7 Days in May | Valerian, Underworld, and Hidden Figures

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)



I was a little nervous about Valerian. The trailers looked fantastic and I like the two leads quite a bit, but I'm never sure what I'm going to get from Luc Besson. That's especially true when he's only producing, but he also directed Lucy and I hated that movie. I was getting a similar vibe about Valerian that I did about Jupiter Ascending, another attempt at a bold space opera by unpredictable (in the sense that I can't predict whether I'm going to like any given film of theirs) filmmakers. I enjoy Jupiter Ascending, but it wasn't as cool or cohesive as I'd hoped it would be. And I was concerned that I'd feel the same way about Valerian.

I didn't love Valerian, but I like it quite a bit and it works a lot better than Jupiter Ascending. People seem to be divided on Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne as the leads, but I love both those guys. DeHaan was an effective Harry Osborne in Amazing Spider-Man 2 and I'm a huge fan of The Cure for Wellness that also had him in it. I hear the complaints that he's channeling '90s Keanu Reeves and I'm not going to say that it's not true. What I do push back on is that this is a bad thing for a big, fun adventure movie. I'm not as familiar with Delevingne's work, but she brings a lot of personality to Laureline and totally works for me as the soul of this movie.

I agree with the criticism that there isn't a lot of romantic heat between the two leads. That's the film's biggest weakness. There's a big chunk of backstory missing in which Valerian has supposedly turned from a Bond-level womanizer to being ready to settle down in a committed relationship with his current work partner. The movie tells me that this is true and eventually convinces me that Valerian at least believes it to be true, but I never see it or feel it myself. And since I don't quite believe it, I wonder why Laureline does. That's the only thing that keeps me from full-heartedly loving the film, though. The rest is awesome.

It's gorgeous and every scene change brings new ideas and things I've never seen before. It may be the only time that I've ever watched a movie in 2D (always my preference) and thought that I should go back and watch it again in 3D. I want to immerse myself in the world even more.

The movie is also funny and exciting and I love how it's about overcoming fear and selfishness with love and compassion. As I watch it more, I expect that my problems with the central romance will become less important. I may not care whether Valerian and Laureline smooch, but I'm fully on board with their work relationship. They make a great team and I want more.

Underworld: Blood Wars (2017)



I'm a big fan of the Underworld series. Kate Beckinsale is one of my favorite actors anyway, but a big, action-packed soap opera set against a centuries-long war between vampires and werewolves is also totally my bag. One of the problems that the series keeps running into though is major characters played by actors who decide not to return for their roles. The movies have been very creative about working around this (never just killing off these characters, but using them as MacGuffins to build whole movies around), but at some point, the story and I have to face the fact that we're never going to see these characters again. And that's disappointing.

But one thing the series does well is anchoring itself in Beckinsale's Selene. The other characters can come and go, regardless of how important they are, because the story's honest about how their coming and going affects Selene. That's especially true in Blood Wars.

It's easily the weakest entry in the series so far. We've seen all of these politics multiple times before and there are big questions that feel like they should be answered in this film, but aren't. The movie introduces a new group of vampires to the world, though, and they're really cool. And I just generally like spending time with Selene in this world. It's not a great film, but it's good enough for fans.

Hidden Figures (2016)



Trying to get caught up on some movies we missed from the beginning of the year. Hidden Figures is as powerful as everyone says. Simultaneously uplifting and frustrating in exactly the ways that it's trying to be.

What's cool though is that it's also frustrating in some surprising ways. In addition to stories of casual, systemic racism (which are always more powerful to me than the overt, aggressive kind), the movie makes a rather depressing statement about what spurs the white characters towards progress. Since NASA is literally about reaching for the stars and making scientific progress, I guess I expected the movie to depict social progress as some kind of natural result of that.

