THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
05/13/22 -- Vol. 40, No. 46, Whole Number 2223

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Topics:
This Is Like Star Trek's Next Generation Holo-deck
(pointer from Greg Frederick)
Mini Reviews, Part 17 (THE HOUSE, ENCOUNTER,
NIGHTMARE ALLEY, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH)
(film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
Reforming the Short Form Hugo (comments by Dale Skran)
COMFORT ME WITH APPLES (letter of comment by R. Looney)
Romper-Noir, HIDDEN FIGURES, and the "Lady Astronaut"
series (letter of comment by Doug Drummond)
CRUELLA (letter of comment by Gary McGath)
This Week's Reading (THE MARTIAN and RED PLANET)
(book and film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Is Like Star Trek's Next Generation Holo-deck (pointer
from Greg Frederick)

A doctor is making a 3D hologram visit to the International Space
Station:

<https://www.yahoo.com/news/sci-fi-becomes-real-life-
181518521.html>

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 17 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

Here is the seventeenth batch of mini-reviews, more films of the
fantastique:

THE HOUSE: THE HOUSE is listed as a three-part series by Netflix,
but it is really just a three-part anthology film. It is three
stories about a peculiar house, in the past, present, and future,
though the stories are not really consistent with each other. For
example, the first is populated by humans, but the second is
populated by anthropomorphic mice. The film uses stop-motion
dolls, similar to Will Vinton ("Closed Mondays", THE ADVENTURES OF
MARK TWAIN, and the California Raisins commercials), and more
recently to Wes Anderson (FANTASTIC MR. FOX and ISLE OF DOGS). The
three-dimensional animation provides a lot of opportunity for
personality and expressiveness in the characters, and there is an
intense tension below the surface of these stories.

Released on Netflix streaming 01/14/22. Rating: high +2, or 8/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/ tt11703050/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ the_house>

ENCOUNTER: ENCOUNTER starts out with hints of an alien invasion,
and the main character (played by Riz Ahmed of SOUND OF METAL)
seems to be driven by this, but he also is suffering from PTSD and
is paranoid as well. As a result, this is more a story of a
mentally disturbed father kidnapping his sons, with the science
fiction it claims playing little if any part in it.

Released theatrically 12/10/21; available streaming on Amazon
Prime. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4), or 6/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12800524/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/encounter_2021>

NIGHTMARE ALLEY: NIGHTMARE ALLEY is described by its makers as a
new adaptation of the book by William Lindsay Gresham, not a remake
of the 1947 classic film noir version. The production design by
Tamara Deverell, the art direction by Brandt Gordon, and the set
decoration by Shane Vieau are stunning. The carnival grounds are a
world all their own thanks to these artists' work, and scenes of
Stanton Carlisle's old home are reminiscent of Andrew Wyeth and
Edward Hopper. The costume design by Bonnie Cashin is also
note-worthy, with a lot of work on the accuracy of the styles for
the precise year, and specifically with Molly's bright red dress
making her figure stand out from the blue-gray background of the
train station. This film has a star-studded cast, with Bradley
Cooper as Carlisle and Cate Blanchett as Dr. Lilith Ritter, and
supporting actors Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins,
Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, and David Strathairn.
(This is the ninth movie on which director Guillermo del Toro and
actor Ron Perlman have worked together.)

Released theatrically 12/17/21; available on various streaming
services and on DVD. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4), or 9/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039661/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nightmare_alley_2021>

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH: THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH is the first solo
directorial effort by Joel Coen. I believe this is the first time
Macbeth has been played by an African-American (Denzel Washington),
but it is not a token casting--several other roles are also played
by Black actors. Washington was also cast in a previous
Shakespeare film, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Clearly Black actors are
no longer limited to playing Othello. On the other hand this is
just be a very small sample.

Unfortunately, I found the production not up to other Shakespeare
films. The dialogue was delivered in a theatrical rather than a
realistic style (for the latter, see Ian McKellen's RICHARD III),
and the result was that the meaning was not always clear. (In
fairness, I should say that I have seen many of the film and
television versions and none really stand up to some of the Bard's
other plays. Then again, MACBETH is the shortest of his tragedies,
and the fourth-shortest of his plays.)

I will commend the striking set design by production designer
Stefan Dechant, art director Jason T. Clark, and set decorator
Nancy Haigh. Filmed entirely on sound stages (except for the final
scene), it reminds one of the set design in Carl Theodor Dreyer's
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC. And Kathryn Hunter as (all three)
witches was spectacular.

Released theatrically 12/25/21; available streaming on Apple TV+.
Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4), or 6/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10095582/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_tragedy_of_macbeth_2021>

[-mrl/ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Reforming the Short Form Hugo (comments by Dale Skran)

For a long time, I've felt the Short Form Hugo for Best Dramatic
Presentation was not properly organized to give an award to the
best "Television" SF of the previous year. My critique was
three-fold:

- Requiring a particular episode to be nominated "by name" made it
very difficult for a program to receive the award. Fans often love
the show, but prefer different episodes. A great series might get
many nominations for different episodes, but lose out to a single
episode from a lessor series being pushed by an organized fan
campaign. This characteristic also gives an unfair advantage to
long-running series like "Dr. Who" with an large fandom that can
run a campaign for a particular episode.

- Allowing short-shorts that are not regular "TV" shows to be
nominated has the effect of diminishing the short-form Hugo as an
award for series SF.

- The requirement to nominate a single episode also tilts the
playing field in favor of anthology series or highly episodic
television. This may have been appropriate the 1950s/60s when some
of the best SF shows were TWIGHT ZONE and OUTER LIMITS, and
virtually all series programming was rigidly episodic, but is a
much worse match to series performances of the modern age that
feature long story arcs and tight ties between long sequences of
"episodes."

As the world of "television" has expanded to included Internet
shows and has taken on a globalized character, a new problem has
arisen. It may be years before a great SF series makes it to a
venue such as Netflix where it has a wide audience such that it
might get enough attention to be nominated for the short form
Hugo. Thus, we live in a time in which the short form Hugo simply
ignores the best series SF, and is given out to whatever happens to
be on BBC, Amazon Prime, Disney, HBO, or Netflix in the previous
year.

As an example, consider the 2021 short form nominees and winner:

- The Good Place: Whenever You're Ready, written and directed by
Michael Schur (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal
Television, a division of Universal Studio Group) [WINNER] [you can
watch on Netflix]

- The Expanse: Gaugamela, written by Dan Nowak, directed by Nick
Gomez (Alcon Entertainment / Alcon Television Group / Amazon
Studios / Hivemind / Just So)

- The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue, written by Jon Favreau,
directed by Peyton Reed (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)