28 Sept - "One man alone cannot fight the future"

X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)
dir. Rob Bowman (Elektra, 2005)

CAST
David Duchovny (Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, 1991)
Gillian Anderson (The Last King of Scotland, 2006)
Martin Landau (City of Ember, 2008)
Mitch Pileggi (It's Pat, 1994)
Blythe Danner (1776, 1972)
Terry O'Quinn (Young Guns, 1988)
Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises, 2007)
Lucas Black (All the Pretty Horses, 2000)
Michael Shamus Wiles (Conspiracy Theory, 1997)
Jeffrey DeMunn (The Green Mile, 1999)
Tom Woodruff (Hollow Man, 2000)
John Neville (The Fifth Element, 1997)
Gary Grubbs (JFK, 1991)
Steve Rankin (Men in Black, 1997)
Michael Krawic (Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, & Blonde, 2003)
William B. Davis (Behemoth, TV 2011)

The first X-files movie fits in between the fifth and sixth seasons, so in my quest to complete the complete 9 season series, this was a critical step. When we last left our heroes, the sinister Syndicate had conspired to destroy the X-files and put a stop to Agents Mulder and Scully's quest to uncover the truth about a vast government conspiracy against the American people. The concerns mostly a particular part of the show's mythic arc that I've been having trouble with. You see, there's this stuff called "Black oil," because that's what it looks like, which infects a human body in order to control it. This has something to do with an impending alien colonization and Russian and the U.S. are in a biological arms race to create a vaccine. Until the virus mutates and starts feeding off of human bodies in order to gestate big ol' alien monsters (Alien- style) that pop out of their tummies. The movie also goes deeper into the projects with bees that have been broached in the show, but while when bees on the TV show were carrying a variation of the smallpox virus, in the movie they infect Agent Scully with some sort of alien virus. Much like the show's story arc where Mulder has to race to deliver the cure for Scully's brain cancer, Mulder has to race in order to deliver the cure for this new biological foe. Which reminds us all of how scary viruses really are, as expressed by movies like The Andromeda Strain, Outbreak, or that new one I haven't seen yet, Contagion (plus any zombie movie post-28 Days Later).

The ending is rather inconclusive, and segues directly into season 6 of the TV show. All in all, the movie achieved more plot development than would be possible in any single episode, but we are left with little expansion into the greater mythology than the introduction of non-human beings who feed upon humans. One of the greater questions raised in the program is whether there are, indeed, actual extraterrestrials, or whether the government has some even more sinister agenda. At this point, I think the aliens are pretty clear, but what their intentions are, and what the intentions of the Syndicate are, have yet to be answered.

Does this mean that I'm a nerd?

I've been watching too much TV

It's not that I've been neglecting my little website here, I've just become a bit distracted from watching movies lately. I picked up this series called Carnivale, but netflix will only send me a disk with two episodes at a time. In between disks, when I might check out a movie on my netflix instant queue (or finally watch Hang 'em High) I've been watching the entire first two seasons of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, including the commentaries. So - even though this is a MOVIE BLOG and not a TV BLOG. I feel I ought to let you all in on the up&up.

Carnivale (HBO original series) 2003-2005

starring

Nick Stahl (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, 2003)

Clea Duvall (Girl, Interrupted, 1999)

Carla Gallo (Bones (TV), 2008-2010)

Amy Madigan (Field of Dreams, 1989)

I'm almost done watching the first season of this HBO series that was cancelled even before the second season ended. It's about a traveling Carnival during the Great Depression. So first off you've got all the requite freaks, like the siamese twins and the bearded lady. But the main character is this guy who's not one of the performers, he's just a roustabout, tenting up tents and such, except he also has supernatural powers, particularly to heal. Except that whenever he heals someone, something else has to die. For example, a few episodes in he heals a little crippled girl's legs, but all of the crops on the family farm wither and die. So, you know...ironic. Some of the other carnies have mystical abilities as well and it all seems to coalesce into this mythological structure concerning that main guy, Ben, and this other guy in a parallel plotline. The other guy is a preacher named Justin, who also comes into some powerful abilities. At first Justin uses his powers for good, but when faced with extreme iniquity he sort of breaks, and becomes convinced that he is the wrathful left hand of God and I guess he forgets all that nice stuff Jesus said about forgiveness. So one the one part, there's a character drama about carnies, which is cool, and then there's this allegory about the dual natures of good and evil, and that's cool too.

The Adventures of Pete & Pete (Nickelodeon 1993-1996)

starring

Michael C. Marona

Danny Tamborelli

featuring guest stars such as: Iggy Pop, Steve Buscemi, L.L. Cool J, Michelle Trachtenburg

You can probably remember this series about two brothers who are both named Pete from Nickelodeon when you were younger. Watching it again, I'm still impressed by the cinematic quality of every episode, the way every story is delivered in a heroic arc, and the surreal convergence of bizarre and depressing.

In one episode, Big Pete introduces the narrative (usually Big Pete acts as a narrator, recalling adventures which occurred in the past, although in a few cases Little Pete performs this role) by explaining that there is a payphone on the edge of town which has been ringing for twenty-seven years and that no one ever answers the call because they are afraid. Instead, it's slowly driving everyone in the town insane, and no one knows what to do about it. Big Pete finally discovers that the call is for his mother, and when she answers it, she finds out that it's from the telephone company repairman and he's been waiting on the line for twenty-seven years to tell her he's been in love with her his whole life, and then she let's him down easy.