Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. No spoilers It
wasn't quite as good as all the others, but fans will love it anyway.
It's hard not to with such solid characters. There were some serious
continuity issues and the two new "leading characters" whose lives the
pirates' affected weren't as appealing as the others, but it's hard to
keep striking gold in any long movie series. It was still a great time
and very funny with outrageous adventure, a wide selection of the
lovable supporting characters along for the ride, beautiful sfx, and an
effort to bring the series to a definite ending which was a little
bittersweet this time. The Salazar character is intriguing... all the
antagonists of the Pirates universe always have to be pretty absorbing
to offset the character of Jack and this one was up to the task as well.
It seems to have been made with the understanding that the audience has
seen at least the first three, so if you've never seen any of them, you
probably shouldn't see this one first. The 3D in the theater was better
with this one than with Rogue One. Totally worth it. I liked it very
much.
I loved Data's Day. This is one of my personal favorites.
The writers wanted to create a ship board wedding and even considered making Picard permanently married, but instead they went with a secondary character - O'Brien. Keiko was originally intended to replace Wesley at Ops, but this worked out so much better since the fans' approval of Keiko wasn't typically off the charts. And I've remarked before that this is actually the perfect way to portray the different scenes of a regular family living aboard the Enterprise. They could begin at the wedding of the couple, and proceed to other domestic sub plots later on without taking away from any of the main characters who had to carry the main sci-fi story lines of the show. All of this episode is seen through the eyes of Data. The set up is that he still keeps in communication with Bruce Maddox, the man who petitioned to have him declared Starfleet property in Measure of a Man in the second season. Maddox still studies Dr. Soong's work and Data is helping him to understand what a typical day for him involves with a special emphasis on friendships and maintaining them and how he has made programs to interact within these friendships as a person with no way of emotionally connecting with anyone. A personal log that Data is recording for Dr. Maddox provides a running narrative throughout. The whole episode is just a great idea. It's the first time a "night watch" is referred to and we get to see the regular mundane reporting involved in a shift change. Riker arrives to his shift a little early to give Data time to get ready for the wedding since he is to be a part of it giving Keiko away.
And the first thing that happens to poor Data is that Keiko, having cold feet, persuades him to become a go-between to tell Miles that she's not going to go through with the wedding. This is a mostly comic episode because Data naturally has no reason to think that O'Brien will be angry since Keiko explains that he probably feels the same way. At any rate O'Brien is very angry and Data is very confused and Geordi wisely advises him not to be a message runner anymore. The log entry to Maddox also serves as a way of hashing out why people behave the way they do and how they rationalize their sometimes convoluted thought processes when they're nervous or upset.
But it's not all fun and games. The subplot is one of business. They welcome a Vulcan ambassador T'Pel on board and she's very unfriendly, which is not uncommon to Vulcans. Her personality is more for Data to remark on as he tries to convey his attention to detail throughout the day. They're transporting her on a mission to meet with Romulans in the Neutral Zone, so tensions are high.
Data carries on with his preparations for the wedding and the comedy continues. He picks out gifts with Worf who is always laughably uncomfortable in such matters. He then goes to Dr. Crusher to learn how to dance. He doesn't tell her why at first so she teaches him tap and jazz steps. It's always fun to see them creatively and subtly work an actor's natural talents into the show. McFadden is an accomplished dancer. They used a double for Spiner, but she's doing her own moves in this scene which is fun and hilarious. Once she realizes that Data needs to learn how to have a father-daughter type of dance with the bride she has to start over again. It's one of the best parts of this episode.
Data observes and interacts with other characters as well to continue in his quest to understand the machinations of human friendships and relationships. This is one of those episodes that's hard to describe with words. You get more out of it from seeing it yourself.
It's also the first episode for Data's cat, Spot. He's not an orange tabby in the first episode. Even though this was intended as a joke on Spiner, who supposedly hates cats, it's actually a pretty brilliant little detail in the life of this character, matching an emotionless character to what most people consider to be an aloof, emotionless animal for a pet. Things then progress with the Ambassador. Data must analyze the probability of things going amiss in the Neutral Zone and she refuses an escort. She then corners Data alone and begins asking him curious questions about the ship's deflector shields that he has clearance to answer, however he informs her that he must report her questions to the Captain. She changes her inquisition to a fairly unconvincing explanation that she was testing him to see how secure the ship was. That is, it's unconvincing to the audience, but serves to display Data's instincts or lack thereof. He often mentions in the running narrative that he thinks he would have cause to be nervous about the whole situation if he was capable of having that emotion.
