tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post1762864748778581507..comments2024-03-28T14:49:36.133-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: Cult-Movie Review: Supernova (2000)John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-4704629533469794442017-03-21T16:11:36.047-04:002017-03-21T16:11:36.047-04:00Movie is awesome what ever the critics may say.......Movie is awesome what ever the critics may say.... I love it.Donatella Nobattihttp://wbmttphonesexjobs.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-78344070842058361832014-09-30T15:22:55.795-04:002014-09-30T15:22:55.795-04:002
Central to all of this is the casting of the tw...2<br /><br />Central to all of this is the casting of the two leads and their nonchalant interracial chemistry, where Angela Bassett’s steely cool reserve is the perfect ebony to James Spader’s rakish ivory. And Spader sorta owns this movie, having long since graduated from his 80s yuppie persona and with a following decade’s worth of carnal endeavors such as <b>Sex, Lies and Videotape</b>, <b>White Palace</b>, <b>Dream Lover</b> and Cronenberg’s <b>Crash</b>. Here, he’s in peak buff mode but also older and more mature with his smooth charms and innate talent for phonetic foreplay. Note this particular innuendo spell casting and its clever subtexting of the film’s entire 'supernova rebirth' conceit during their late night interlude over a bottle of pear brandy:<br /><br /><i>"How do ya think they get that in there?"<br /><br />"They put the bottles on the branches so that the buds are inside, and the pears grow right in them. Then, when they’re ripe, the pick the bottles, pour in the brandy and...voilà."</i><br /><br />(come-hithering, in a whisper) <i>"Of course, the real question is, how the hell do ya get it out?"</i><br /><br />Cue zero-gravity sex scene. <br /><br />And, yeah, no doubt the two left with no choice but to gene mix while sharing a single remaining pod for the climactic dimension jump ties together core themes of conception strengthened on human affection that in turn mirrors a hopeful outcome for the film’s ambiguous ending concerning the fate of Earth and all mankind. <br /><br />That aside, I just dig the casual rhythms of <b>Supernova</b> along with the styled personalities of its two lead characters. Some periodic amateur staging and camerawork weakens the film’s technical merits, but such is not a total loss either. Again, like its color scheme, even if it is a tad kitschy. I like some of the throwaway details in verisimilitude such as Tom and Jerry cartoons and ping pong along with schlockier bits involving genetically mutated aberrations and Spader going batshit in a mining suit equipped with...robot claws!—stuff thrown in seemingly at random, merely for bananas’ sake. <br /><br />FF Coppola purportedly salvaged the film through editing and I suspect he’s responsible for a couple of its neater tricks in presentation, one regarding the opening scene (perhaps inspired in part by De Palma’s opening for <b>Mission: Impossible</b>) that forgoes any title cards or opening credits for an event-in-motion dimension jump sequence that flashes images from the third act, almost precognitively, like a mini-trailer for the movie <i>within</i> the movie; another is the eventual closing credits reveal of the title over a montage of Earth’s orbit in a fashion befitting the film’s aforementioned slick millennial attitude.<br /> <br />I’m not defending this as a "great movie" by any means but I do think it a scrappy underdog that deserves a (second) chance by anyone with a fondness for the genre touched up with off-beat lyricism. If nothing else, it actually makes for a pretty damn good at-home date movie, if you catch my drift.<br />Cannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12886860130286869992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-61532978587827864072014-09-30T15:18:33.904-04:002014-09-30T15:18:33.904-04:001
For me, the through-line of Supernova is simple...1<br /><br />For me, the through-line of <b>Supernova</b> is simple: this is a movie about sex ...literally, thematically and on just about every other level in-between. I would argue that such the film's singular running motif.<br /> <br />There are sexual, or at least intimate, relationships between-and-overlapping every two characters (sans Robert Forster, who's suspiciously iced earl on) and even serving as backstory to a degree. Danika and Yerzy fuck like space-bunnies, yet theirs’ proves to be an empty physical relationship bent purely on procreation practice. Implicitly due to lack of confidence with real women, Benjamin (re)programs the ship's A.I., Sweetie, as his personal girlfriend but, obviously, the bond between softy nerd and phone-sex-voiced computer is hindered by fundamental limitations; Sweetie can never escape the boxed behavior as idealized by her lover, no less resulting in the latter's demise. Evers recounts a former toxic relationship that *spoilers* soon resurfaces tenfold in the form of young stud Troy—Troy overall acts as villainous disruptor of the various crew couplings.<br /> <br />Only does Evers and Vanzant’s romance possess a deeper emotional link between two lonely souls amidst the outskirts of the spaceways, sharing genuine honesty and empathy towards each other’s human flaws. In tandem as the motivating sci-fi related device is the alien artifact itself. Upon inspection, one character passingly describes it as an "alien sex object" and indeed said object seems to exist in some constant, 9th-dimensional orgasmic state -- the ultimate vibrator -- seducing certain crewmembers and functioning as a kind of cosmic aphrodisiac. Is it really a WMD, or is it the universe’s very own Spanish Fly method of rebirthing itself every eon? <br /><br />Yes, <b>Supernova</b> is rather junky in terms of narrative, never fully developing secondary characters and with one or two production set-pieces feeling under-budgeted or ill-conceived. Yet its larger story remains not only intact but further achieves a distinctly laidback, sensual tone that is the film’s defining 'Casanova' characteristic. This isn’t the id-heavy horror of <b>Alien</b> or <b>Event Horizon</b>, or the pseudo-philosophical hipster bullshit of <b>Sunshine</b>. It’s more like <b>Red Shoe Diaries</b> with the trappings of an outer space, sci-fi thriller, some of which are admittedly cheap while a few others give the movie a certain playful kick. There’s also a <i>je ne sais quoi</i> to its 2000 release, tail-ending that certain aspect of 90s postmodern 'free love' pop-futurism accentuated by kinky night club colors of glowing neon pink/purple hues (both the set design of ship and the FX alien artifact) and accompanied by erotic jazzy trance music. Hell, even the ship’s name, Nightingale, is similarly idiomatic.<br /> <br /> Cannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12886860130286869992noreply@blogger.com