That's very much not the case though and the film spends quite a bit of time reminding us that the '60s space race was a product of the Cold War. Whatever justice the main characters experience by the end isn't a product of compassion, but fear. It takes the common enemy of the Soviets to motivate the establishment and help it see the value of its non-white allies. Progress is made and that's why Hidden Figures is an encouraging story, but I like that the movie complicates, rather than romanticizes what sparks that change.

One Crazy Summer (1986)



Continuing to introduce David to '80s John Cusack. This one's from the same director as Better Off Dead and it has Demi Moore and Bobcat Goldthwait. It's more even than Better Off Dead and funnier too, in general. I love Better Off Dead, but there are parts that bore me or make me groan. Much less of that in One Crazy Summer and the Godzilla gag - which takes its time to build and then pays off spectacularly - is awesome and hilarious.

Out of Bounds (1986)



I didn't care for this that much in the '80s, but the soundtrack was on regular rotation in my boom box and I wanted to revisit it as long as we're watching a lot of Brat Pack movies.

It's still not so great. Anthony Michael Hall is trying really hard to leave behind his nerd image from Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. And he succeeds, but at the cost of any humor - or really, humanity - whatsoever. His character Daryl Cage is a deadpanned cipher and it's impossible to like or care about him.

The movie is almost saved by Jenny Wright (Near Dark, Young Guns II) as Dizz. She's a lot of fun, but it's impossible to see why she sticks with Daryl for more than a few seconds. I was invested in seeing her make it through the movie, though.

And the soundtrack is still pretty awesome. Siouxsie and the Banshees actually appear in the movie singing "Cities in Dust" and I think that Out of Bounds was probably my introduction to them. Likewise The Cult, who's "Electric Ocean" gets played. There's some Smiths and Belinda Carlisle in there, too, and Stewart Copeland and Adam Ant team up for the title song. Copeland also does the score and if you like his stuff on the Equalizer TV series, you'll love this.

Managed Money (1934)



Sometime last year I found a DVD of Shirley Temple movies that we picked up somewhere. I started working my way through it and totally saw why the country was so charmed by her. She was cute and precocious and just generally pretty awesome.

A few of the movies were in the series of shorts she did with fellow child actor Junior Coghlan (Billy Batson in the Adventures of Captain Marvel serial). Coghlan was the star of the films, playing a high school kid, and Temple was his little sister. I liked them. At only 20 minutes each, they reminded me of a family sitcom and were actually pretty funny.

Anyway, my DVD set only had three of the four shorts on it for some reason, but Amazon Prime has the last one, so I finally watched that this week. Coghlan and a pal are trying to prospect for gold so that they can afford tuition at a local military school. Temple stows away on the trip and hilarity ensures. It's minor fun, but it's still fun.

My Darling Clementine (1946)



I sort of watched this earlier this year, but needed to come back for a closer look. We covered Tombstone and Wyatt Earp on Hellbent for Letterbox, so I got curious about other versions of the same story. My Darling Clementine is a big one, because John Ford directed it and Henry Fonda plays Wyatt. But I was shocked by how little it has to do with actual events. It's a "highly fictionalized" account of the Tombstone story in the way that The Outlaw is of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett's. Which is to say that it's pretty much just taking the names and doing it's own thing with them. I wanted to watch it again without having the more historically interested films fresh in my mind; just so that I could appreciate it on its own merits.

It still bugs me that these unrecognizable characters have such recognizable names. And I don't really care about Wyatt's interest in Doc Holliday's (Victor Mature) ex-girlfriend Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs). Fonda is pretty dull as Wyatt, actually, and the script doesn't help by delaying his vengeance for an early tragedy way too long. But a couple of things make the movie worthwhile.

One is the gorgeous black-and-white photography by Joe MacDonald. Ford has moved Tombstone to the opposite end of Arizona to take advantage of Monument Valley and MacDonald shoots it wonderfully.

