GHOSTWOOD 008: "The Return, Part 5" is Up!

"You're still with me.  That's good."

-- Doppelgänger Cooper to BOB, Twin Peaks: "The Return, Part 5"

It is happening again...My co-host with the most Xan Sprouse and I are back once again with a new episode of Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast!  This time, we review "The Return, Part 5", the fifth episode of the Showtime revival of Twin Peaks!

LET'S ROCK!

In our eighth episode, Xan and I discuss things like episode titles, getting spoiled with two episodes back to back, DVRing American Gods in favor of Twin Peaks, wondering if the hitmen trying to kill Dougie are connected to the long-lost Phillip Jeffries, wondering how Dougie got the Black Lodge ring, tracking Major Briggs' fingerprints, the creepy morph of Doppelgänger Cooper's face with BOBs, the return Gary Hershberger as Mike Nelson and Peggy Lipton as Norma Jennings, wondering if Becky Burnett is going down the Laura Palmer path, the Lucky 7 Insurance crew being used to Dougie acting weird and wearing ugly yellowish-green jackets, Cooper getting some case files, Mitchell from Mystery Science Theater 3000, Pit Boss Warrick getting a promotion, Dr. Amp's golden shit shovels, Dr. Jacoby going total Alex Jones conspiracy wacko, wanting to see Twin Peaks cosplay, Deputy Chad being all kinds of shady, David Lynch's son Riley and the band Trouble, Xan's love of peeling plastic film off new appliances, the introduction of total douche Richard Horne, Doppelgänger Cooper not going to call Mr. Strawberry, wanting Child Protective Services to rescue Crack Mom's kid, hoping that David Lynch has secret footage of David Bowie as Phillip Jeffries, making Dr. Jacoby's Cosmic Flashlight, the Wonder Woman movie, and more!

If you'd like to check out our latest episode, you can find us on...

iTunes -- RIGHT HERE

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Be sure to come back next week as Xan and I review "The Return, Part 6", the next episode of the Showtime revival of Twin Peaks!  Look for more of Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast on iTunes, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

DAMN Good Movies -- My Top 10 Movies of 2013

Another year is officially history, so I thought I'd pass along a few random thoughts about my personal favorite films of 2013.  For those not familiar with my typical disclaimer, this list only contains films I actually managed to see in theaters or on home video, so if you don't see your favorite here, that's probably why.

1.  American Hustle -- After last year's surprise Silver Linings Playbook, I'm curious if David O. Russell will finally get that Academy Award for Best Director.  This is another ensemble film, but it captures the cheesiness of the late '70s so well and ends up being more than just a showcase for his cast.  But hey, how can you not like a movie with Batman as a skeevy con man with a bad combover and a gut, Lois Lane posing as his British aristocrat partner, Hawkeye as a schmoozy New Jersey mayor, and Mystique as Batman's manipulative wife who's prone to almost burning down the house on a regular basis?

2.  Saving Mr. Banks -- John Lee Hancock's film about the development of Disney's Mary Poppins is blatant Oscar bait, but it's entertaining Oscar bait.  Tom Hanks as Walt Disney is perfectly inspired casting, even though the film (a Disney production, of course) completely ignores awkward subjects like Uncle Walt's apparent antisemitism.  Expect a Best Actress nod for Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers and maybe a Best Supporting Actor nod for Paul Giamatti or even Colin Farrell, of all people.

3.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug -- The second of Peter Jackson's overly-expanded adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is a signficant improvement over the first, if only because it doesn't take over a half an hour for things to get moving.  The addition of new female Wood Elf character Tauriel is a welcome break from the dwarf sausage fest, and Legolas fans can enjoy seeing him show off all over again.  But at last, we finally get Smaug, voiced so well by Benedict Cumberbatch, in some truly impressive sequences set inside the Lonely Mountain.

4.  Star Trek Into Darkness -- That's right, regardless of what a bunch of bitter old Trekkies want so desperately to believe, this is actually a decent movie.  J.J. Abrams' film isn't perfect, because no film is, but it's way more fun and entertaining than The Final Frontier, Generations, Insurrection and Nemesis could ever hope to be.  And yes, Benedict Cumberbatch would've probably been more effective as Gary Mitchell than Khan Noonien Singh, but he manages to make the role his own instead of simply rehashing the late Ricardo Montalban.
 
5.  Man of Steel -- Another film unfairly maligned by cynical fanboys.  There are legitimate criticisms of Zack Snyder's first take on Superman (Jonathan Kent's uncharacteristic paranoia, the excessive destruction of Metropolis), but did everyone conveniently forget about Bryan Singer's failed reboot Superman Returns?  That movie proved it was time to move past the Donner films of thirty years ago, and overall, Snyder delivered with a fresh, stylish depiction of Krypton, some truly super uses of superpowers, and a much more worthy successor to the late Christopher Reeve than Dean Cain, Brandon Routh and Tom Welling.

6. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire -- The second of four films based on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games book trilogy moves beyond an Americanized Battle Royale and develops into its own mythos. Thankfully, Francis Lawrence proves to be a better director than his predecessor, exploring the central themes with a larger budget that results in more of an actual film and less of a cheap, made-for-TV movie on Syfy.  However, as compelling as Katniss Everdeen is, the supporting cast (especially the men) still seems horribly underwritten and the abrupt ending comes off like a TV commercial break.

7.  The Wolverine -- After losing Darren Aronofsky, no one expected James Mangold's movie to turn out as well as it did.  It's even better on the Blu-Ray "Extended Cut" that adds in a bit more violence and a few more F-bombs, although still falls short in the third act where the engaging drama abruptly shifts tone into a standard superhero movie.  Regardless, the film's setting in Japan makes more a great change of pace, and star Hugh Jackman still refuses to phone in his performance even after all this time.

8.  World War Z -- A pleasant surprise that could've been much, much worse.  Marc Forster, the guy who dropped the ball in Quantum of Solace, dealt with numerous rewrites and reshoots, so you would expect a complete mess as a result.  But somehow, inexplicably, Brad Pitt flying around the world on global zombie attack tour flows together pretty damn well.  There's also a fun bit for Doctor Who fans, with new Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi as, of all things, a W.H.O. doctor.

9.  Pacific Rim -- One thing that's great about films by Guillermo del Toro is that they're never dull.  And this film, with Earth under assault by giant monsters called Kaijus and defended by men piloting equally giant mecha called Jaegers, is certainly no different.  Charlie Hunnam showed potential as a movie star, Idris Elba showed he's still awesome as Idris Elba, and Ron Perlman still finds a way to steal every scene he's in.  Unfortunately, the movie turns out to be little more than Giant Monster vs. Giant Robot destruction porn, which has its audience, albeit a far too limited one as the disappointing box office proved.

10.  Thor: The Dark World -- Another movie that suffered considerable creative problems during production.  Alan Taylor's sequel to Thor pales in comparison to Kenneth Branagh's Flash Gordonqesue first movie, but the returning cast is as appealing as ever.  Fans of Tom Hiddleston's Loki are rewarded with his increased presence, which makes you wonder if the movie should've been called Loki: The Dark World instead.  Unfortunately, former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston disappoints as the new Big Bad, Malekith, and the bonus closing credits scene probably makes no sense unless you're a diehard Marvel Comics fan.

All in all, a fun year at the movies and a definite upgrade over 2012.  Bring on 2014!

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS: The Cumberbatch Maneuver

I don't know whether to be impressed by all this or just plain exhausted.

As some of you already know, I've been a big supporter of the theory that the villain for the upcoming J.J. Abrams movie Star Trek Into Darkness would be original TV series character Gary Mitchell since October of 2010 when Badass News quoted an anonymous source naming Mitchell, Harry Mudd, Trelane, the Talosians or the Horta as the film's chief antagonist.  Working off the basis that the source was actually legit, Mitchell seemed to me like the best pick because of the character's friendship with Captain Kirk and the growing godlike powers he acquires that would make for a dramatic, visually exciting movie.

A year later, speculation centered around the return of Star Trek II nemesis Khan Noonien Singh instead, with actor Benicio Del Toro turning down the role and a number of other candidates being rumored before Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch was ultimately cast.  Khan speculation continued to build, until Star Trek actor Simon Pegg was interviewed six months later and said no, it wasn't Khan and called the rumors "a myth."

The Cumberbatch mystery abruptly shifted to Gary Mitchell, where I was already waiting and tapping my foot impatiently, when Karl Urban was interviewed a month later and said of Cumberbatch, "He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary."  This, of course, was in complete contradiction to comments from co-writer/producer Bob Orci who claimed Mitchell, Janice Rand, Charlie X, Ruk the android from "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", and the Borg were definitely not in the sequel.

"Aha! Told you so!" came the smug, validated cries from Team Khan, who loved to point out that Gary Mitchell couldn't possibly be in the Star Trek sequel because he recently appeared in the first two issues of the ongoing Star Trek comic book series from IDW Publishing, which has Bob Orci as a creative consultant, and was killed off.  Right, because the movie producers couldn't possibly decide that their movie continuity needs were more important than adhering to a comic book retelling of a classic TV episode if they wanted.

So what the hell was going on?  Was Cumberbatch playing Khan, Mitchell or someone else entirely?  And were Star Trek fans being deliberately fed misinformation?  Looking back, it certainly seems that way.

