December 9, 2002 - Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Hollywood, California USA
Ron Perlman, Wife Opal & Son BrandonActor Brad Dexter, who rode with Yul Brynner as one of the 'Magnificent Seven' and became a confidant of both Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra, has died at 85.
Dexter had been hospitalized with emphysema and died Thursday in Rancho Mirage. Burly and handsome, he was often cast as a tough guy in supporting roles, which included 1958's 'Run Silent, Run Deep,' starring Burt Lancaster and Clark Gable, and 1965's 'None but the Brave,' starring Sinatra. He made his film debut in the 'The Asphalt Jungle' in 1950, but his most prominent role came in 1960's 'The Magnificent Seven,' in which he starred with Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn. Born Boris Milanovich in Goldfield, Nev., Dexter made guest appearances on the 1950s television shows 'Zane Gray Theater,' 'Death Valley Days' and 'Wagon Train.' In January 1953, he married singer Peggy Lee, but they divorced eight months later.
Soon after his divorce, Dexter befriended Monroe. In 1954, he tried unsuccessfully to persuade her to stay with her husband, Joe DiMaggio. His friendship with Sinatra took on legendary proportions during the filming of 'None but the Brave' in 1964. On location in Hawaii, Sinatra nearly drowned and Dexter saved his life.
Dexter's biggest movie credit as a producer was 'Lady Sings the Blues,' the Billie Holiday story starring Diana Ross in 1972. He also made guest appearances on several popular shows, including 'Mission Impossible' in 1966 and 'Kojak' in 1973.
"STAR TREK NEMESIS Review
STAR TREK NEMESIS is a still-borne baby. The film is lifeless, fragile and heartbreaking. You watch as something you love just lays there without so much of a twitch of life.
The trailers were the ultra-sounds that gave me hope. In the trailers I thought I detected ever so slight motions and life. These tiny glimpses of life in the effects -- a captured moment here or there-- It made me dream that a new Star Trek would be born screaming into our lives with the promise of future years of development -- instead the tagline: A GENERATION'S FINAL JOURNEY... BEGINS also ends with this film... hopefully.
The most embarrassing moments have been taken out of what might have been, but the flat line of energy drones ever on without dipping or spiking. A monotonous hum of boredom that made me want Star Trek dead for a generation grew up inside of me.
Sometimes as a farmer you plow the crop under and you just let nutrients go back into the soil. Sometimes you do this for a season or two. A period of time where new ideas can germinate with new crops and new pursuits. Because right now, Star Trek has gone to the same field to plant it's infertile seed too many damn times.
From the first flaccid intonations of Jerry Goldsmith's worst ever Star Trek contribution, you know this is bad. His score feels like its 17 musicians plus Russell and his miracle Casio keyboard backing it all up.
Patrick Stewart has grown tired of this. He no longer seems to find any of this endearing. There's one moment of cheer in his face while driving that ridiculous vehicle that made me see Stewart shine. It's a brief moment -- and it is all too fleeting. Throughout this film Picard seems to be going through the motions. -- Oh here I go getting rid of Number One -- I really must give a terribly written half-hearted speech about hating to see him go Now I must ambiguously end this so they can once again dredge me back up if they must. In all -- it plays about as exciting as all that.
Jonathan Frakes has three faces. Happy, Smug and Determined. They all belong on television.
Brent Spiner is the real tragedy of the Next Generation. Here was an actor that I feel genuinely showed promise, yet has been given zero development to work with. He just doesn't have much of anything to do here. He has the same bank of faces and ever so not so subtle hints of humanity -- feelings of isolation and loneliness, of not being in on the joke, yet always willing to sacrifice for others. I'd kill to see Brent be given dramatic non-silly bullshit parts in a quality film. I think he has potential to actually be more than he's been. LeVar Burton is not really in this film.
Michael Dorn's Worf is now being played like the stereotype of the drunken reservation Indian. He's pathetic. A joke to everyone. Just absolutely embarrassingly awful.