But the other cool thing about the film is Mature as Doc. It's really Doc's movie, down to the title. Wyatt falls in love with Clementine, but he's not the "my." That's Doc, who used to love Clementine before giving up his surgeon's practice (he's no dentist in this version), moving West, and becoming a wreck. Clementine represents all that he's given up while Linda Darnell's saloon gal represents what he's currently settling for. Mature gives a good performance and it's effective if not exactly heart-wrenching.

Overland Riders (1946)



After we covered Tarzan the Fearless for Greystoked, I got interested in seeing some more Buster Crabbe. Especially a Western. This was the first one I could get my hands on, and I'll probably skip watching any others. Crabbe is great in it; he's good-looking and charming and I loved every second that he was on screen. But good-looking, charming cowboys are easy to come by and Crabbe can't save the mediocre script about yet another land-grab by a ruthless rich dude who's just dumb enough to get caught in under an hour.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)



It's embarrassing that I've lived this long without seeing Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but that's finally corrected now. Not what I expected.

I keep seeing it on lists of Westerns, but it doesn't belong there. Even if you open the genre to include films like The Lusty Men and Hell or High Water that are set in modern times, those movies are at least interested in the same themes as traditional Westerns. Sierra Madre is doing something totally different, which is to its benefit.

I also hear it described as an adventure film, but that's misleading, too. It has one or two exciting scenes, but it's much more interested in the drama between the three leads as they (to varying degrees) become corrupted by the gold that they're pulling out of the ground. I expected way more shootouts and defending the claim and not nearly so much looking suspicious and talking to yourself.

Which brings me to Humphrey Bogart's character who I assumed would be the hero of film. Heh!

So it subverted my expectations for it in almost every way and I admit that I had to jog a little to keep up. But I did and I like it. In fact, part of the fun was figuring out just what kind of movie I was watching. It's a great script full of memorable, hugely dramatic moments and the actors are all up to making the most of them. Bogart's awesome and draws my attention every time I see him, but Walter Huston is a total scene-stealer and Tim Holt sticks in there and quietly holds his own, too.

Song of the Week: "Everything Now" by Arcade Fire

I was gonna throw on something from Out of Bounds, but I can't stop listening to this song. It's catchy as hell and I love the message.

My 20 Most Anticipated Movies of 2016

Just for fun, we'll do this backwards and count down towards Number 1. Only four of my 10 Most Anticipated 2015 Movies made it onto my Top 10 for the year, so let's see if I can predict greatness any better. This year, I'm including 20 films, just because there are a couple in the bottom 10 that I really wanted to mention.

20. X-Men: Apocalypse



Except for a brief thrill at seeing Bald James McAvoy, the trailer doesn't do it for me. Some of it is the smug way that Rose Byrne suggests that Apocalypse is the inspiration for world religions, but mostly it's the feeling that I've seen all this before. Still, I tend to enjoy these movies and I'm hoping that Oscar Isaac's immense charm shows through the layers of effects used on his character. I'm also excited to see how some of the new cast do, especially Tye Sheridan and Sophie Turner, but also Kodi Smit-McPhee.

19. Warcraft



Never played the game and I don't love the character designs, but I likes me a big fantasy movie and appreciate that the orcs have real personalities. My expectation are low, but I'm hoping to be surprised.

18. The Nice Guys



The red-band trailer promises more of the old ultra-violence than I'm ready for, but I love both these guys and it looks like an entertaining relationship.

17. The Jungle Book



I'm cynical about all of Disney's live-action remakes of old hits, but then I remember the late-90s/early-00s and all of those sad animated sequels from The Return of Jafar to Cinderella III. It could be worse. Besides, Disney's at least picking some excellent directors to head these up and I'm encouraged by Jon Favreau's involvement.

On the other hand, I can't help feeling like we've already been down this trail.

16. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows



I totally skipped the first Michael Bay TMNT movie and had no interest in the sequel until I saw the trailer. This thing is going all-in on stupid references to toys and the first cartoon series. I mean, Rocksteady, Bebop, and the van that shoots manhole covers? Hoping for a Krang reference, at least as set up for the third one. Might be a lot of fun.

15. Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur



I mentioned that I still love Guy Ritchie, right? As dumb an idea as a Round Table Cinematic Universe sounds, I'm ready for Ritchie's take on Camelot.

14. Kubo and the Two Strings



I always like Laika movies. I never go completely ga-ga for them, but they're consistently entertaining and this looks like a good one.

13. Ghostbusters



I really enjoyed the first Ghostbusters movie, but the sequel and cartoon killed any idea of it as a sacred object. I'm for a film-maker like Paul Feig - who has a spotless record as far as I'm concerned - taking this and doing whatever the heck he wants with it.

12. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back



Jack Reacher was a pleasant return to old school action movies with a likable, lone, mysterious hero solving a mystery and saving some people without the entire world having to be at stake. I like my epic superhero movies as much as the next person, but I'm also very into more of this.

11. Bourne 5



We're finding out the title this weekend during some sporting event, but they can call it Bourne Again for all I care. Damon's back and I'm excited.

10. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them



This is one where "anticipated" doesn't exactly equal "excited about." I'm skeptical about this endeavor, but also extremely curious and nervously hopeful.

9. Underworld 5



I love these movies. Huge fan of Beckinsale and the White Wolf role-playing games these are not based on, no sir, we promise you they are not.

8. The Legend of Tarzan



I'm still waiting for a movie that's at all faithful to the first novel, but this'll do in the meantime. Not a great fan of those pants, but everything else looks pretty good. And I need some live-action Tarzan in my life right now.

7. Captain America: Civil War



The Civil War comics made me hate Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr made me love him. Matter and anti-matter are about to collide. Maybe that's why I'm not more excited about this than I am. Still, it's the next, big, epic Marvel movie and I'm a fan of the series.

6. Doctor Strange



I mentioned in my movie rankings for 2015 that I like the epic Marvel movies better than the "smaller" ones that explore other genres. But then I go and decide that I'm more interested in Doctor Strange than Cap 3. That's a lot because of Cumberbatch, but I think it's also because I've always wanted to like Doctor Strange comics more than I have. There's a lot of potential for some cool, spooky, magic realism in that concept, but most of the comics I've read have tended toward trippy fantasy. I was probably reading the wrong ones, but I'm hoping that - like with Iron Man - the Marvel movies are able to give me the version of the character that I've been craving.

5. Jane Got a Gun



As I'm writing this, I'm planning to see Jane Got a Gun tonight. I'm a fan of Natalie Portman and an even bigger fan of Westerns. This is part of some other plans to watch more Westerns in general. More on that later.

4. Moana



A young woman and a demi-god played by the Rock search for a fabled South Seas island. Hollywood is getting my letters!

3. Hail, Caesar!



I'm always interested in the Coen Brothers, but the films that I most adore from them are the ones like Raising Arizona and O Brother, Where Art Thou? where humor is a major focus. It's been a while since we had one of those and I can't wait for this one.

2. Star Trek Beyond



Justin Lin rescued the Fast and the Furious series and I have complete faith that he can do the same for Star Trek. Not that Star Trek really needs rescuing. It just needs to recover from Into Darkness which was a horrible misstep, but not a complete disaster. Even that had its moments and the new series has some great DNA that worked super well in 2009. It just needs someone like Lin (a confessed Trek fan who just so happens knows how to make exciting movies) to help it take its next step.

1. Rogue One



I'm not as pumped about this as I was about Force Awakens, but I'm still pretty excited. I don't care as much about the filling in of continuity holes as I do about a diverse cast of rogues trying to avoid Imperials while pulling off a heist. Sounds totally fun and a I'm hoping it proves that there are many kinds of great stories that can be told in the Star Wars universe.

2015

5 Movies I Didn't Care For from 2014

35. I, Frankenstein



A lot of people give the Underworld movies a hard time, but I genuinely and unironically love them. So when I heard that the creators of that were taking on my favorite monster of all time, I didn't expect the bland, forgettable mess that it it was. My hope was that if it was bad it would at least fail spectacularly, but it doesn't take enough chances for that. It's not awful, it's just lukewarm, and that's the worse crime.

