Aaron Sorkin Is A Dick

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Recently followed this link from the IMDb, which includes some truly precious quotes:

I have considerably more power as an individual than I do as a member of that group, and I am forced to be a member of that union in order to work. Moreover, because the vast majority of the members of that union are not employed, frankly, the Writers Guild works best as an organization not to protect writers from management but to protect people who want to be writers from people who already are. I have never had any trouble with a studio, with a network, with a producer, with a director, with a star; I have only ever had trouble with the Writers Guild.

Translation: “I am the biggest writer who ever was! And because I am so successful, and obviously a perfect writer, everyone who is not successful must be a failure and a bad writer. The studios love me for writing superficial ‘zingy’ scripts with little reference to the complexities of the real world, so I think it’s terrible if I have to make even the tiniest of sacrifices for other people who may not be as rich as I.

I’m also one of the 9 percent of the Writers Guild who did not vote to support the strike. By the way, I now will not get a WGA nomination, we can rule that out. [Laughs.] It’s not a coincidence that it’s roughly that 9 percent of people who are employed.

Translation: “Everyone who disagrees with me on this is an unemployed hobo hack.”

My feeling is if you want to get the extra three cents on the streaming video — frankly, I never even understood the issue behind the strike because I don’t know anything about technology — if you want to get the extra three cents, write better. Your agent will get it for you. Be good, be in demand [and] your agent will get it! Let the markets work!

Translation: “I make so much money that I don’t give a shit about anyone else. Why don’t they eat cake? And that technology stuff, I don’t know what it’s good for, but I’m sure it will not play any part in writer’s lives in the future. And even if it did, the multibillion-dollar corporations that run the business aren’t really out for profit… they just want to help you! They believe in fair play and niceness, because that way everyone gets what they want! No, we don’t need any safeguards against unethical behaviour, because we know that big industry never behaves unethically.”

Well-said, you overpaid sellout prick.

Battlestargate Universe

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by Jonas Kyratzes

The weirdest thing about Stargate Universe is that is sucks less than its two predecessors. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it is still an utterly derivative show with no imagination of its own – in fact, this time around the producers have been even less subtle about their stealing from other shows. The degree to which Stargate Universe is a rip-off of Battlestar Galactica (with a bit of Lost thrown in) is stunning. From the aesthetics to the plot to the character conflicts to the CGI, it’s such an obvious and pathetic rip-off that I occasionally cannot help but burst out laughing when watching the show.

Nevertheless, watching an episode of SGU is considerably less painful than watching an episode of Stargate Atlantis or Stargate SG-1, despite the fact that both those shows had actors in them that I absolutely adore (David Hewlett was the main reason we watched Atlantis). So why is this?

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Underrated Science Fiction Movies. Suggestions?

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We’re working on an article about underrated science fiction movies – there’s quite a few of them out there that are really intelligent and well-done and that have gotten almost no attention, or that have been unfairly trashed by mindless critics and meme-obsessed geeks alike.

But precisely because they’re underrated, some of these movies are easy to miss. So, we thought we might ask you, the generous internet public, for some advice. Any sci-fi movies out there that you thought were really good and deserving of more attention?

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome

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Yes, there’s going to be a new Battlestar Galactica spin-off.

(from Deadline)

After launching prequel Caprica, which is now airing the second part of its first season while awaiting word on a second-season pickup, the cable network has greenlighted a two-hour pilot for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome or BGBC how it will probably be known in the Battlestar fan universe.

And here’s the network’s description of the show:

Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome takes place in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, a sentient robotic race, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a brash rookie viper pilot enters the fray. Ensign William Adama, barely in his 20’s and a recent Academy graduate, finds himself assigned to the newest battlestar in the Colonial fleet… the Galactica. The talented but hot-headed risk-taker soon finds himself leading a dangerous top secret mission that, if successful, will turn the tide of the decade long war in favor of the desperate fleet. “The ‘Galactica’ universe as re-imagined by Ron Moore and David Eick is rich with possibilities and backstory,” said SyFy’s Mark Stern. “We jumped at the chance to revisit the William Adama character and explore this exciting chapter in the BSG narrative which falls between the events of the original series and the prequel, ‘Caprica,’ currently airing on Syfy.”

“While maintaining the themes of politics, social propaganda, and the timeless question:  what does it mean to be human? – ‘Blood & Chrome’ will also return us to the authentic, relentless depiction of combat and the agony and ecstasy of human-Cylon war, which was the hallmark of ‘Battlestar Galactica’s’ early seasons,” said Eick. Michael Taylor wrote the teleplay from a story by Eick, Taylor and Bradley Thompson & David Weddle.