They then meet up with a Romulan admiral named Mendak who Ambassador T'Pel is supposed to be meeting with. She agrees to transport to his ship alone against Picard's advise and then the transporter malfunctions and she's killed. Mendak reacts as expected, being suspicious that the Federation arranged the whole thing for their gain and then suggests that they both retreat from the Neutral Zone before things escalate. Expected, although this isn't as aggressive of a threat as Romulans usually employ. An investigation is ordered and Data includes his admiration of the investigatory styles of Sherlock Holmes in his log entry.
They discover that the transporter malfunction was used to cover up the fact that the transport actually took place. Assuming that this was a kidnapping, Picard hurries back to confront Admiral Mendak only to find out that T'Pel was actually a Romulan spy who had duped them into returning her to Romulan space. They're out numbered and there's absolutely nothing they can do short of starting a war, so they leave defeated. It seems sort of weak, but since it was just the subplot, it's easily overlooked.
The wedding proceeds as planned. Captains can't actually marry people on board ships, but it's a fantasy we all enjoy, so no complaints for technicalities. It's a wonderful scene. They bring out the dress uniforms and Keiko wears an ethnically traditional gown. And it comes full circle with Data beginning another night watch. Like I said, there's more to see for yourself than there is for me to write about, but it's one of the best episodes and one I would pick to show somebody if I was trying to sell them on watching Star Trek. Four and a half stars.
The Loss. This episode has some mixed reviews. I always liked it because I have a layman interest in psychology. But it was hard to make a "Troi" episode because although telepathy is cool, it has limited story possibilities.
It starts with Deanna doing what we unfortunately almost never see her doing - her job. She's counseling an ensign over the death of her husband. I think they do a good job of creating psychological profiles. The woman is strong and independent and straining to overachieve in order to get past the death of her husband. But Troi knows that she's still in the denial phase and that she needs to grieve. As a practicing therapist, she'd know that anyway, but her empathic abilities presumably are helping her with how she handles the timing of easing her into a necessary meltdown to get the process moving. Meanwhile on the bridge we get an almost comical contrast of Worf and Data picking up blips in the sensors that keep appearing and disappearing like ghosts.
The Enterpise suddenly loses control and begins to move along on its own at a steady pace. To me this moment lets us see that Sirtis is actually a pretty good actress. Not just because she has to act like she's in pain, but when she looks spooked by the fact that she can't sense the ensign anymore as they're parting. It was nice chance for her to stretch her acting legs. People all over the ship report headaches and Troi calls for Crusher too, but she's being pulled in many different directions and can't get to her immediately.
She is awake and feeling a little better, but foggy when Beverly does get there. But the bridge crew can't break away from the invisible force that's pulling the Enterprise along so a staff meeting is called and that's when Troi comes to the terrifying conclusion that she can't sense the presence outside or any presence anywhere. She's lost her empathic abilities.
Now she's the one in denial at first. She rejects the notion that her abilities may have been permanently affected and that she should start seeing a therapist for this pending disability. And there was actually talk of making her loss of empathic powers permanent, but I'm glad they didn't. This episode made a better one time showcasing of becoming disabled and the process of accepting it that goes hand in hand with the grieving process. Troi becomes defensive and self conscious, pushing everyone away when they try to comfort her. And also tries to resign. Picard reluctantly accommodates her. It's true that they don't need her to tell them about the strange phenomenon they are caught up in. They've already figured out that it's a two dimensional being and that it's movements indicate that it's alive. And it doesn't help that she has another encounter with the Ensign from the opening scene who is convinced that she's over her grief after one night of crying and tells Troi she's wrong when she says that this seems unlikely.
But it's Guinan who brings up the point that I think more people should have - that her job isn't mind probing strange aliens. She's the ship's psychologist. And we see the "showdown" that I'd been wanting to see since the introduction of Guinan... I remember wondering what the point was of a bar tender that listened and advised as a counselor would when there's already a main character that's a counselor. So Guinan teases Troi and tells her that she's going to apply for her job. At first she's taken in, but then quickly realizes the approach Guinan is taking which only proves Guinan's point that she's still capable of doing her real job. But she's stubborn and continues to indulge in her self pity over the loss. She lashes out at more people. It was fun to see such a different attitude from the calm and dignified Troi. But I never quite understood the scene with Riker where he appears to be very insensitive to her plight, calling her aristocratic. Was he trying to spur her on out of her depression with a little forcefulness or did he really mean it? Or both? It was interesting.
