Slippery Holds on Identity and Reality - Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton

 

     A week with even less free time than last! Expanded work demands hit just as my youthful, junior tech took her week's vacation, meaning I had to do much more physical work than usual this week, and a little spice added as a neighborhood meth lab was revealed hiding in suburbia Thursday midday, starting with a firefight and ending with both a fantastically hot blaze (it takes phenomenal heat to reduce a structure and all its contents truly to ash) and full SWAT teams roaming a locked-down neighborhood. So, distractions of the unwanted kind.

     I seem to be among the minority to have at least somewhat enjoyed the latest sci-fi apocalypse flick, Awake, which appeared on Netflix Wednesday. I watched it on a whim when I woke up in the middle of the night heading into Thursday, and disturbed sleep may have been the perfect set-up for it.
     The core concept is that what at first seems to have been an electromagnetic pulse of unknown origin knocks out the power and all electronics, including most vehicles. Over the next twelve hours or so, though, they realize a bigger problem's in play: No one can fall asleep, no matter how tired they are. Some scramble for drugs to try to solve it, but  everyone's cognitive abilities begin to nosedive, and those in the know enumerate the stages of . Then it turns out there are a couple people who can sleep, and desperate, authoritarian types are quickly willing to go to inhumane extremes to solve the problem.

    With a run-time of 97 minutes, and a core concept that bids to wave aside the usual objection to people doing stupid things because the film's largely about people losing their faculties, I can't connect with all the ire the film seems to have attracted in its first day.
     The film stars Gina Rodriguez, probably best known for her multi-year starring run on the CW's dramedy Jane the Virgin, which won her a Golden Globe, and perhaps for her starring turn in the 2018 sci-fi horror film Annihilation.

     As mentioned last week, Disney+ began its latest Marvel Cinematic Universe series on Wednesday, too, with the first of six high concept episodes of Loki. Spinning off from a change in history during Avengers: Endgame, Loki got an opportunity to escape, and it created a separate timeline. As it turns out, such things are not allowed, and it's the job of The Time Variance Authority (TVA) to prune those branches in time and protect the "sacred" timeline.

     Starring Tom Hiddleston in the title role, the first episode also introduces both the TVA and Agent Mobius, played by Owen Wilson.
     On the one hand, the TVA is suitably creepy as a seemingly almost all-powerful bureaucracy that casually deals in terminal corrections, based on the very questionable presumption that it's cosmic trio of founders really do know what's best. They have an unswerving dedication to the mission - something I expect we'll eventually explore how well-founded that is - and all indications are that they were created to fill their positions, as opposed to being recruited. On the other, it's also charming in some of its instructional cartoon touches, and the general needling of corporate and bureaucratic culture.
     The first episode was a joy to watch, I watched it a second time by Wednesday night, and will likely watch it at least one more time before the second episode drops next week. It's all in the details, the interactions between Loki and Mobius, and the existential crisis Loki is beginning to go through as he begins to shed some of his pretense, are all captivating. While the bigger picture issues, including what the ramifications of the TVA's mission on events in the broader Marvel U. will be, also have my geek motor running, I think that the developments for Loki are approachable and likely to be intriguing even for those who have only casually dipped into the films. A seemingly self-absorbed character is confronted with the reality of himself, the seeming futility and inconsistencies of his stated goals,  existence and his own mortality. He's such a creature of artifice, though, that one can't be completely sure, even with such strong indicators as seeing some of his reactions when he's alone.
     Obviously, I'm enjoying it.
     Just a few TCM picks here at the end.
     Atlantis, The Lost Continent (1961)  George Pal's 1961 fantasy drama about a fisherman in ancient Greece who rescues what turns out to be a princess of Atlantis is one of those fondly-remembered movies from childhood. The sort of fare one hoped to find on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, back when local network affiliates would fill the pre-Prime Time hours with old shows and movies. It's juvenile fare, but a fun time in a sword and sandals period piece from a time when so many of the others involved Hercules. It's a sci-fi pastiche, too, with an inverted man-into-beast version of The Island of Dr. Moreau in the mix.

     Fans of '60s tv will also get at least a small kick from seeing the likes of Edward Platt (the Chief on Get Smart) as Azor the High Priest, and Frank DeKova (F Troop's Chief Wild Eagle) as Sonoy the Astrologer.
     Available on TCM Watch through June 17th, so that'll be gone soon.

     Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966,  87 minutes) is an almost glorious mess of elements. It starts with a psychic telling a hopeful family that a man lost at sea and presumed dead is still alive, sending his determined brother and a couple of buddies on a bizarre arc in his search. A bank robber, a yacht being used as a hideout becomes a hopeful means of rescue. Enslaved islanders being used by a terrorist organization (The Red Bamboo) running heavy water experiments, a giant crustacean monster (the title's Ebirah), a slumbering Godzilla, and, oh, yes, the captive islanders are all devotees of Mothra, praying for her to come rescue them. The mish-mash of elements vaguely reminded me of what was in play in Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell, which I mentioned two weeks ago.

     Aside from Ebirah, it's mostly the humans' show for most of the film, with elements of the low end of that era's spy thrillers, blended with an impromptu heist movie theme. The monsters only coming into play during the final third -- maybe even quarter -- of this less than 90-minute film. It's difficult to tell if the filmmaker really wanted to make a different film, but had to work giant monsters into it, or if it's a giant monster battle film that needed a lot of filler.

     Audiences coming to see it, especially based on the monster v monster trailer, had to have mixed feelings at best about it. I'm reminded of 1943's Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, where the fight only happens in the final minutes of the film.  Available on TCM Watch through July 1st.
  
          Director Richard Attenborough's Magic (1978; 1hr 47 min.) featuring a then-trim, 40 year-old Anthony Hopkins as Corky Withers, a skilled magician who flops until he introduces a ventriloquist's dummy - and, so a more engaging personality - into the act was more effective than I'd remembered.

     An excellent performance by Burgess Meredith, doing his best Swifty Lazar impersonation as Corky's agent, and a solid one by Ann-Margret as an old almost-flame also helps elevate the movie over the expected ventriloquism and personality defects/madness tropes.  Fats, the dummy, manages to be both creepy and oddly endearing. Having Hopkins also supply Fats' voice was a nice touch, as he managed to make it suitably distinct and helped keep the act believable. Available on TCM Watch through June 30th.
     That's all I've the time for this week!   - Mike