34. Transformers: Age of Extinction



I thought I'd given up on the Transformers movies after the second one and didn't see the third, but they pulled me back in with dinosaurs. And I admit that Pain and Gain softened some of my distaste for Michael Bay movies. Age of Extinction has all of Bay's usual flaws though and the dinosaurs don't even show up until the final act, so I think I can safely say that I'm out again. Unless Stanley Tucci comes back, because he's awesome and his character is awesome and I pretty much want a movie that's just about him. But please lets not have any Transformers or Michael Bay in it.

33. This Is Where I Leave You



I love these big family comedy-dramas with huge casts and my mouth was watering to watch one with Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, and Timothy Olyphant in it. It has its funny moments, but sadly the characters don't feel like real people. Instead, they're just problems in need of solutions and the only answers the movie has for them are trite and unconvincing.

32. The November Man



Though the Pierce Brosnan Bond films are my least-favorite run in that series, it's not because of Brosnan and I usually like him in other kinds of spy movies. But this isn't one of his better ones. It makes a brave choice in pitting Brosnan's older spy against his younger protege and not giving the audience an easy choice of whom to root for. Unfortunately, that approach backfires. Both men are seriously screwed up and both have moments of heroism, but they're balanced so well against each other that I gave up caring who would win. Instead, I focused on Olga Kurylenko. Which isn't a horrible option. She's not a main character and doesn't get enough screen time, but when she is there she's pretty great.

31. The Monuments Men



I wrote a pretty thorough post on my problems with The Monuments Men, but the short version is that while it has a great cast and characters I cared about, it asked me to take their mission more seriously than it did. I wanted either a fun heist movie or a film that would make me feel deeply about the importance of art, but by trying to be something in between, The Monuments Men is neither of those things.

10 Honorable Mention Films from 2012

20. The Five-Year Engagement



I lost patience toward the middle when it took some really stupid decision-making to prolong the engagement to five years, but even when it stretched credibility, the movie never stopped being funny or having Jason Segel in it. It wins points for both of those things.

19. John Carter



Nowhere near the mess that lots of people claim it was; just not as spectacular as it should have been for the talent involved. It's a fun, scifi escape with a couple of legitimately great moments; we just all hoped for so much more.

18. The Amazing Spider-Man



"Expectations" are a recurring theme on my honorable mentions list this year. I didn't have high ones for The Amazing Spider-Man and like most people, I questioned the fundamental existence of the project. It was made for purely cynical, We Have to Do This or Lose the License reasons.

But though it contains some highly unnecessary rehashing of the Sam Raimi material, it also found some new things to do with its tone and the central relationships. It's worthwhile for Peter and Gwen alone.

17. ParaNorman



I love the theme in ParaNorman about being your own person and not letting other people define you. Also: the animation is amazing. I wasn't totally in love with the character designs though, and since that's what I was looking at for most of the film, that's what keeps it out of my Top 10.

16. The Hunger Games



I'm disappointed that this isn't in my Top 10 for the year, either. I totally thought it would be, but during the second viewing I found myself getting bored. I kept myself entertained by focusing on Jennifer Lawrence's wonderful performance, which communicated very well the horror of Katniss' situation. Without her internal monologue though, it was hard to get what I wanted from her moral struggle over how to act in the arena.

Still looking forward to Catching Fire, but I'm more detachedly curious about it than wildly enthusiastic like I was for this one.

15. Underworld: Awakening



In a year that brought a disappointing entry in the Resident Evil movies, I'm thrilled that we got a worthy film in my other favorite horror/scifi adventure series starring a woman. Awakening pretty much punts and launches a Bold New Direction for Underworld, but it's a good direction with some likable, new characters and I enjoyed it very much.