Gates McFadden, lovely as ever, has absolutely nothing to do.
Marina Sirtis is the worst regular working acting professional in the history of Star Trek. Her seductive come hither of Riker in their bedroom made me think of the old shower hag in THE SHINING or this one lady that Quint and Tom Joad ran into at a gas station in Atlanta that apparently offered a blowjob and a watch for $10. Just ew. You could tell she was absolutely uncomfortable with the scene. The bad lighting on her PSYCHIC EYE moment is among the most ridiculously awful lighting in the history of cinema. They were getting that sort of thing right in the silent era, and they couldn't get it right now? What the fuck?
Tom Hardy's Praetor Shinzon -- I love it-- Here's this skinhead from Remus whose big bit of evil is "I'm you and You're me!" Oh wow. I'm so threatened. The adolescent version of myself wants to kick my ass. If Picard was an ounce of the man Kirk was, as soon as lil bitch version of himself showed up, he'd kick-start the prick's jaw and piss in his tank! The bullshit stuff about -- "Other than the broken nose and cheekbones I suffered we look EXACTLY THE SAME" crap -- Oh, I love a movie that points out the exact problems with the make-up -- but then does it wrong. So Shinzon was the one with the broken nose? His nose was perfectly straight and Roman in shape -- whereas Picard's is the one that looks like it might possibly have been broken at some point. His whole Snidely Whiplash -- I'm evil because I'm him bullshit was terrible. The biggest problem is he looked like a punk. Not only could Picard kick his ass in that plastic nightgown he was wandering around in, but when his chemotherapy look starts happening, a suckerpunch to the gut would've doubled lil bitch in two. Dina Meyer -- Ok, so you hire an absolute goddess to wear the shittiest clothes on television-- I mean Film-- you cover her face in the worst make-up work I've seen in film in perhaps15-20 years. Here's the girl that was wonderful in STARSHIP TROOPERS -- 'remember the shower scene'? and you just give her a bad Liza Minnelli hair cut -- actually it is more like those Mod Wigs you could buy in 1966 at the Five and Dime in October. Again she has nothing to do.
Oh and then there's Ron Perlman. Ron is a great character actor -- a great makeup actor. We've seen how he just transforms inside of great makeup into characters we love, but here: One his make up is shit. Two: his character has shit to do. This was just sad and tragic and just awful. At least Ron gets to do HELLBOY next -- there he has great makeup by Rick Baker and a real director and a real script. You'll see what he can really do there. This film is just complete lameness with the exception of Digital Domain's visual effects work. Other than that the film is shit.
It amazes me. They go from TV to film -- They go with DIGITAL DOMAIN instead of the TV effects folks, so they want to improve -- but do they go to a Stan Winston or a Rick Baker or a Weta for their makeup? Oh god no. Do they even try to blend the shadows on the Romulan faces? No. Other than Shinzon's advanced whatever problem makeup -- it all looks like crap.
The singing is random and serves no purpose other than to be Cute Data moment number 844521. The car is stupid. Oh here's something...
Ok, remember how the Federation has a rule about non-revealing to pre-Warp societies? Well, this film, they find out there be Android parts on this planet. Instead of setting up an away team with surgical work done to look like natives of the planet. Instead of beaming them down for however long it takes to find out what the Android parts mean and study this new culture to report back to Starfleet and the Federation. No, this time they just Fly down in a shuttle craft with a big jeep style car in it with a machine gun laser gatllin gun on the back and they send the Captain, a Klingon and an Android down -- All of which don't look a thing like the indigenous people on the planet. Blatantly disregard all protocol for Starfleet which this whole film is taking a crap on btw. Just crap.
Then there's the big -- let's use the Enterprise as a blunt instrument and ram the other ship. OK Never mind that they have 70% shields and you have none. That you'd probably just break up on the shields. Let's say that the 'slow blade passes' rule applies and that's not a problem.
