Friday, June 01, 2007

Camera Obscura - Knox Geek Alert; 'Battlestar" Ends


Geek Alert!!

Fans of comics, sci-fi movies and TV shows and even 'rasslin (?) will be all over the Knoxville Convention Center starting today and continuing this weekend as they host Adventurecon. One name that caught my attention was Irvin Kershner, who directed The Empire Strikes Back, and of course a host of Star Wars celebs, like Anthony Daniels (C3PO), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and the guy in the Vader suit for the first three movies, David Prowse. (David was also in A Clockwork Orange, too). Also set to attend is actor Billy Dee Williams.

Another name I immediately noticed was Caroline Munro, a Hammer horror gal who was in one of my favorite old horror movies, Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter. Of course she was a Bond girl, starred in the very odd "Starcrash" and in "Golden Voyage of Sinbad" and many more genre flicks.

From Star Trek, there's Walter Koenig and Denise Crosby. A full list of celebs is here at the Adventurecon site. Comic artist John Romita Jr, and many more newer artists and writers are also scheduled to appear. Plus tons of dealer tables and lots and lots of new toys!!! (Oh, I mean "Collectibles")

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Since I'm here in cult film fans and geeks, allow me to point you to the first preview of the new Star Wars show, The Clone Wars. (At this time, no network has signed on to air the show ... maybe a direct-to-DVD release??)

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Director Darren Aronofsky's science fiction movie from 2006, "The Fountain" is out on DVD and I saw it last week. It stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz as a couple whose love story is charted over a thousand year time frame via three parallel stories from the past, the present and the future.

Praise for this movie has been quite large, but I have to say that although I did enjoy the movie, it all kind of fell flat for me. The movie does have much to recommend it for viewing, though for me what most viewers saw as the 'future' time-frame set in a weird bubble-like spaceship I interpreted completely differently, as more of a spiritual landscape of two loving souls searching for each other over time and space.

Acting and effects are all excellent - it just sort of seemed like it needed one more script revision to express itself better. I would say this is one of those movies that a viewer will either simply love or truly hate and find boring. I'm more in the middle - call it an Good Try Which Fails.

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Makers of the highly acclaimed "Battlestar Galactica" series have announced the upcoming fourth season will be the last for the show:

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This show was always meant to have a beginning, a middle and, finally, an end,” read a statement issued by executive producers Ronald Moore and David Eick. “We’ve decided to … conclude the show on our own terms."

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And a favorite mash-up video for you: Ron Burgundy as the King of Sparta!

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:13 PM

    If Eick & crew can deliver a last season of Battlestar as incredible as the first (plus mini-series), I will be satisfied.
    See all you fellow Knox area geeks at the con!

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  2. Anonymous8:13 AM

    Agreed re:BSG. Can't wait to see what they do.

    And JP, did you attend the con? It was our first, and we had a great time.

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  3. I had planned to attend, Paige and fell short of my goal. They don't let me out of Talbott very often. :)
    Glad you got to go!!

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