14. 21 Jump Street



I want to say that this is so much better than a movie based on an all-but-forgotten TV show has the right to be, but even though that's true, it's not really fair to suggest that that's all 21 Jump Street has going for it. It's just a very funny movie, period. That it gets a small part of that humor from pointing out and making fun of its sordid roots is just frosting for the cake. I'd probably rate it higher if not for the skeevy romance between Jonah Hill's character and a high school student.

13. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted



Listen: After the horrible piece of derivative crap that Madagascar 2 was, I'm as surprised as anyone to find Madagascar 3 on this list. In fact, I didn't want to see it at all when it was announced. It wasn't until it got a 79% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes that I had to see what the heck was going on with this thing. To my surprise, it was hilarious and - more importantly - original. It also pretty much wrapped up the saga with a nice bow on top, so I don't expect to be interested in a Madagascar 4, but never say never.

12. Haywire



No, Gina Carano is not a great actress. And the plot of Haywire is nothing new. But the movie makes up for both of those things with heart and authenticity. I wrote a full review of it, so I'll point you there for more thoughts, but it really was one of my favorite movie experiences of the year.

11. Moonrise Kingdom



This was my first Wes Anderson film since Rushmore, which I never quite forgave for stealing Bill Murray away from movies like Groundhog Day and The Man Who Knew Too Little. Seeing Moonrise Kingdom makes me want to find out what I've been missing. It's a small movie, but a lovely one, and makes great use of its setting and awesome cast.

Underworld: Awakening (2012)

Though I've left out a lot of important details, there are minor spoilers for the first act or two of Underworld: Awakening in this post.

Well, I was right. Awakening takes place twelve years after the events of Underworld: Evolution, just enough time for Selene to have had a baby and for that baby to have grown into India Eisley. At least on paper. Eisley is 18, and though she can pass for younger than that, she can't pass for 12. That's just one of the problems with the Twelve Years Later timeline.

My biggest issue with it is that it reboots the world, derailing for a while the momentum of the story that Len Wiseman and Danny McBride were building in the first two movies. Not that there was a clear direction where the series should have gone after Evolution. That movie ended in a way that left the story possibilities wide open, so skipping ahead twelve years is as valid a choice as any. It's just that the world has changed so much between the two movies that it took me a while to catch up. And until I did, I felt like the film was cheating a little. Like they didn't know where to go next, so they punted. By the end of the movie, I'd adapted to the new premise and now I'm eager for more; it just took the whole first act to get me there.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, the change I'm talking about is that shortly after Evolution, humanity discovers the existence of vampires and werewolves and immediately goes to war on them. Martial law is declared, there's a huge Purge, and even Selene and Michael are affected. Selene is captured by the humans (led by Stephen Rea, the leader of a scientific think tank that's trying to cure/eradicate the supernatural) and Michael's fate is unknown for a while. Twelve years after her capture, Selene is woken from cryogenic sleep and initially believes that Michael was the one who rescued her. She quickly learns though that it was actually a young girl and that that girl is her and Michael's daughter.

A quick sidebar about Michael: I was pleased that they found a lookalike actor to play him in Scott Speedman's absence. I was afraid that Michael's fate would happen off-camera and we'd have to learn about it through exposition. So though there's not a lot of Michael in Awakening, there's enough to keep me from feeling cheated.

I won't reveal Michael's actual fate here, but as far as Selene is concerned, he's dead. The rest of the film has her struggling with her grief while also adapting to the knowledge that she has a daughter. Selene's never been all that emotionally demonstrative, so the best part of the movie for me is watching her deal with that. There's a cool, powerful scene where the daughter (she's named Eve in the credits, but I don't remember anyone actually calling her that in the film) is concerned that Selene is being cold towards her and Selene explains what's going on. That's the heart of the movie and it's enough character development for Selene to keep me satisfied until the next movie.