What's the basic purpose militarily speaking with RAMMING another ship. Go back to Roman and Pirate times. What's the purpose? One is to cause HULL DAMAGE, the second is to follow-up with boarding parties to seize control of the other ship. This is STANDARD MILITARY POLICY in regards to RAMMING! We see tons of Starfleet personal with rayguns -- of course they never do anything-- Of course Picard decides it is best to send just one person over there. God forbid we escalate the thrills and chills. God forbid you use the crew you have to mount an all out attack. I mean, it is only the sake of mankind at stake here. Sending just the captain to abandon his ship in crew, well that makes shitloads of sense. Especially because he's the one person that can save the enemy from dying, and so long as he's aboard the Enterprise and alive -- Earth is not being attacked. BUT HEY!!! Why nitpick?
Because STAR TREK fucking deserves better than this shit. Because this shit is just awful. Because this doesn't work. For brief moments we have cool space stuff, and woo hoo, COOL SPACE STUFF, but god damn it, let's have some decent character work. A compelling story. Direction from something other than a blind nanny with zero sense of decent style. This film is ugly, bland, non-textured and just boring.
That's the grand Romulan Senate Chamber. Looks more like a tiny committee room. Where's the majesty of the Romulan Empire? The Romulans in this movie look like extras from TEENAGE CAVEMAN that got banished to a bad movie.
The lighting in this film is bad, the makeup is bad, the acting is bad, the story is bad, the action is adequate, the space stuff is cool but uninvolving beyond eye-candy, this is just a waste of resources, time and money. Berman must go. He really doesn't know what he's doing at all here. They defuse every moment of tension with an escape clause in case there's a sequel, which is actually at this moment the best bit of tension they have created with this film-- the fear that there might be another.
P.S. -- Saw a note in Talk Back that wanted me to put this in perspective of the worst Trek films. Let's see that would be STAR TREK V (directed by Shatner and ambushed by Paramount), STAR TREK GENERATIONS and STAR TREK INSURRECTION. I personally feel that STAR TREK INSURRECTION was the worst Trek ever. This film is just like STAR TREK INSURRECTION but just cut out the most embarrassing moments. STAR TREK V is laughably bad - to that point that you can have fun with how bad it is. STAR TREK GENERATIONS is mediocre. So I'd put this as my second least favorite of the series. Personally I'd put David Fein in charge of the Franchise. Afterall he was able to transform the Best Flawed Trek into something MAJESTIC - Imagine what he could do from scratch!
The Delusionally Retarded Mr Beaks Likes STAR TREK NEMESIS
STAR TREK: NEMESIS (d. Stuard Baird, w. John Logan)
You've read El Grande Rojo's scathing evisceration, and thrilled to Alexandra DuPont's eloquently anguished plea for a franchise about-face; now, read the third exciting review of STAR TREK: NEMESIS to grace this site and, behold, I declare that it is..
Good. Well, not good in the sense that, say, 8 MILE is good, but good for a latter day STAR TREK film under the auspices of Rick Berman. Good like a trip to the dentist and finding out that you're free and clear of cavities. I mean, sure, you still had to go to the dentist, but you don't have to go back for another six months. Hell, while you waited, you even got to polish off a halfway decent essay by Anna Quindlen in a month-old issue of Newsweek. Dental appointments surely could go worse.
In other words, I was somewhat relieved to walk out of STAR TREK: NEMESIS, the tenth installment in this waning franchise, and not feel the need to call for the series' termination. Then again, I was walking from the Mann's Chinese Theater over to Hollywood & Highland for the premiere after-party, so while my ebullient spirits may have been a result of having a few drinks on the Paramount tab, at least I could discuss the picture in the company of the filmmakers and not have to worry about punching my way out of the place.
I'll play Michael Musto later; for now, let's talk NEMESIS, and why Knowles and Du Pont are going overboard with the vitriol.
