I make no secret of the fact that I loathe superhero movies. Christopher Reeve’s Superman was fun. Tim Burton’s two Batmans were typically and deliciously offbeat. Christopher Nolan’s Batmans were well done too. The occasional superhero movie was fun escapist cinema that I could enjoy along with everyone else.
But somewhere along the way, I got burned out by the endless stream of superhero movies. I haven’t even seen Nolan’s third Batman. It matters not to me how great the movie might be, I’m sick of the endless barrage! Continue reading Jessica Jones Broke Up With Me
In the third and final installment of my Star Trek movie-themed articles, we’ll explore that bugaboo of 21st century Hollywood as it applies to Star Trek: the reboot.
This is a continuation of my article “To Boldy Film What No Man Has Filmed Before,” which covered the first six Star Trek movies starring the original cast. Those films ended an era that will never return, but Star Trek itself lives on with a new generation and a new crew that has become as beloved as the original.
Once upon a time a little TV show came and went within three seasons, and that was the end of that. It was on its death bed after two seasons, but the passionate fandom put it on life support for one more season. Life support it was, as it gasped through the whole third season with mostly inferior episodes. A cartoon version came and went, and Star Trek sunk into the same oblivion as other long-ago popular science fiction series like Flash Gordon.
Way back in 1953—one year before I was born (oh my that’s a long time ago!)—this handsome young pair of fellows met in a school in Queens, New York. Paul Simon noticed Art Garfunkel when he sang in a talent show—in fourth grade. They got together and discovered they could make beautiful music together, so they joined and formed a duo called…Tom & Jerry.
His name is Aaron Johnston. A month ago I was blissfully ignorant of his existence. Then I decided to read the Ender’s Game prequels. These were cowritten by Orson Scott Card and this guy. I was curious because I’d read all the Ender’s Game books up to Children of the Mind and Ender’s Shadow, and because I was curious how much of a collaboration it was or if it was mostly Johnston with Card adding his towering name to it for marketing purposes.
Let’s face it, most regular people aren’t that into classical music. My condolences to them. They don’t know what they’re missing. There’s a reason that classical music is classic and stood the test of time.
It’s one of life’s dilemmas to decide whether it’s better to read the book before seeing the movie or vice versa. Long ago I settled that question to my satisfaction.