Alex DeLarge's comments (member since Oct 19, 2008)

Alex DeLarge's comments from the Science Fiction Films group.

Beware the SPOILERS...but the film can be left to your own imagination: you may not agree with my subjective interpretation:) But that's why discussing films in a friendly atmosphere is so much fun. MOON is highly recommended and will most likely make my end of year list.

MOON (Duncan Jones, 2009, UK) Sam is a broken Bell, a hollow creation whose harmonics begin to sound the lonely chimes of madness. His only companion is a HAL-like computer named GERTY, a gently reassuring voice amid the echoing corridors of isolation: a machine imbued with empathy and a sublime human concern for Sam but seems idly withdrawn at times, as if some secret microchip lurks under its scared surface, a fatal virus that infests its circuitry. Director Duncan Jones creates an ethereal atmosphere that mirrors the cold technicality of the Jupiter One while advancing a mystery as strange as the haunting of Solaris. The set designs are reminiscent of the Nostromo and Valley Forge: even Sam Bell (one of them, at least) is an echo of the shaggy Freeman Lowell in the Douglas Trumball classic, nurturing his plants as if they were children. The film is ripe with homage to these serious science fiction dramas but retains a life (or lives) of its own: this is obviously a labor of love for Jones, his desire to break the bondage of the modern day “sci-fi” genre which has devolved into vapid action spectacle. MOON is a cold introspection into the barren landscape of the human psyche, its malleable content like the soft lunar dust. The narrative seems unfinished like the mind of a newborn, birthed into its brief life. Jones only allows a subjective viewpoint as Sam begins to unwind, his three year contract almost expired, and explicit explanations are visualized but never grounded in solid fact: we could be experiencing the final madness of brain trauma. GERTY seems to be the clue that Sam’s psychosis isn’t fiction but the acceptance of a harsh reality: he is one of many clones who is designed to oversee the factory, his few memories newly implanted with a life expectancy of three years. He must soon confront himself, the most formidable adversary, and the slow realization that they may share the exact DNA still doesn’t make them anything less than distinct individuals. Sam Rockwell’s excellent performance is a one-man tour de force, allowing each character to become slightly different, to grow into a new person. The only distraction is use of sound effects on the Moon’s surface as the machines harvest the Helium-3: it’s a mistake that should not have been overlooked. Finally, Sam is able to make live contact with Earth and learns a terrible truth about his family, and makes a last sacrifice for the stranger who shares his likeness. (B+)

It's very disco-ish, a style of the era, and seen reflected in the mirrored ball in has a certain charm, kinda like XANADU without roller skates. I'm sure the novel was much more interesting but the actors really play it straight and the set designs are very detailed in those days before cheap CGI. Like KD said, the concept far outweighs the film itself...but a (C) is a fair grade and worth checking out for the completist scince fiction fan. I wish I still had my trading cards though:)

It makes the viewer feel like one of the "unfinished creations"..so to speak. I'm working an a review for Bresson's MOUCHETTE and hope to finish both tomorrow afternoon:)

Farrah was in the movie but only briefly. I just don't remember if she was in the TV show but I watched it religiously when I was a kid. I'm not sure it's ever been released on DVD. With the remake in the works, it's now only a matter of time.

I just watched MOON last night and agree it seems somewhat unfinished...but I think it works to the story's advantage. I really liked its minimilism but I'll write a full review this weekend.

I appreciated it most this time, my third overall viewing. I watched it 2+ years ago and it left me cold, I think because I had just read the novel (came with the Criterion DVD) and was mentally comparing the two. This time, I just focused upon the elements of Roeg's narrative and visual style. Of course, Bowie is always cool and I keep singing Starman and Space Oddity...

I just recieved his son's film MOON (thankfully he changed his name from Zowie Bowie to Duncan Jones...) and plan on watching this weekend. Review coming soon:)

Looks and sounds great on blu-ray! If you can get by the cheesy spfx I think there is an interesting subtext about the excess of the disco era that proliferates the story. Not a great film by any means but holds a special place in my heart: I saw it opening weekend back in 76 or 77 (sometimes a film was made one year but released the following...and my memory lacks the specific year. But it was a Wednesday afternoon matinee for a buck, when movies were fun and exciting. And inexpensive to see).