NEMESIS begins with the staging of a brutal coup d'etat of the Romulan Senate by the heretofore-unknown-to-me underling race of Remans (Roman mythical implications aside, they're the Morlocks to the Romulans' Eloi, and just as pale and ugly), an act which is about to upset the universal balance of power once again. The Remans are led by Praetor Shinzon (Logan just *loves* his Roman lore), a shadowy figure whose seizure of power is apparently motivated by his desire for an audience with Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
Meanwhile, Picard and the crew of the Enterprise have gathered for the marriage of Commander Riker and Ship's Counselor Deanna Troi. It's a terribly corny sequence, with wince-worthy repartee being batted around by the cast, but endearing because of their obvious affection for one another. Though I wasn't an avid fan of The Next Generation, I always did enjoy the interplay between the characters, and that charm, which was so lacking along with every other conceivable attribute in INSURRECTION, has thankfully returned in NEMESIS. It makes some of the narrative rough going, including a clumsily integrated subplot involving Data's brother, an earlier android model known as B-4, more palatable than it should be.
In fairly short order, Picard and his crew arrive at Romulus and are promptly greeted by a cloaked bird of prey. (Here's a question from a casual fan: is there some kind of Federation ban on cloaking? Why are the Starships unequipped with what would appear to be a sizeable tactical advantage?) They beam aboard the mysterious ship and meet the forebodingly lit Shinzon, who, it turns out, shares a whole helluva lot more than the balding gene with Captain Picard. Yes, Shinzon is a clone of Picard, conceived by the Romulans, but cast down into the darkness of Remus, where he spent years sowing the seeds of the Romulans downfall. With this accomplished, Shinzon now bears tidings of peace, though it's not long before Picard finds that his hidden agenda is one of pure destruction: first, the Enterprise, then the Earth via some really nasty doomsday beam thingy that's awfully reminiscent of, for starters, the Death Star. This means that Picard must face down a younger, vengeful, possibly more cunning version of himself to save the Earth and the Federation.
Though NEMESIS is remarkably similar to THE WRATH OF KHAN, right down to the climactic sacrifice of one of the main characters, it does deliver a pretty exciting Starship battle, rendered nicely by the aces at Digital Domain. It's been a long time since the f/x in a STAR TREK movie looked this impressive, and I'm thankful that Paramount spent the extra cash to, for once, make the whole endeavor feel like an actual film (even the well-liked FIRST CONTACT seemed little more than a glorified television episode). There's genuine production value up there on the screen, and the sets don't look like they could be run through by a rampaging Boris Karloff.
It could be argued that bringing in franchise outsiders like Stuart Baird and John Logan has resulted in a Trek film aimed more squarely at general audiences, but, frankly, if this series is to endure, those are precisely the folks that need to be reengaged. To that end, I think NEMESIS succeeds as a smart Greatest Hits package with few esoteric indulgences. It's a competent piece of product repositioning, though I sincerely hope this isn't that last we'll see of Picard and company, as the movie's tagline seems to imply. Surely, there's a better send off in store for this cast.
As for the party afterwards, it was an unsurprisingly muted affair for a Monday night premiere. The principals were gathered (save for the jilted Wil Wheaton, who was cut out of the film and uninvited by Berman, all of which is detailed on his website here) and hounded nonstop by fans and well-wishers, while I stood off to the side and chatted with our Once and Future Hellboy, Ron Perlman (who couldn't be more enthused to get started on Guillermo's magnum Mignola opus). It was a nice, dignified affair, but not exactly the kind of shindig where Reggie Hammond would scout for trim, so I headed elsewhere after a few martinis.
In any event, don't let a few scathing reviews put you off; we're genre fans, and we're essentially predisposed to follow the voyages of the Starship Enterprise until the franchise ends up in dry dock. Contrary to the other opinions expressed here, I don't think that will be happening anytime soon, though I do share my colleagues wishes that some new blood be injected into this series pronto. That NEMESIS is merely good enough shouldn't be construed as a creative triumph.
