its ability to elevate above mankind someone who considers himself below it. Some touching and thoughtful sequences make this a superhero film of a different ilk from what we're accustomed to, and I appreciate that diversity.

In 1983, personal computers were in an exciting infancy. The Apple II, Commodore 64, TRS-80, and more made for a diverse digital landscape in which to explore, create — and hack. We didn't know what "security" meant other than simple passwords, and the necessity of direct connections in that pre-Internet era exposed many vulnerable machines.

A quarter-century later, networking and security have evolved barely beyond recognition of those early days. But this July 24th, you can journey back to a simpler time with the 25th anniversary of a seminal geek classic:

According to the Web site for the WarGames 25th anniversary event (which also gives a film synopsis — for all three of you who haven't seen WarGames yet), "The event will include never-before-seen interviews with cast and crew on how the movie was ahead of its time and its relevance today." Just as when Star Trek: TOS returned to theaters this past November, WarGames is a one-night, one-time-only engagement — one that happens to coincide with KansasFest, the only remaining Apple II convention. So I'll be seeing this film with folk who actually remember the days of the acoustic coupler and won't need to go far to research how accurate this film is!

But every silver lining has its cloud: this celebration will include a preview of the sequel, coming to DVD a week later.

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