50th Anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey

The theme of April is Space.

On April 2^nd, we celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 A film that was largely discussed and debated during the time of its release, and arguably still to this day, the meaning behind the movie remains an enigma and there are a few theories of what we the audience was witnessing.  A contemporary filmmaker that resonates to leaving the interpretation of a film to its audience is Alex Garland with is debut and sophomore movies Ex-Machina and Annihilation respectively.  Examining the human condition against technology, nature and the identity of one’s self; while holding centre court to the truth of our underlining instinct of self preservation.   There have been other directors or auteur visionaries like Rod Serling or Hitchcock who have come close to the realm of Kubrick’s imagination and vision, but never to his level.

For 2001: A Space Odyssey Kubrick shares screenplay credit with sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. What makes this detail extraordinary is that the novel which Arthur C. Clarke wrote. Was written during the same time of making 2001: A Space Odyssey, and in fact Kubrick deliberately influenced Clarke’s interpretation of the story to differ. As he shot many scenes with Clarke present and never used the footage in the final cut, and conversely shot many scenes with Clarke absent and included those takes in the finished draft of the movie. As a result the novelization of A Space Odyssey became a very different story and interpretation to the actual film itself.    Besides his visual genius, Kubrick is astonishingly specific and almost hauntingly particular with his choice of musical score, the score is a motif in his films and repeats at particular sequences, (Battle Hymn of the republic –with Dr Strangelove; the bombastic instrumental of Musica Ricercata: ll in Eyes wide shut, or the entire unnerving score of The Shining) With this case, it’s the imposing black monolith that book-ends A Space Odyssey.  At the dawn of mankind the monolith lends itself to form an epiphany for early man to establish a tool; to advance himself to dominance of his environment, and in the opening minutes we see it was a large bone from an animal carcass to create that dominance.  We fast forward to present man, the tool is a space station to explore regions of the galaxy, and the developing technology of HAL an artificial intelligent mainframe computer.  To demonstrate how far advanced man’s evolution has become. The idea of an A.I. becoming more advance and self aware than its’ creators is a shared trait to Ex-Machina. The final act of entering a wormhole and accelerating the protagonist Daves’s lifespan in an alien environment we are shown his progression from a 3^rd person perspective as opposed to using traditional dissolves, wipes or a montage to show the passage of time.  The Monolith re-appears at the end of Dave’s lifespan and transports Dave reborn as a star-baby’ the evolutionary next step of mankind being introduced back to the world (Earth). It makes little connective sense but in the process of jumping into the next evolution, it would be confusing to those who exist from initial stages of evolutionary change.

It’s safe to say 2001: A Space Odyssey is a mind expanding movie, a national treasure of American film history and the grandfathered architect of the sci-fi genre. Its musical score is memorable, which now is used in many parodies, to which can be said as often imitated but never duplicated, a testament to the master craftsmen - Stanley Kubrick.

Infinity Stones and the Villians who seek them

This entry of Ray-views is to enlighten those who have not watched many of the marvel movies and want to go into the movie with an understanding of the potential stakes, and what is the infinity war generally about.

First and foremost the objects of great interest are the infinity gems/stones.

Benicio del Toro as The Collector

It’s sometimes difficult to get into the storyline without making reference to the varied comic books, and the significant characters that greatly affected the history and mythology of the stones.  Names like Adam Warlock will be thrown around and the collector, both have been introduced in the cinematic universe, but to a far lesser degree. So that aside, what are the Gems and where are they currently as we open into the infinity war movie?

There are 6 infinity stones,  5 of which has been revealed to us the viewing audience and the final one is most likely to be obtained in Infinity war: part 2 or the untitled  Avengers  4 movie slated for release May 3^rd 2019.

In an explanation given during a scene in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. one.  Benicio del Toro who plays the collector gave the following introduction. “Before creation itself, there were 6 singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence and the remnants were forged into 6 concentrated stones”.

In a recent issue of the Guardians of the galaxy comic.  An easier interpretation was given by posing the following concept.   If you were to view the universe as a simulation, then the infinity stones would be the source code of said simulation.  

Let’s look at these stones and where are they now.