There's also some development in the world-building. Rea's think tank wants Eve back and as Selene tries to prevent that from happening, she teams up with some sympathetic cops and eventually uncovers Rea's true motives and a massive conspiracy behind the Purge. That revelation builds the engine that'll keep the series going for another film or two and as long as Selene continues to get the treatment she deserves as a character, I'm on board for the ride.

Underworld: Evolution (2006)

Though the movie's five years old and I don't think it's necessary to say so: spoilers for Underworld: Evolution below.

Underworld: Evolution continues the story of the first film in a couple of significant ways. I mean, as opposed to Rise of the Lycans, which just fills in details about a bunch of stuff you already know. It would've been easy to just remake Underworld and call it Underworld 2, but director Len Wiseman and screenwriter Danny McBride (not that Danny McBride) showed that they were more interested in building a longer story. So we learn more details about the history of the vampires and werewolves while also getting to see Selene grow some more.

There was a line or two in Underworld about all the vampires and werewolves being descended from one person (who also had a human son: the ancestor of Scott Speedman's character) and Evolution makes that the focus of its story. The remaining vampire lord, Marcus was the first vampire and when he awakens at the end of Underworld, the fracturing of vampire society sends him looking for his brother, William, the first werewolf. Apparently Marcus and Viktor were sort of keeping each other in check (presumably with the third vampire lord, Amelia weighing in on Viktor's side), so with Viktor and Amelia dead, Marcus is free to release William and damn the consequences. William is apparently mad and would destroy the world or something. The script is pretty loose with motivations, which is its biggest flaw. At any rate, unfortunately for Selene, she unknowingly holds the key (literally and figuratively) to William's location and Marcus is perfectly willing to kill her to learn it.

As she and Michael run from Marcus and uncover details about his plan (and about the mysterious man played by Derek Jacobi who's also tracking the situation for his own, secret reasons), they continue and build on the relationship they started in Underworld. There's still not a lot of chemistry between the actors, but I'm still willing to read that as their learning to trust each other. Not that they don't trust each other - they're clearly beyond the suspicious stage - it's just that neither is sure what to expect from their relationship. When something bad happens to Michael and Selene loses it, it's a nice bit of acting by Kate Beckinsale, but it seems over-the-top next to the lack of emotion she's shown about him up to that point. I'm not going to accuse Beckinsale of bad acting, so I'm gonna read that as her surprising herself by how much she cares about and needs him. By the end of the movie, they actually do feel like a couple, so Selene has learned to rely on Michael more than she did in the first film.

Selene also goes through a different kind of growth in Evolution. The movie's sub-title doesn't just refer to the evolution of vampire and werewolf society, but also to physical changes in Selene. It'll be interesting to see how Awakening deals with that.

More than that though, I'm curious to see how they're going to deal with Scott Speedman's absence. I would have liked another film with him in it to get comfortable with Selene and Michael as a couple before they're split apart, but I'm keeping an open mind about his not being there. Hopefully, that will further Selene's growth as a character in some way. I've avoided spoilers for Awakening (though I'll have seen it by the time this posts), but I'm curious about India Eisley's character and her relationship with Selene. There were far too many shots of Beckinsale's belly during Evolution's sex scene to just be about how gorgeous it is. She was totally pregnant at the end of Evolution and I suspect that Eisley is playing her daughter. That's not a spoiler; just my own theory. By the time this posts, I'll know if I'm right.

Underworld (2003)

Something I forgot to mention in yesterday's post on Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the final shot, which is basically the opening shot of Underworld laid over with some extremely spoilery dialogue from late in that movie. I don't like that ending for Rise. It's unnecessary to Rise's story and the only thing it accomplishes is reminding the audience that they didn't get to see Selene (Kate Beckinsale). And, if you're being introduced to these films by watching them in chronological order, it spoils a major plot twist in Underworld.