Months passed with details of Cumberbatch's character, along with the characters of co-stars Alice Eve and Peter Weller, still under lockdown greater than classified national security intel.  Last week, we finally saw two versions of a one-minute teaser trailer that sent Team Khan and Team Mitchell at one another again with Team Garth of Izar desperately trying to be taken seriously.

And then yesterday, the above still image of Cumberbatch as Khan-or-Mitchell in the Enterprise brig (behind a wall of transparent aluminum?) was released with an official caption that named him as the character "John Harrison." 

Excuse me, who?

Well, maybe this Harrison, an extra in the original TV series who, depending on the episode, wore all three colored Starfleet uniforms of command, science/medicine, and operations/security.  "Aha!  Harrison was in the episode 'Space Seed' with Khan as a red-shirted operations officer!"  Shut up, Team Khan.

Oh, and J.J. Abrams also decided to invite a bunch of journalists to a screening of the film's first nine minutes Sunday night, people who certainly don't know their way around a computer.  Well, one of those people spends all of two seconds on Twitter to announce that guess what?  Even though Alice Eve has the exact same hairstyle and blue Starfleet uniform as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner from the Gary Mitchell episode, she's playing Carol Marcus, who was Kirk's ex-wife in Star Trek II.  "Aha!  Told you--"  Shut up, Team Khan!

Yes, speculating speculation is speculative and you really have to credit J.J. Abrams, Bob Orci and everyone involved with this production for keeping Trek fans guessing and adding to the overall buzz.  At this point, the villain could be anything from Khan, to Gary Mitchell, to both Khan and Gary Mitchell (Holy crap if that happens...), to something else entirely.  Oh, and we still don't know who Peter Weller is playing.

Oy.  I think I need to start checking the Doctor Who 50th anniversary message boards for a while...

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Teaser Trailers Debut

So...Shall we begin?

It's been a bit of a wait, but we finally have our first official look at Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to 2009's Star Trek from director J.J. Abrams.  Until now, the most we've been given is this plot synopsis:

In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes "Star Trek Into Darkness."

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

A one-minute teaser trailer was released this morning, showcasing the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise facing Benedict Cumberbatch's still-unrevealed character who may or may not be Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan or Gary Mitchell from the classic Star Trek TV episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before."  Maybe-Khan-or-Mitchell is featured in this menacing voiceover:

"You think your world is safe.  It is an illusion, a comforting lie told to protect you.  Enjoy these final moments of peace, for I have returned...to have my vengeance."

Since this is a teaser, we're given a number of fleeting images, including Kirk and Bones fleeing from something and jumping off a cliff into an ocean below, Khan-or-Mitchell leaping into view from a very great height and aiming a weapon, a ship (The Enterprise?) emerging from an ocean, Enterprise crewmen falling down corridors after the starship is tilted downwards, Kirk punching Khan-or-Mitchell while Spock looks on, Alice Eve (as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner?  Janice Rand?) screaming in terror, Scotty comforting a crying Uhura, panicked people on the street as nearby buildings collapse, and the final money shot of the Enterprise or some other Starfleet vessel cannonballing into a bay.

Interestingly, there's also a Japanese trailer that has a few minutes of extra footage at the end.  Khan-or-Mitchell has a bonus voiceover where he says "Is there anything you would not do for your family?" followed by an image of Spock's hand reaching out to touch Kirk's despite being separated by protective glass the way the characters did in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan when Spock died saving the Enterprise from destruction.  Intentional red herring or tipoff clue?  You can view this Japanese version here...



Star Trek Into Darkness is scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 17, 2013.

STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF GARY MITCHELL in 2012?

Well, this should tweak the classic Star Trek reboot-hating purists a bit...

According to Badass News, any previous rumors of Khan Noonian Singh being the villain for the new Star Trek movie are false.  Instead, their anonymous source reports that there won't be a traditional villain but the story will focus on a classic Trek character from the first season of the original series.  Their source refuses to name the specific character, however...

It’s definitely a character that will make fans of TOS excited. Think along the lines of Harry Mudd or Trelane or Gary Mitchell or the Talosians or the Horta. Actually it’s one of those that I named.

Of the five listed above, I have to think that Gary Mitchell would be the most interesting for a big-budget motion picture.  Mitchell was featured in the second pilot episode of Star Trek, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," in which he became a near godlike being after the U.S.S. Enterprise broke through the Galactic Barrier that exposed him to strange energy usually found in superhero origin stories told in various 1960s Marvel comics written by Stan Lee.  Predictably enough, Mitchell gradually becomes more of a threat to everyone's safety as his power increases, so Captain Kirk gets Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, the ship's psychiatrist who has also started to develop these godlike powers, to keep Mitchell at bay until Kirk can bury his weakened, not-quite-so-godlike ass under a phaser-induced rockslide. 

You can almost picture Tom Cruise begging J.J. Abrams to be Gary Mitchell, can't you?