The Space Stone/gem – color blue – located inside the Tesseract/Cosmic cube – First seen in the first Captain America movie.  Its real power was revealed when the Red Skull held it with his hand and it opened a portal to space, that launched his existence into space (allegedly). After being re-discovered with Captain America frozen inside a plane for nearly 60 years, it was used to open a wormhole over New York City to allow for an interplanetary alien invasion as seen in The first avengers movie.  It was last seen in Thor Ragnork, as the Villain Loki took the cube from Odin’s Asgardian vault before their planet was destroyed and is most likely  obtained by Thanos as the film concludes with Thor and the surviving Asgardians being intercepted by Thanos ‘s Massive Q-ship. – Meaning we are going to open the Avengers Infinity War with Thor captured  and tormented by Thanos as seen by  a glimpse of the latest trailer and Thanos possessing his first stone by breaking open the Tesseract.

The Space Stone or Tessaract was first used in WWII (1941), by the Nazis using its energy signature to create weapons to disintegrate their enemies.  If revealed , in its true power, the Space stone  allows its user to be omnipresent or everywhere at once;  thus far it has been used to teleport beings anywhere they want, moving objects, and changing the distance of things by warping space itself. (In the comics it is usually the purple stone)

The Reality Stone/gem – color red – referred to as the Ether and was first seen on Thor: Dark World. It was used as a weapon to revert the universe, or warp the universe back to a darker age, by turning matter into dark matter.  It appears as shifting flying ooze.  In its alleged fully realized state, the reality stone becomes a wishing stone granting its user anything in the universe to be possible or impossible. Meaning having the ability to bring anything you want into existence as it can defy every law of physics.  It was last seen being handed over to the collector at the end of Dark World. However, in Guardians of the Galaxy volume one, a movie that was released a year later.  The Collectors’ home and collection of things appeared to be obliterated by the power stone; and so the exact current location is unknown.  It is only surmised that collector may still be in possession of the Ether.

The Ether

(In the comics it’s usually the yellow stone)

Power Stone

Power Stone/Gem – color purple- was kept in an orb container, was first seen on Guardians of the Galaxy volume One . Like the name states, its power; in can enhance the users’ strength, durability, speed, it can shred a planet into nothingness in a single blast and give the user omnipotence when the stone is fully accessed. And when combined with other infinity stones it can boost all of their powers too. Currently the power stone is in the protection of the Galactic police department known as the Nova Corp. The stone was last seen at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy volume one. (In the comics it’s usually the Red Stone)

The Mind Stone/ Gem – color yellow - It appeared in both Avenger’s movies.  It was first revealed in Loki’s scepter and used to control the minds of those the scepter touched like Avenger Hawkeye, Dr.

Helen Cho and professor Selvig. It was the cause that made Ultron both Sentient and murderous and gave life to Vision and provided his extraordinary powers with his vibrainium body (The use of vibranium is extremely multifaceted as seen in the Black Panther movie).  The Mind Stone’s potential when fully realized, can connect with every single mind in the universe or in existence at once; and can gain access to all the thoughts & memories and have complete control of the mind, plus enhancing the abilities of those who are psychics.  (In the comics it’s usually blue)

Time stone in the Eye of Agamotto

The Time Stone/Gem – color green – It first appeared in Dr. Strange and is housed inside the talisman called the Eye of Agamotto and protected by the sorcerer Supreme – Doctor Stephen Strange. It allows its user to manipulate time. Moving it forward and backward, speeding it up or slowing it down on either a single object or everything around the person, or in the instance of the showdown with the Evil Entity known as Dormamu it can create a time loop, trapping its occupants indefinitely. As its true power is the ability to take control of all of time. (It is usually Orange in comics)

The Final stone is the Soul Stone. – Currently unknown location – It has not been introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far.  – Its orange in comics - It has the ability to take control of all living and dead souls, It can corrupt and change souls and take control of all life in the universe.  It can also open a gateway to pocket universes where souls can live i.e. Heaven or Hell.

According to comic storyline, when the Gems/Stones are place together they communicate to one another, allowing the wieldier of the Stones to track and find other infinity stones.

Once the stones are brought all together, in the case of Thanos Gauntlet glove he will be Omnipotent and Omnipresent, and wield god-like power. As the exposition given in the second trailer of infinity war by Gamora, played by a green skinned Zoe Saldana , Thanos wants to eliminate half the life in the universe, and he can do that in a snap of his finger or a whisper. 

Next, if the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy are the heroes  then let’s look at the opposing villains.

At The official reveal of the black order (Children of Thanos as they are sometimes referred to) took place during D23 Expo as part of ToyWiz  toy-line.

There are 4 characters in the movie that are showcased by ToyWiz.

In the comics they are not really Thanos’ Children but his generals who do his bidding

They were first introduced in 2013, in issue Eight of the new Avengers, so they, in a comic book time frame are fairly new characters.

