A man walks into a bar. At some point, he asks the bartender for a joke. “A man walks into a bar,” the bartender says, and stops there. The butt of the joke sarcastically but good-humoredly retorts “Very funny,” and demands a better one. The bartender (Ethan Hawke) insists that he knows no good jokes, but tries a chicken road-crossing one. It fails miserably, but he recovers by getting philosophical: “Do you ever wonder about that? The chicken and egg, which one came first?” Humoring the bartender, the man confidently declares “The rooster!” Continue reading Science Fiction Done Right
All posts by Eric Wang
World War Three Will Have To Wait
The Interview has been released on Youtube which means unfortunately that two valuable time-wasting Youtube hours will be squandered on this movie by many unsuspecting folks. Of course this is partially the result of all the hoo-hah that this film has already caused. A hacker group had broken into parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer network and threatened terrorist attacks against cinemas that show The Interview before the film was even released. The likely result of all this free publicity however is that most people are going to be vastly disappointed that such a film caused any concern in the first place. Continue reading World War Three Will Have To Wait
The Good Machine of the Last Good War
The marriage of man and machine is a classic trope, and Fury takes it to the next level by bonding multiple men with the ultimate war machine of the Second World War. The result is a complex and original film about the familial bond between soldiers. Brad Pitt is Wardaddy, the hardened veteran commander of his M4A3E8 Sherman tank named Fury and the father figure of his tank crew family. The film’s formal introduction to the gang is through trained typist and new recruit Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman), reassigned to be Fury’s assistant driver and bow gunner. He meets gunner “Bible” (Shia LaBeouf), driver “Gordo” (Michael Peña), and loader “Coon-Ass” (Jon Bernthal) after Wardaddy reluctantly but good-humoredly accepts Norman into his command. Continue reading The Good Machine of the Last Good War
When You’re In The John And The Wick Burns Out
Masked men break into a house and beat up Keanu Reeves. Unusually, this time Keanu is sporting a beard in his guise as John Wick, a lethal ex-mobster that is now on a revenge rampage to kill the people who hurt him and his puppy. The good news? I haven’t spoiled anything: it’s all in the trailer. The bad news? There’s nothing else to spoil. Continue reading When You’re In The John And The Wick Burns Out
Eric Wang on Hans Landa
Running in Circles—Oh Wait, It’s a Maze
If you liked the premise of Lord of the Flies but thought it was too disheartening and complex, perhaps The Maze Runner will be more palatable. Based on the first book of James Dashner’s science fiction trilogy of the same title, The Maze Runner opens with protagonist Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) in utter confusion, having had his memory wiped clean. He wakes up in a settlement called “the Glade,” where he finds that everyone is male and has had the exact same experience, namely suffering from severe amnesia and unable to provide any context to what’s happening. Unfortunately, we share in the exact same experience for the rest of the film, trapped within walls of confusion and asking ourselves “why am I here?”