Now, apart from the fact that the title seems derivative of Spartacus: Blood & Sand (which makes a hell of a lot more sense), do we really need another BSG spin-off? Is the BSG universe – its whole essence determined by one catastrophic event – really that full of possibilities? Is it wise to attempt adding more twists and turns to a backstory that’s already full of holes and contradictions? It’s one thing to go back to a setting that was planned in detail, but BSG was written on the fly, and though it undeniably has its strengths, it already has enough trouble standing up to repeated viewing.

With Caprica being a show so thoroughly uninspiring and lacking in likeable characters that we can’t bring ourselves to watch more of it even though it features some of our favourite actors, and The Plan deserving some kind of award for most incoherent prequel of all time, what are we going to get out of Spartacus: Robots & Humans?

I don’t mean to be cynical. For all its absurd flaws, Battlestar Galactica had moments of grace and power that I am glad to have experienced. But some stories are over when they’re over. There should never have been a Crusade to follow Babylon 5, and perhaps Battlestar Galactica should just be left alone.

Unless someone wants to reimagine the last episode. That would be spiffy.

Updates and other news

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As you may have noticed, updates here at Commentarium have lately (or perhaps always) come in bursts. One of the reasons for that is that we’re working on several big projects; the other is that we would rather provide you with interesting content than with generic nonsense or information and gossip reposted from the IMDb.

These gaps can, however, become a little too large, and it would be silly to pretend that the only thing that’s interesting on the internet is our articles. So we will try to post interesting links or shorter articles every now and then, but only when something is genuinely noteworthy or fascinating. Feel free to send us suggestions!

Another thing we’d like to do is support independent filmmakers. We know all too well how difficult it is to be an indie – we’re in that situation ourselves, and in multiple artforms at that. Any tiny bit of exposure helps, even if only in the form of encouragement. That does not mean we’ll be promoting any indie material that comes our way, no matter how bad; but we’ll gladly watch anything people have to offer, and do interviews and the like. Again, suggestions or queries are very welcome. We’re nice and approachable and not particularly pretentious.

Finally, note that RSS feeds of Commentarium are available in the sidebar menu – they weren’t there when we first changed themes, but we have been reminded that people use them and have thus put them back where they belong. Enjoy!

Tucker & Dale vs Evil

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by Jonas Kyratzes

There is a scene in Tucker & Dale vs Evil which made me laugh so hard that I almost passed out.

Read that again, and understand that it’s not an exaggeration. I laughed so hard, so loudly, and for so long, that my poor blob of a body almost fainted. I don’t know when I last laughed so much – probably in Black Dynamite – but it’s been a while. And to be clear: I do not enjoy the infantile humour of Judd Apatow movies or Scary/Epic/Whatever Movie. I love a really silly joke, but only a strong belief in pacifism keeps me from hunting down and killing the Farrelly brothers for the filmic atrocities they have committed. A genuinely funny scene takes a great deal of intelligence and effort to pull off. Timing, performance, and writing all have to come together in exactly the right way for it to work. If you’ve ever acted in or directed a comedy on the stage, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Making people laugh, seriously laugh, not just snicker, is not easy.

In other words, Tucker & Dale vs Evil is bloody brilliant.

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Doctor Who 1.1: “Rose”

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by Verena Kyratzes

I’ve been aware of Doctor Who forever. Who hasn’t, really? The show is so old and so all-pervasive that it has become a solid part of our cultural history.

About a year ago I started watching the 2005 incarnation of Doctor Who, not having seen anything of the show before except for a few clips and having read a whole lot about TARDISes and Time Lords and Gallifrey. And I was amazed.

To be fair and also to get it out in the very beginning: Doctor Who isn’t my favourite show in the world. It isn’t my second favourite either. Third? We can talk about it, though I’m not sure what the outcome would be. Making lists is a tedious task and one I’d rather not engage in here and now. What I’d like to do now is write about the 2005 series of the show which I’m currently re-watching with Jonas… he’ll have a few things to say too, I’d wager.

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Monsters

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by Jonas Kyratzes

Every once in a while there is a movie that can only be described as awesome. Awesome in the original sense of the word: “Inspiring awe or admiration or wonder.” A movie so full of truth, executed with such skill and such belief in the work, that experiencing it is like being transported to another reality and coming back a different person. Monsters is such a movie.

The setting is simple enough: in the very near future, alien life forms have accidentally been set free on Earth, and have spread in what is called the “infected zone,” which is a large part of Mexico. The United States have responded by building a gigantic wall and by regularly bombing the creatures. Shortly before the borders are to be locked down for several months, a journalist is tasked by his rich boss to accompany the boss’s daughter back home. The trip eventually takes them through the infected zone.

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