Corvus Glaive –Thanos most loyal servant and right hand man, In the comics Corvos betrayed his

own people just to be in good favor with Thanos. He possesses super strength and speed, but is nowhere near the level of power of Thanos.  His Staff; which is a blade, if remains intact, keeps Corvos immortal. He is an expert tactician and strategist, and has used his skills to destroy worlds with the help of his wife a fellow black order member Proxima Midnight. He possesses a genius level of combat, in the way that he observes and studies every form of combat and warfare; that planet has engaged in                                                                     and figures out the best way to invade and attack that planet.

Proxmia Midnight is the best warrior in black order, for the cinematic universe, Marvel may 

not include the union of Proxima and Corvus, and  just have them  be represented as Thanos’s soldiers. Her fighting style and ability is unmatched, she possesses enhanced strength, invulnerability, and her weapon of choice is a spear, and when she throws it, it becomes lethal black light, which can cut things down to a molecular level, and it never misses its target. The spear posses the power of a supernova, and the spear can produce nets that has the weight of a star. It’s notable to point out, that in the comic books her spear struck the hulk causing him to revert back to banner automatically.

Super Giant – a character from the comic who will not appear in the movie, she is an omnipath,

Super Giant

which means she operates at the absolute highest level of telepathy, and essentially she is a telepathic vampire, meaning she feeds off ones intelligence, and any intelligence she gains from her victims Thanos gains that knowledge as well, before she completely devours the minds of her victims.

Ebony Maw – the character we see holding Dr. Strange hostage with spike and needles to his face, in the second trailer to infinity war. He is referred to being the most dangerous member of the black order,   He possess the ability to manipulate any situation to his favor. He is known as a whisper, someone 

Ebony Maw

who can affect your brain with mind webs that leave behind a spider like creature. And once it gets in your head he can gain all your secrets and control you to do whatever he wants, complete domination of your mind. Like Corvus Glaive he is a genius tactician and strategist, and sets out to make sure other people or minions do his dirty work, he is protected by a protective force field and has the ability to teleport.  It’s to note in the comic books, he took complete control over Doctor Strange, he used Strange to release extremely dangerous multidimensional creatures .

Black Dwarf

Black Dwarf  He is essentially the muscle of the group, he is a massive enforcer, he possesses super strength and his skin is unbreakable, He is the brother of Corvus Glaive and sister –in-law is Proxima Midnight.  It’s to note that in the comics he lead the invasion in Wakanda , but the technology and fierce fighting style of Black Panther’s Guards was able to stop this behemoth and they were able to cast him out of Wakanda. But his strength is on Par with the Hulk .

 In an indirect way the black order represents the infinite stones .

The power stone that is absolute power, strength and energy – that can be manifested as Black Dwarf

The reality stone – the ability to manipulate people to obtain certain goals and tactics, and recognizing the environment around them – that can manifest into Corvus Glaive

Mind Stone – Super Giant

Beetlejuice 30th Anniversary

This March, celebrates the 30^th Anniversary of the motion picture Beetlejuice.

A breakout film for its entire principal cast. 

Where the title character was an anti-hero, whose villainous demeanor became both the driving force and selling point of the movie.

Beetlejuice was one of the few comedies/horror comedies to ever win an Oscar. It took home gold for best make-up, and was surprisingly a commercial success making over 5 times its initial budget at the box office.  As it also became one of the top tier best selling DVDs to close out 1988.

Director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton returned the following year to collaborate on “Batman” which arguably was what stimulated this entire superhero franchise. The 1989 Batman became the fifth highest grossing film of all time during that period.

Alec Baldwin and Winona Ryder reunited again later that summer in “Great balls of Fire”, The Jerry Lee Lewis autobiographical movie. But like Burton and Keaton respectively, found a greater cult like following in 1989 with the release of “Heathers”, and the Cinematic Debut of the Jack Ryan character in Tom Clancy’s” The Hunt for Red October”.  

Critical success in 1989, went to Geena Davis who won an Oscar for best supporting actress in her role on “The Accidental Tourist”.

Beetlejuice spawned a critically successful animated series which debut the following year on ABC’s Saturday morning line-up before bowing out as a weekday series on Fox kids in 1991. It became a staple of Millennial’s childhood pop-culture, while holding an enduring appreciation from both Generation-X  and Baby Boomers for its relatable protagonist Lydia Deetz (played by Winona Ryder) and its infusion of classic music from Harry Belafonte. 