However, trouble is brewing now because the two dimensional being is taking the Enterprise towards a cosmic string which would rip them apart with the force of several black holes. So Picard orders Troi to work with Data of all people to theorize on a behavior pattern. Her confidence is given a boost when the widowed ensign comes to Troi again as she's packing her belongings and tells her that she's really is still a mess and that one night didn't make it all better, but she still isn't sure of how to contribute to the project. I've always been surprised they never tried a Data/Troi romantic pairing... pairing the android with no emotions with the counselor who represents emotions. Anyway, I love this scene because it's Data's cold logic that helps Troi to understand what might be motivating the being. I myself am a thinker who feels drained quickly with my emotional drive, so this kind of validates to me the need for reason over feelings even when the feelings are overwhelming.
They go on the hypothesis that the being is motivates solely by instinct and is unaware that its endangering the Enterprise. So, Geordi thinks that it can be tricked if they mimic a cosmic string that appears closer and in a different direction so the ship can try to break away from it's pull when it shifts it's trajectory. It's fun science fiction. And as the being breaks away and then resumes its course to the real cosmic string with the Enterprise safely behind, Troi feels another wave of dizziness and her empathic powers return. Not only that but the theory that she and Data came up with proved to be correct in a way. The being wasn't only drawn to the string like a moth to a flame, but it was happy to be going there as well. I think it's a great ending.
I'll go with three and a half stars because Troi's instances of freaking out throughout the episode did border on annoying although it's completely valid from a psychological viewpoint. I still like this episode very much but I just wouldn't put it at four star caliber as far as content goes since a lot of time had to be devoted to Troi's meltdowns in order to get the points across and therefore ended up being mostly the same from scene to scene.
Okay... last of my Christmas books. I saved for the end cuz I knew I'd love it. The prequel to the most popular fantasy series of all time, The Silmarillion is a tragedy. The Hobbit and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy are a slow build to a happy end, rising to a glorious climax. The Silmarillion is, for the most part, the descent into the dark circumstances from which the famed heroes arose. A literal falling from grace. But it was well executed and clears up a lot of foggy areas, providing much needed background for the next books of the set.
It also contains four other chapters that are decidedly separate from the story of the Silmarillion. The two in front deal with the creation of this world and the gods that rule it, the Valar, along with the enemies. The Silmarillion itself is the introduction of the elves and their fall from grace which is entwined with the forging of the three jewels, the Silmarils, the war for their possession, and the consequent exile of the elves from Valinor, the "paradise" of Middle Earth. The tale of the War of the Jewels has a relatively happy ending in that the primary adversary is overthrown, but the elves' peaceful fate is forever tainted with the sadness of Valinor being blocked off to them and more troubles for those who choose to remain settled eastward in Middle Earth. It then ends with two chapters that sum up the second age which is the age of the Númenorian Kings. It briefly goes over the rise of Sauon, who was there from the very beginning under Melkor/Morgoth, the fall of the kings from faith and honor and their futile attepmted war with the Valar which wipes out most of them and results in an even more tragic fate than that of the elves even though Sauron is temporarily defeated. It then goes on to clarify the forging of the Rings of Power, the One Ring, and a summary of the events of the Hobbit and LOTR series, tying everything together neatly.
I've already complained about how unnecessarily complicated Tolkien's Middle Earth is with an army of names, dates, and places, but the Silmarillion helps to make sense of it all, if you love it anyway, like me. This book is condensed and the writing less complex compared to the others. It's more like a series of vignettes and there's less poetry in it. It has to be read with a little patience since it's also structured like the Bible - it backs up in the timeline to carry on with more specific stories or details. But there's so much to love. The stories of battle and romance are equal to the valiant heroism that takes place in the later series. I love to see the similarities between Tolkien's and Lewis' world creation methods comparing this to Narnia... you can see they were close friends. You really can't find raw, original creativity like this anymore and the Middle Earth sagas are a thing of beauty.
In
response to a top 5 movie picks, I have a top ten because I'm way more
indecisive. So I pulled some from a variety of genres. They're in no particular
order (that's asking too much) and they're probably not what most people would
expect.
1.
