Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Hey folks. I am guessing you are no worse for wear with being subjected to Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance...mostly because you did not have to sit through that stinkburger. With that in mind I will bring you a film that gets overlooked as being pretty decent. No I am not subjecting you to some obscure 80s slasher movie that you may have passed in a now defunct concept like a video store but rather a blockbuster film that occurred in 2004 with a budget of no less than 70 million in the hopes it would rocket to the stars with the opening weekend. An ambitious flick that showcased enough talent, actors and decent writing some folks are still either embrace it for what it is or just outright sneer at it. This is Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Yes I am that pretty, world. Get over it.

Directoral debut Kerry Conran (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The World of Tomorrow and Gumdrop) we open with an alternative timeline of 1939 in which the zeppelin dubbed Hindenburg II arrives at the Empire State building carrying Dr. Jorge Vargas (Julian Curry of Rumpole of the Bailey, Rasputin, Mysteries of Egypt, Uncle Adolf and The Queen's Sister) delivering two vials to for a Dr. Walter Jennings (Trevor Baxter of Cold Comfort Farm. The Politician's Wife. The Hunchback, Parting Shots, Doctors and My Family), when moments later Dr. Vargas disappears.

Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow of Jefferson in Paris, Se7en, Great Expectations, Shakespeare in Love, Iron Man, Glee, Iron Man 2 and The Avengers) is a hustle and bustle newspaper reporter on the story of Varga and five other world renowned scientists are missing. After meeting Dr, Jennings at a showing of the Wizard of Oz he tells her that Dr. Totenkopf is coming for him. Taking that in, the air raid sirens go off immense giant robots start attacking the city. The police feeling overwhelmed summon Sky Captain (Jude Law of Gattaca, Final Cut, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, The Aviator, All the King's Men, Sherlock Holmes, Repo Men and Side Effects) and his Flying Legion, a private air force based in New York and... no one seems to question that. Must be that Commisoner Gordon/Batman relationship I guess. With one of the robots dismantled, Sky Captain Joe Sullivan takes the monstrosity to their tech guy Dex (Giovanni Ribsi of Saving Private Ryan, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Avatar and Ted) to figure who made it and what makes it tick. 

Tony Stark mad with power, strikes again!

 Dex tracks the signal of this massive automaton to Tibet and our heroes head for that direction only to run into Commander Franky Cook commanding a FLYING AIRCRAFT CARRIER!!! YUP! A friggin' Helicarrier pre-S.H.I.E.L.D. Commanded by Angelia Jolie in all her fiestiness. FYI, both ladies are Sky Captain's exes so "Awkward," is an understatement. With figuring out what Dr. Totenkopf is up to and why there seems to be such an uproar from a scientist is paramount...(not New Line Cinema.)

Folks I really have no problem with this film. It is kind of a throwback to Doc Savage with the amazing inventions and some of the older comic strips like Terry and the Pirates. Good action scenes, decent character development and enough digital artists, modelers and animators busting their butts I don't understand why folks crap all over it.

It has its flaws as does any movie and admittedly there are a few plotholes but overall I was impressed with it and would recommend it for a sit-in with the family as GIANT FRICKIN' ROBOTS get used! Feels a bit similar to the Max Fleischer Studios Superman and a bit of the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon serials. I had fun watching this.

My fedora senses danger!!

Star Trek Favorites: Mirror, Mirror

Welcome back Trekkies to Day 3 of Star Trek Favorites. We are moving over to Season 2 as we have more than a few intriguing episodes but one concept sticks in many a mind of viewer, writer and actor. Alternative universes. Yes, worlds identical to our own but differs due to an event, scenario or lost of importance. A land where familiar faces but have deviant personalities or behavior. With the works of Issac Asimov and Ray Bradbury, this approach to science fiction has been a popular theme for televison, movies and novelizations. With a little working of a plot device, these aberrant universes can be so far removed from our own. This is Mirror, Mirror.

Conquering planets works the abs well!

Beaming up from a planet after a routine meet and greet Kirk, Scotty, McCoy and Uhura's bio-signatures are caught in an ion storm scrambling their signals when... they are shifted to a parallel Enterprise. Gasp! All the people are the same with the exception they are callous and malicious as it is a requirement in the Empire. In this universe the Federation of Planets is actual a devious empire swallowing up systems and galaxies to dominate over. Kirk finds himself in the exact trade and negotiations he was in his own universe but with the added issue of demands of plundering and strip mining the planet or he will bombard it from orbit. Psst, Kirk save on on photon torpedoes and phaser banks by using the deflector dish to tractor beam asteroids to the surface of the planet. Just offering my services, bro.

My Beatles wig itches.

As the crew members try to blend in, a few key crew members including traitorous Sulu and Chekov attempt a coup de tat and slay Kirk but he holds his own having to beat up officers under his command and have them thrown in the brig. The brig has a sonic device that punishes ear drums with ultrasonic frequencies probably causes muscle spasms and organ failure if turned up or prolonged exposure. Dealing with his own sense of morality against this crew filled with deceit and treachery is beginning to ware on his senses when he is greeting by the captain's concubine, Marlena (BarBara Luna of Search for Tomorrow, The Devil at 4 O' Clock, Ship of Fools and One Life to Live) who immediately notices the difference between her cold and methodical captain vs this compassionate man. Marlena warns Kirk that his landing party needs to be careful because eyes are everywhere. Doppelganger Spock hypothesizes that the landing party are not his actual crew and seem to be impostors given Kirk did not put Sulu and Chekov to death for their insurrection.

Can Kirk, Scotty, McCoy and Uhura make it back to their home universe before it is too late? Can they survive in this twisted and warped version of their own universe? Will they have to adapt to this way of life just to survive?

Some bits of trivia on the episode now. In the original story outline, Kirk was trapped in the mirror universe alone and gradually it rejected him kin to an infection but ultimately this story was dropped like a stone through a wet paper bag. This is the only episode you hear Scotty call Kirk as Jim. Written by William Shatner is a trilogy Spectre, Dark Victory And Preserver of which are all about the mirror universe for the 24^th century around the time of Next Generation.

Because of this concept in question the Mirror universe has been used in the latter Star Trek series as in Deep Space Nine and Enterprise both of while well done would not have been possible without these building blocks to the idea.

We are down in groovy town!