 And utilizing a the sense of inclusion with its final act, displaying a traditional family gathering of sorts amongst different generations and using extraordinary forms of slapstick surreal humor, gothic horror comedy, and black comedy, in such an array of adventuress settings that it was eye candy for the mind, and nostalgia for the soul; in an otherwise simple but innovated suburban/country life.

The Future is Now

There are two theatrical Hollywood released films where the story/plot of the film takes place in the not too distant future, and that future is now, the year 2018. 

Terminator Salvation (2009)

There is a scene in the pre-opening credits; which has now become a staple of marvel blockbuster films, were we are introduced to characters and a back story before the opening logo appears and music starts.  It’s the years 2001, and Marcus Wright (aka Sam Worthington) is a man incarcerated at a correctional facility about to face his own form of judgment for killing two police officers.  A sickly looking scientist played by Helena Bonham Carter, comes to his cell; appearing with a slightly enlarged bald cranium and head cover to shield the back of her head, she’s offering a prolong chance at life by donating his body to science, as at a type of salvation. Initially when I saw this scene in theatres, it was a throw away scene not carrying any significant weight to the plot of the movie.  Upon re-watching this movie in the year 2018, I realize that these characters who nearly book-end the movie have a mild significant importance.  The destination each faces was not what they had expected, as  their conversation and story arc continues through, though together their screen time is no more than ten minutes and is consequently not the heart of the movie. 

The year is 2018, Judgment day has past, the threat of machines to the surviving human population of a nuclear holocaust has come true, and an unwelcomed prophet or potential savior named John Conner played by Christian Bale is leading a small resistance. Armed with the knowledge of the original two James Cameron movies; John needs to send his biological father  (Kyle Reese) to the past in order to be born and start the paradox  that is his existence and the potential seed to save humanity in the future.

Rollerball (1975)

Not to be mistaken with the 2002 remake. 

Rollerball’s opening scroll sets up a dystopian not too distant future “2018”, the world is a global corporate state, containing entities such as the Energy Corporation, a global energy monopoly based in Houston. Rollerball is a globally popular full-contact violent sport. Teams are named after cities they are based in and are owned by various global corporations.  The team we follow is team Houston; that Energy Corporation sponsors.  It’s not specifically expressed, but Rollerball is the game that is a substitute for all current sports and actual warfare.   

The Film stars James Caan, as the lead star and Veteran player Jonathan E. who is the most recognizable player in the league. Who (spoiler alert) poses a threat as a symbolism for individualism; as the sport in executive eyes’ demonstrates “the distinct social purpose of the futility of individual effort”.

The film may not hold up in today’s standards of a marketable movie, and its’ off the mark both politically and geo-politically. In our world, where the leader of the free world is a former reality-based television show host, and self-made conglomerate on a global scale, and there are current stories of corporations running or driving up prices in a monopoly, like recently bread  comes to mind; the connective tissues end there.

Rollerball featured an American cast, and was directed by famed Canadian director Norman Jewison, but was produced by United Artists London -UK, which was largely associated with Bond movies and other exports.  It’s a sociology experiment of the world if put in a certain set of parameters, very much like clockwork orange  was being a giant sociological what if. 

Both films are entertaining, Salvation was poorly received because the speed and vastness of how social media caught wind of Christian Bale’s meltdown (warning there is swearing) towards a crew member on set, and it’s original stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger was nowhere on this property.  Rollerball, was well received film of its time, taking in 30 Millions dollars in 1975. It has been proven false in its predictions of the world view, false on the technology that’s on hand today, and the over-all look and style feels dated to that time, and would not hold up with general accepting mind set of our generation/audience.

The Future is Last Year: As a small plug for those interested; two theatrically released films that predicates its story in the not too distant future of 2017 is the Running Man (1987) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger where America is a Totalitarian state.  And a single network is governing the information to the mass audience. The other film is Barb Wire (1996) starring Pamela Anderson, set during the second American Civil War of 2017; when looked closely it’s a carefully re-created plot to the classic Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman Film Casablanca.

The Shape of Water

From Richard Jenkins opening narrative monologue, we get a sense of a fairytale story positioned in extraordinarily hard time.  Not as different in scope to Pan’s Labryinth, which was a fictional world amongst the backdrop of bitter and cruel world war.   Guillermo Del Toro is the living embodiment of auteur theory, and The Shape of Water is his testimonial or Exhibit A.  

