McCoy: You can’t be serious. That thing is virtually made out of stone!
Kirk: Help it. Treat it.
McCoy: I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer.
Kirk: You’re a healer. There’s a patient. That’s an order.
Star Trek — Season 1: Episode 26 — “The Devil in the Dark”
Cordelia: Wake up! (Cordy slaps Giles)
Giles: Cordelia?
Cordelia: Took you long enough to wake up. My hand hurts.
Giles: Pity. Oh… Why are you here?
Cordelia: Things are way out of control, Giles. First the thing at school, and then my mom confiscates all of my black clothes and scented candles. I came over here to tell Buffy to stop this craziness and found you all unconscious… again. How many times have you been knocked out, anyway? I swear, one of these times, you’re gonna wake up in a coma.
Giles: Wake up in a… Oh, never mind. We need to save Buffy from Hansel and Gretel.
Cordelia: Now, let’s be clear. The brain damage happened before I hit you.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 3: Episode 11 – “Gingerbread”
I’ll be honest, since Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was first officially announced a little over a year ago it became my most anticipated Star Wars movies, far more than The Force Awakens. As much as I enjoyed that film, Rogue One was always easier for me to get excited about. I love the idea of exploring the vast Star Wars universe without having to be tied into the story of the Skywalker family (in the way many of the books did), and with the departure of George Lucas I was less worried about whether or not Rogue One is the “true” version of the story. Canon has always been important to me, so the fact is that I’ll never be as attached the main series of new films the way others might be, no matter how much I enjoy them. But I am 100% behind Rogue One, whose first trailer debuted this morning and which promises a very different take on Star Wars than we’ve ever seen before. Take a look at the trailer below and tell me what you think, and then check back later in the week for a more in-depth analysis complete with screencaps (I keep wracking up more articles to write, don’t I?). As for my first thoughts, it’s definitely thrilling, and I love how it’s going out of its way to give us a different view of events with which we’re somewhat familiar. It’s trying very hard to differentiate itself from the main series of films, which is definitely a good thing. Plus I’m already rooting for Felicity Jones’ character, Jyn Erso, and more strong female protagonists can only be a good thing!
Valuable and ingenious he might be, thought Jack, fixing him with his glass, but false he was too, and perjured. He had voluntarily sworn to have no truck with vampires, and there, attached to his bosom, spread over it and enfolded by one arm, was a greenish hairy thing, like a mat – a loathsome great vampire of the most poisonous kind, no doubt. ‘I should never have believed it of him: his sacred oath in the morning watch and now he stuffs the ship with vampires; and God knows what is in that bag. No doubt he was tempted, but surely he might blush for his fall?’
No blush; nothing but a look of idiot delight as he came slowly up the side, hampered by his burden and comforting it in Portuguese as he came.
‘I am happy to see that you were so successful, Dr Maturin,’ he said, looking down into the launch and the canoes, loaded with glowing heaps of oranges and shaddocks, red meat, iguanas, bananas, greenstuff. ‘But I am afraid no vampires can be allowed on board.’
‘This is a sloth,’ said Stephen, smiling at him. ‘A three-toed sloth, the most affectionate, discriminating sloth you can imagine!’ The sloth turned its round head, fixed its eyes on Jack, uttered a despairing wail and buried its face again in Stephen’s shoulder, tightening its grip to the strangling-point.
‘Come, Jack, disengage his right arm, if you please: you need not be afraid. Excellency, pray be so good – the left arm, gently disengaging the claws. There, there, my fine fellow. Now let us carry him below. Handsomely, handsomely; do not alarm the sloth, I beg.’
HMS Surprise – Patrick O’Brian
Jayne: Yah! Get along!
Mal: You know, they walk just as easy if you lead ’em.
Jayne: I like smackin’ ’em.
Book: Hope this corral’s strong enough to hold them. “Shepherd’s” a purely figurative title, you know.
Zoe: Next time we smuggle stock, let’s make it something smaller.
Wash: Yeah, we should start dealing in those black-market beagles.
Firefly — Episode 5 — “Safe”
Today Disney released the first full trailer for The BFG, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the book by Roald Dahl. I hope to have a longer breakdown of the trailer later this week, but for now take a look below and let me know what you think. I’m personally thrilled that Spielberg and Disney are finally teaming up on a film, and I’m excited to see Spielberg returning to animation (even if The BFG is not fully animated). I loved what he brought to The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which felt 100% like a Spielberg movie while still capturing the essence of what makes animation special. The BFG will feature a lot of motion capture, including new Oscar winner Mark Rylance (from Spielberg’s previous film, Bridge of Spies) as the titular character, but it appears that Ruby Barnhill’s performance as Sophie will be live action. The BFG is one of the few Roald Dahl books I haven’t read, so I can’t speak to the film’s faithfulness in adapting the original story, but Spielberg is my favorite director and I have faith in his ability to craft a compelling story. And it’s nice to see him return to family movies every now and then. But take a look at the trailer and let me know what you think, and hopefully I’ll be back to talk about it some more later in the week complete with screencaps!
Most films that aim to be as topical as Eye in the Sky tend to be boring slogs, more concerned with hitting each hot-button issue or pulling the right strings than with telling a compelling story. Eye in the Sky, however, manages to do both. It’s a white-knuckle suspenseful tale of a mission to apprehend potential terrorists in Kenya while also managing to bring depth and subtlety to the debate about drone-based warfare. In many ways the film is a cinematic version of the Trolley Problem, the famous thought experiment that is a favorite in Intro to Psychology classes and occasionally makes appearances onscreen, and where another film about the drone war might come down definitively on one or the other side of the debate, director Gavin Hood has instead crafted a story complex enough to not offer any simple answers yet simple enough to foster a healthy debate. And while Eye in the Sky does an excellent job of showing just how muddy the waters are when it comes to drone strikes, in the end the audience is likely to see in the film a reflection of their own beliefs, whatever they may be, but regardless of your feelings you should come out of the film with something more to think about.
Scotty: It’s a shame for a good Scotsman to admit it, but I’m not up on Milton.
Kirk: The statement Lucifer made when he fell into the pit. “It is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.”
Spock: It would be interesting, Captain, to return to that world in a hundred years and to learn what crop has sprung from the seed you planted today.
Kirk: Yes, Mister Spock, it would indeed.
Star Trek – Season 1: Episode 24 – “Space Seed”
The Love Pirate 