I do understand the desire to sneak Selene in there though. She's a great character and the journey she goes on in Underworld is a fascinating one. I have reservations about the romance between her and Michael (Scott Speedman), but I'm able to get past it if I read their relationship differently than love. There's not enough chemistry between them for me to root for them as a couple, but that wouldn't be a problem if not for their kiss. Other than that, they're just two people whose goals line up temporarily. The kiss suggests that they're developing feelings for each other, but there's a way of watching the movie where Michael represents something for Selene other than love.

As she's starting to question not only herself, but her entire culture, Michael is the one person she knows outside of her society and the long war that's been the center of her entire life. He's the only filter she has as she attempts to see the world in a new way, so of course she latches onto him. Instead of lack of chemistry, we're seeing reserve. Selene never lets herself be seen as vulnerable (except with Viktor) and Michael still doesn't really trust her, so they're not exactly opening up to each other. They're just in a place where they need each other, so they try that experience on with a kiss. But the movie's about a lot more than kissing.

It's about Selene's eyes being opened and her concept of who's good and who's evil being flipped on its head. Even if you've seen Rise of the Lycans and know who the good and bad guys really are, it's still interesting watching Selene go through that process. That - and the leather, and the eyes, and the butt-kicking - is what makes her a great character.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)

I've been re-watching the Underworld movies this week to get ready for Awakening (planning to see it on Thursday). Since I'm watching them in chronological order, I started with Rise of the Lycans; curious to see how it holds up on its own.

Though the blue color palette loses its effectiveness after a while, that's a feature of the entire series and otherwise the visuals in Rise are fantastic. The medieval setting is cool and the vampires have designed their castles and armor with style. It's also cool to see everyone fighting with bladed weapons. Watching that here makes it even cooler in Underworld when Viktor shuns modern, silver nitrate-filled bullets in favor of his sword. That comes across as an affectation unless you've seen Rise and can better understand his nostalgia for the glorious time when vampires didn't have to hide from humans.

The plot of Rise is pretty unnecessary. It basically expands a brief flashback sequence from Underworld, but what it adds are world-building details, some emotional weight, and action set-pieces, not story. There's nothing new to be learned that wasn't already revealed in the first movie. That's not really the point though. Rise is enjoyable for its mood and setting and its likable lead who, unfortunately, is not Rhona Mitra's Sonja.

After getting good and used to Kate Beckinsale's Selene as the main character of the Underworld series, it was difficult to see her lookalike sidelined so much in Rise. The trailers played up the similarities between the two actresses and characters - and Sonja is badass in this movie (I'm always a fan of Rhona Mitra) - but her role is essentially to end up in Lucian's (Michael Sheen) refrigerator, giving him motivation to start the Lycan uprising and push events towards Underworld. It was always going to have to be that way (again, Rise's story is outlined in Underworld), but it's disheartening to see Sonja so ineffectual in changing her world.

I enjoyed watching Lucian make the change from Viktor's lap dog to warrior and leader though. It's a fine way to spend an hour-and-a-half. I'm just sorry that Rise doesn't have a female character as strong as Selene. It's another reason to miss Kate Beckinsale.

And Now the News: Rooting for the Squid

Pirates 4 Update: Director



Concerns that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides may not be happening - because of the departure of the Disney chairman who originally brought Johnny Depp on board the franchise - seem to be unfounded. Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha) has been signed as director and says that he and Depp are excited to be working on it together.

20,ooo Leagues Movie Update: Sunk



McG's Captain Nemo origin movie, on the other hand, appears to have been pulled to the bottom of the sea by a giant squid. And based on McG's thinking that Will Smith would make an awesome Captain Nemo, I think I'm on the squid's side this time.

Lest anyone get too excited by the art above, it's not concept art from the McG movie. It's by Meinert Hansen as part of an unrelated project.

Iron Stan



Fear not, True Believers! Stan Lee will be back for Iron Man 2.

Also, Thor!



Excelsior!

Underworld 4 Update: Writer



No one knows nuthin beyond that a writer's been hired and he's written a couple of episodes of The Shield, but at least it's in the works.