News & Such

Short version: Yes, you're still getting an AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D recap for this week (between tomorrow and Sunday) and I apologize for the delay. I could pin some of it on work (things are gathering steam, and I should have exceptionally good news for fans pretty soon) but it's not just that...


The main fact of the matter is that some personal business (even the vaguest details of which are not public in any way yet, so don't bother looking) came to something of a head, which put some added delay onto my current workload. Since I'm not really ready to share anything about this on The Internet, I can only ask for patience and understanding in that regard. Either way, nothing I've been planning or doing has been canceled, just delayed and shifted. Incidentally, along with S.H.I.E.L.D recaps I'm aiming to start movie reviews (video and text) started again in earnest in the near future, i.e. in-tandem with the start of "big movie season."

More to the immediate: The main (non-personal) thing drawing my attention this week has been finalizing the first episode of REALLY THAT GOOD, which I'm aiming to have up for the weekend (we'll see.) It's been a slightly bigger undertaking than I'd anticipated, and perhaps I should've started with a less intimidating subject for a pilot than... well, you'll see; but I'm very happy with how it's coming together and I'm excited for you all to see it.

As ever, fans and well-wishers who like what's going on (and/or are excited for what's coming) are invited to express their enthusiam via The MovieBob Patreon.

Dronehood

Andrew Niccol's (GATTACA, IN TIME) GOOD KILL is being touted as the first major Hollywood war movie specifically "about" post-9/11 drone warfare, which one can (cynically) assume is coming out now because we're almost on to the next election and it's now that much less lightning-rod-y to criticize a war-fighting method that's seen (fairly or not) as belonging uniquely to the Obama Era rather than as a Bush/Cheney holdover.

Ethan Hawke stars as an oldschool fighter pilot who, with the demand for his actual flight skills waning, reluctantly joins a squad of joystick-jockeys blowing up Taliban/Al-Qaeda/ISIS/etc (it's unclear what time period/enemy-cycle this takes place in) from the comfort of a stateside cubicle:



What's interesting about the trailer is that the emotional/moral focus seems to be more about the hero feeling like this detached/no-risk version of war fighting is somehow less "fair" or righteous than doing the same basic thing but from an actual plane, which is certainly a... unique way to go about the "old soldier questions his values" story-arc.

You've got to wonder how far (or in what direction) this aims to go: You can easily imagine, from this trailer, the main narrative being that this "Real Soldier" tested/trained by "Real Combat" gradually becomes horrified by the callous cruelty of a new generation that sees this as one big video game and striking back against that mindset i.e. "MY warfare was good because we had real men taking real risks - this is... something else!" (Supposedly that was the basic storyline for Maverick in the once-again stalled TOP GUN sequel.)

...OR is this one going the even darker, more difficult route of the impersonal nature of drone-piloting causing Hawke's character to realize that - removed from the visceral thrill of actual flying and the nominal risk of injury to his own person - maybe the war-fighting he'd dedicated his whole life and being to wasn't as righteous and good as he'd believed it to be?

I'm guessing it's the first one - the John Henry vs. The Steam Drill "aging noble hero versus the cold technology replacing him" narrative is a powerful siren's call, particularly for leading men themselves of advancing age. Early reviews have been mixed, but with Niccol (who could really use a hit at this point) directing it should at least look pretty good.

In Dog We Trust

Below, the trailer for MAX, which answers the question "How do you make a story about an Afghan War veteran recovering from severe PTSD even more wrenching and instantly sympathetic?" as follows: "Well, what if he's also a dog?"



Jesus.

I've got a well-acknowledged "thing" for dog movies, and between this and WHITE GOD it feels like someone in the movie business might actually be trying to kill me. Just the idea of this is so instantly rough I can almost forgive the trailer essentially giving away it's own third act (a soldier who knew Max's Marine owner shows up, he's a bad guy up to bad-guy stuff, Max and teams up with the kids to fight them) - it's likely a calculated move to let audiences know that it's not going to be wall-to-wall sad dog business. Oomph.

Seriously, though - this looks like the good version of a movie that get's pitched as a joke in some THE PLAYER-style satire of predictable Hollywood sentimentalism ("It's not sad enough! What if it's a sick dog instead?"). I'm onboard, but damn. And it's directed by Boaz Yakin, who did REMEMBER THE TITANS (I just made at least one person cry by typing that title - garaunteed) so you know he's really good at this shit.

MAX is due out June 26, opening as family-friendly counterprogramming against TED 2. I'll be spending the intervening months learning to steel myself into a sob-proof-state, since I'll likely have to see it at a press screening.

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