The Sting (1973) This is one of the greatest movies ever made and I swear,
sometimes I think I'm the only person in the world that's seen it, apart from
family. It is a brain tickler
and once is never enough. It has Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid beat all to pieces. It's about con men conning other con men and it's brilliant. Not much smart writing like this goes on anymore.
2.
My Fair Lady (1964) My list wouldn't be complete without at least one musical. I was
raised on them. It's always a three way draw between this, The Music Man, and
The King and I, but this one is my favorite, I think. It's often compared to Gigi, but I think that's an erroneous comparison. It's true that they have the same base story of transformation from girl to woman, but Gigi was about a girl who was being groomed by her meddling aunts to be the mistress of a wealthy playboy. A relationship that they knew could end badly for her as intrigued as they were by the other scandals that seemed so funny as long as it wasn't their girl. Luckily instead of living as a kept woman, Gaston falls in love with Gigi and they marry. In My Fair Lady Eliza sets out to improve her situation on her own and subjects herself to Henry Higgins' whims to that end. The audience can see that the characters fall in love, but it's never officially declared... do they continue their cat and mouse game indefinitely? or does Eliza eventually leave Higgins for another Freddy-like character who can offer her stability? One may never know.
3.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) See.. Another musical.. It was what I was raised on. Big movie of my childhood and I
have a total thing for Gene Wilder. Favorite movies are movies that capture
your heart. It was also a unique way of teaching life lessons that seemed to be glossed over nowadays.
4.
Sense and Sensibility (1995) This one surprises even me. I had it on as
background noise and fell for it as hard as Marianne falls for Willoughby. It's
gently worked on my girlie side. It's also one of the few movies that I like more than the book. The characters had more depth because in the book every character had a sibling who was their opposite in nature, so there wasn't an opportunity to delve into detail. Also, I love the way the relationship between Marianne and Colonel Brandon is handled in the movie. In the book it seemed like she was settling for second best and in the movie she was more grateful to have a love that she perhaps thought she didn't deserve after her previous behavior.
5.
Return of the Jedi (1983) Hard to pick a favorite, but there's nothing like a
happy ending and I have no complaints about the changes Lucas made to the
updated version to make the prequels blend in either. I've written extensively on Star Wars stuff, so I'll not drone on. This is still the best one.
6.
Tombstone (1993) I think of a western to be in my picks and this is it. It
could've been High Plaines Drifter; it could've been Open Range. But this one
hooks me and stays with me. The makeup was unbelievable - everyone is a dead ringer for the parts they're playing. The cast was perfect from top to bottom. Not a moment was wasted. It is sheer perfection for a western movie.
7.
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) Still one of the funniest movies of all time. It's
so smart and so fast and so crazy and I love it so much. It's actually always a toss up of this one or Bringing Up Baby with Grant and Hepburn, but the dark and outrageous humor of this one is so crazy. If you've never seen it, you must.
8.
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982) Star Trek was designed for the small
screen, not the big screen, so the movies have always been kind of
hit-and-miss. This is the best one. Once again I'll have to talk about how it took chances that weren't common at the time (killing off a main
character), the influence of this movie was still being felt in TNG series and
I'm not so sure the franchise would've blossomed without it.
10.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) It's perfect too. It was the original concept for the first movie, that is a Terminator sent to protect Sarah Conner from another Terminator, but the special effects hadn't caught up to the idea. And even though special
effects have evolved by leaps and bounds since then, there's a simplicity that
can't be recaptured with this movie.
Honorable Mentions:
In animation, I don't choose Disney, but Watership Down. It's not a
kids movie and probably explains some of the reasons why I'm so weird, but it
was a big part of childhood too. And it's one of the best film adaptations of a book ever. It's very close in substance and spirit to the book. I'll always love it.
Young
Frankenstein: I love intelligent comedies and I'm always complaining that they
don't win enough awards and then I find myself leaving them off this list, but
it's not complete without it. Did I mention I have a total thing for Gene Wilder?
Superman
II - not just cuz I like Christoper Reeve's Superman, but there's no better
Luthor than Hackman and Terrence Stamp's Zod is epic. I can't understand why
anyone wouldn't like this movie.
Finally,
Men in Black... "Hidden world" that takes place in modern times. It represented originality to me as Hollywood began to spiral
into remake after reboot.
There are many others like The Fugitive and Open Range but these are the ones that stand out when I think of "favorites." If you're wondering why I didn't include
things like LOTR or Narnia... sorry! They were greatly done, but I feel a
certain loyalties to the books first. And that's my list.