LOGAN'S RUN (Michael Anderson, 1976, USA) Logan 5 is a Sandman, the bringer of eternal sleep who dares perchance to dream otherwise, to wonder what dreams may come. Director Michael Anderson’s allegorical drama is built upon the William F. Nolan novel but becomes a fable of the disco era, dated with obtuse visual references and cues to the addled drug and sex addicted culture of the mid-seventies where life expectancy was barely thirty. The detailed set and costume designs are meant to be futuristic but seem straight out of Studio 54: but fashion always recycles itself and possibly a distant generation will embrace the vapid excess of this self-destructive subculture. Logan 5 is assigned to find a mystic place called Sanctuary and destroy it, and the tyrannical computer removes the final years from his life-clock in order to carry out the mission. He journeys with Jessica 6 and together they escape the domed city, hunted by his best friend whose zealous loyalty to the State subsumes his freethinking potential. Anderson makes the mistake of opening the film with a tracking shot over fertile forests to the interior of the city, already revealing to the viewer that a habitable outside world exists: a fact that remains unthought-of to the populace. It would have created narrative tension if this remained a mystery to the audience as we rushed from mortal danger into the great unknown. But Logan 5 soon abandons his mission and wants to live, to experience life because he finally understands that renewal by Carousel is a lie: that his whole belief system is an illusion and the dome a charnel house for those who turn thirty. The life of comfort and depravity is grand until it’s expiration date…but mankind’s survival instinct has not been totally quelled. Peter Ustinov’s grand soliloquy of T. S. Elliot musings is endearing and amusing, an aging lonely man whose only company is a democracy of cats. Matte painting of Washington DC engulfed by nature, the stony visage of Lincoln peering forever into the void or the Washington Monument like an exclamation point to the end of an era are riveting. But most of the SPFX are a bit cheesy and dated, Box the maniacal android looks to be made of his namesake. Jerry Goldsmith’s score is full of lush strings and bombast, punctuated by strange electronic computer sounds to achieve some futuristic tonal vibrancy. The protagonists realize that Sanctuary is in the heart and only destruction can be a form of a new creation. (C)

This is the film that Phil Dick wrote about in his novel VALIS, with Horselover Fat and friends becoming obssesed with the symbology: though the details differ, the fictional film in the novel was retitiled VALIS. And Mother Goose is David Bowie. Confused yet?

THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (Nicolas Roeg, 1976, UK) Newton falls like the proverbial apple; a tree of knowledge offering a poisonous gift whose adverse reaction ensnares him in the garden of Earthly delights. Director Nicolas Roeg eschews science fiction formula and creates an art house film with a complex narrative, utilizing very few establishing shots to delineate time and place while disgorging surreal montage that create a lonely dreamlike atmosphere. He crosscuts between Newton and Dr. Bryce, a teacher whose sexual appetite devours his life, which foreshadows Newton’s downfall and betrayal. Roeg, a master cinematographer himself, again teams up with Anthony Richmond (DON’T LOOK NOW) and together they capture the isolation and separation, both physiological and spiritually, of a stranger in a strange land, whose plan to save his world goes askew: homo superior dominated by the brute force of a government who tastes of the apple…but must destroy its seed. David Bowie is expertly cast as the phlegmatic alien, his disparate eyes and copper hair adjoined with his gently chiseled visage and contrasted with his firm resolution. The mysterious Thomas Newton hides behind his nomenclature and corporate assets; his true self eventually unmasked by the woman he loves and the man he trusts. The opening scenes reveal shadow men that relentlessly stalk Newton, and this ambiguous conspiracy is eventually actualized without exposition: we must fit together the broken pieces and independently glean some internal consistency. Time seems subjective to Newton, as he never ages while the world passes quickly, his mistress and cohorts growing into old age while he remains the young American. He soon capitulates to the vices and bodily desires of his earthly bondage, a weapon that his captors use to control and conquer. Prodded, injected with drugs, experimented upon and abused in captivity, his usefulness expires and he outlives the warders, walking once again into anonymity. His home world dying, he uses his remaining fortune to record a hymn to his family with the hope that the radio transmission will be received and understood: a hopeless goodbye, like Major Tom’s desperate plea. (B)

The only good thing about this film is that Universal released Robert Wise's original in high definition...and did an outstanding remaster! To hear Bernard Herrmann's double theramin score in lossless audio is pure delight:)

I was wondering the same thing Amy. I just couldn't bring myself to watch it and am still busy working my way through the original series. Again.

The TV series begins in a few days and the commercial looks awful...

I just watched ARRIVAl last night from the ITV import Blu-ray set: filmed in 35mm, the remastered episodes look like film...not old TV shows! The bright colors just pop from the screen and really submerges the viewer into the absurdity of The Village. For the first time, I noticed the use of shadows and reflective colors to imbue emotion upon our nameless protogonist. Also, the quick cut editing as 6 often turns away from the camera is disorienting and chaotic, and he is filmed lost amid large scenarios and arched alleyways, like a tiny speck whose humanity has become insignificant. Great stuff!
Thanks KD, I'll have to track down Disch's novelization.

That's very freakin' cool brother! I've always liked Mr. Bungle and laughed when fans of Faith No More tried to return the cds to my store shrieking, "What the hell is this stuff!"

Thanks Rob!

But shouldn't an actor's career then be resurrected?

Could be, with the remake being released soon. Check it out Rob and hope you like it! I would recommend renting though because cable will probably edit for time constraints and each episode is carefully constructed.
Didn't know IRON MAIDEN wrote a song about the show; I'll have to track it down.

I think you will appreciate THE PRISONER even more in your 40s! (I'm part of that club also). The series is idea oriented as opposed to the "soap opera" contrivance that taints almost every modern TV show.

My blu-ray set has shipped from the UK and should have it in a few days. I can't wait!!

Damn...goes off my list entirely.

I saw that Timur Bekmambetov was one of the producers and I liked his NIGHT/DAY WATCH films (and just finished the quadrilogy of novels) so had some expectation that this would be decent. I trust your insight brother and will put this very low on my priority list when released on DVD.

Thanks for the link Tom! Well, I'm depressed after watching it but at least they kept the Rover.