Trilogy's Stern beaming to Sci Fi
NOTE: Mark Stern also worked on The Magnificent 7
After 15 years as a producer and partner in Trilogy Entertainment, Mark Stern is going beyond "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone" into the executive realm as the new head of programming for Sci Fi Channel. As senior vp original programming, Stern will oversee all development and current programming at Sci Fi, which is riding high this month with the success of its 20-hour miniseries "Taken." As part of the job, however, Stern will also work with David Kissinger, head of Sci Fi's sibling Universal Television Prods. division, on developing science fiction-themed projects for other networks.
Including replays, Taken drew 23.5 million unique and unduplicated viewers, and averaged a 4.1 rating (3.25 million households) for the weekday premiere episodes. SCI FI also topped key demographics for the week:
-Top household rating (2.8)
-Top rating among persons 18-49 (1.6)
-Top rating among persons 25-54 (2.1)
-Top rating among women 18-49 (1.4)
-Top rating among women 25-54 (2.0)
-Top rating among persons 18 and older (2.0)
-Top rating among men 25-54 (2.3)
-Tie with ESPN for the top rating among men 18-49 (1.84)
The Dec. 7 marathon of first-week Taken episodes averaged a 1.5 overall household rating (1.18 million households), the largest in the time period in the history of the channel. Taken continues to air this week at 9 p.m. ET/PT weekdays.
"Star Trek Nemesis" World Premiere
December 9, 2002 - Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Hollywood, California USA
Ron Perlman, Wife Opal & Son Brandon
Plus, on E! News Daily:
TUESDAY
12/10 --We're back on the red carpet with Nic Cage at the premiere of his directorial debut, Sonny
-- We go where no one has gone before...to the premiere of the Star Trek: Nemesis
Ron Perlman's Hellboy
"I saw Mike Mignola at a comic book store in New York this Saturday, signing and chatting with fans, myself included. He was naturally gushing over the Hellboy film. He revealed that he would be traveling abroad next month or so to oversee preproduction and set construction. The film will open during World War II, and take place in a set Mignola himself designed, a ruined church the production is building from scratch in a rock quarry. That's the only concerete stuff I overhead him discussing, really, though he couldn't stop raving about Ron as Hellboy. Hope maybe this will give a little previously unrevealed insight to the movie." [From 'Nightwing'.]
Perlman Confirms Hellboy Start
Ron Perlman, who will play the title role in the film adaptation of Mike Mignola's Hellboy comic series, told SCI FI Wire that he will begin work on the movie early next year. "We're about to start production in February in Prague," Perlman said in an interview. He added that the script is based on "the very first Hellboy installment, which is 'The Seed of Destruction.'" Guillermo del Toro (Blade II) will direct from his own script, about a demon raised by the Nazis who now battles the forces of darkness.
Perlman added that makeup-effects guru Rick Baker has finished designing Hellboy's makeup. "It's very much in keeping with the comic-book character," he said. "It's incredibly beautiful: liquid, vulnerable and fierce. I haven't worked in it yet. I've only put it on and had a screen test in it, but it's not that much unlike anything else where you're basically covered in latex and foam."
For research, Perlman said, "I'm reading everything that Mike Mignola wrote and trying to get into the point of view and the world as one would always do when one is asked to." Hellboy is shooting for a 2004 release.
'Taken' Carries Away Big Ratings
Although the audience for Sci Fi channel's Taken dropped from 6.1 million viewers on its premiere night to 4.3 million on its fourth night, the Steven Spielberg-produced, $40-million miniseries is producing roughly four times the channel's usual ratings, USA Today observed today (Monday). "They're the highest ratings we've ever had," the channel's president, Bonnie Hammer, told the newspaper. Game Show Network president Rich Cronin observed that such hits carry long-term benefits as well. "Every cable network that has had a hit has really seen its overall viewership grow," he told the newspaper.