After watching the movie in theatres and the months that followed, I continued to wrestle with the specific MEANING behind the movie’s title. The point is obviously on the noise; but the precise articulate meaning is as follows. “Love has no shape; you can fall in love with any person. You find a soul. Water has no shape until you put it into a container, and it’s the strongest element on Earth. It’s the most malleable. It can cut rock over the millennia and yet it has no shape, which is the epitome of love. We are containers and water, you live in the shape love gives you, a glass of water, a pitcher, a cup, or bowl. The water perfectly fills that container, a perfect metaphor for love”.
In various talk shows, leading into awards season Guillermo Del Toro described the GENESIS of how the film came to be.  It was a six year journey from idea to Celluloid, but its own seeding etches back decades further.

1969, on a Sunday afternoon watching TV (Creature from the Black Lagoon) A then six year old Del Toro saw a Gillman swim a few feet below Actress Jane Adams as she traversed across the surface in a white bikini.  The elegance and beauty of that visual moment in cinema resonated with Del Toro, and how Hollywood could never allow a happy ending with a monster and bathing beauty being together after sharing such an extraordinary moment; he felt an injustice.

2011, Toronto, Canada  Del Toro was having breakfast with his writing partner Daniel Krause (children book series Trollhunters)  Daniel came up with the idea “What if a janitor in a super-secret government Facility  found an amphibian man and stole it – took it home?”   That was the pitch that sold Guillermo, with the childhood inspiration in the back of his mind he spent two years developing the story.

2013. Del Toro always had Sally Hawkins (after watching Happy-Go Lucky and Fingersmith) in mind for the role of Elisa, He contacted her and over a year of emails and refining the character with Sally and developing her sensibilities and machinations of the character in the process. 

2014 Guillermo finally pitched the idea/treatment to Fox Searchlight, who was known to take risk with indie films and found audiences with Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman (The unexpected virtue of Ignorance) as their track record.  They agreed to back his project; partnering with Vanessa Taylor (Divergent, Game of Throne) to help him co-write the screenplay, their collaboration took the next two years before it was finally fully realized.

2016 Toronto, and parts of Ontario Canada – Filming of the production commenced, and movie was released in theatres in late fall of 2017

The SETTING is 1962 Baltimore, This was a time when soldiers had returned home after World War II, And the motto of the American Dream was ‘Make America Great Again’, It’s was the time of Kennedys and Camelot;  It was also the height of the Cold War, and Both superpowers were in a  stalemate in the space race.  Politically, there were activism with rallies and riots for gender & race equality, Vietnam had not occurred yet. So the Shape of Water takes a hard look at prejudice amongst its characters during these times.  While framing its most central characters of a Mute woman and an Amazonian River God who fall in love in this very particular place and time.

Elisa Esposito begins the story as a solitary figure her last name means “placed outside” of “Exposed” and was, in Italian tradition, given to orphans.  She’s a pale, slender mute woman with several mysterious keloid scars on her neck. Zelda Fuller played by academy award winner Octavia Spencer is her chatterbox co-worker, and a perfect foil to Elisa. Giles Dupont played by Richard Jenkins is Elisa’s neighbor and only male companion in Elisa’s life; they share meals, watch musicals and spend a lot of time together when she is not at work.  Giles is an artist and former advertising creative director whose in his twilight years.  Richard Strickland is played by two time academy award nominated actor Michael Shannon.  Strickland is a ruthless and brutal government man who captured the amphibian man and looking to exploit his ability to breath out of water as the edge to break ahead in the space race.   And finally there is Dr. Robert Hoffstetler a marine biologist, charged to study the creature, played by Michael Stuhlbarg.

Del Toro is intimately familiar with every character he creates on the screen.  In addition to the script, he gives the actors he works with a biographical dossier of the character they are portraying, it’s usually around 2 pages typed single space; detailing the history and motivations of the character, hopes and dreams , childhood, and deposits moments in their life that contribute to who they are or become.  Most actors flock to the pages given to them as an extra layer and connection to the people they portray. And to better identify themselves to the world Guillermo Del Toro has built around them.

Del Toro’s Director of Photography Dan Laustsen (Crimson Peak) who shot an incredible world, an often fantasy setting under water, or completely out of water.  It’s a 60’s period piece with less colorfulness that is normally associated with that era, with key lighting that makes all shadows fall into black/darkness; whereas Crimson Peak was very saturated in color with stark shadows.

The Shape of water was given the most nominations than any other film for the 90^th Academy awards.  13 in total and took home 4  of its nominations including Best Picture and Director, ear marking the awards season as the year of inclusion.

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