Author: Christian Sauvé

  • The Iron Giant (1999)

    The Iron Giant (1999)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In theaters, August 1999) I like most movies because they entertain. I admire some movies because they’re very well done. I only love a few movies for their emotional impact, and The Iron Giant joins this select club by virtue of being an excellent film. It’s not “merely” a story about the friendship between a boy and a giant extraterrestrial robot, though it is also exactly that. It is, at turns, comedic, dramatic, horrifying, uplifting and every else you’d wish a great film would be. Cleverly constructed and exceedingly well-executed, The Iron Giant is simply wonderful. It can’t escape being a children’s movie (it eschews emotional subtlety and drags as it goes through the early “required scenes”) but also holds as much content for adults. It’s a measure of how good the film is that I was near-tears at the line “I am not a gun”, and horrified at a firepower display that would normally make me cheer. Great stuff, great movie; see it.

  • False Impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes, Thomas Hoving

    ByChristian Sauvé Book Review

    Simon & Schuster, 1996, 366 pages, C$35.00 hc, ISBN 0-684-81134-0

    For someone like me, technically trained in cold, hard matters of equations, algorithms and formal methods, the world of fine arts is as mysterious and incomprehensible as an alien mindset. You look at a picture, you like the picture or not. If you really like it and if it’s for sale, you buy it. Simple!

    Not so simple. C.P. Snow would be proud. Art is not merely something that can be simply reduced to “liking/not liking”. Especially when older artwork is concerned, it becomes a question of cultural pride, personal self-aggrandizement, financial investments… And then troubles begin. When you buy a Roman sculpture to show off, it doesn’t matter if you like it: It does matter if it’s an authentic Roman sculpture, though. Who is to say if it wasn’t hacked out three years ago by some guy deep in Arkansas with a talent for reproducing “authentic” Roman sculptures?

    False Impressions is a book about fake artwork. Well-respected “former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art” Thomas Hoving brings both erudition and wit to this fascinating subject.

    Though the book is not without flaws, it does present the subject adequately. Hoving spends some time discussing the history of fakes, noting that even in Roman times, for instance, artists routinely faked Greek artwork. Medieval times are full of fakery, up to and including the shroud of Turin. The popularization of the art world has given rise to even more audacious fakery at the beginning of the century.

    A lot of the narrative is simply Hoving’s autobiography as far as fakes are concerned. It’s a bit of a disappointment to find out that in many cases, a fake is never entirely conclusively proved as being a fake. It often happens that even the latest scientific methods are simply useless to distinguish fakes, especially if they are from roughly the same period.

    Neither is the fake necessarily of lesser quality and/or artistic merit. Hoving insists that fakes are often of better quality than the original work of art. Generous souls can even consider them pastiche, especially if they’re not meant to represent a specific oeuvre, but a “lost piece” in the same tradition.

    What is a fake, then? It all boils down to the very simple axiom that a fake is not what it’s purported to me. A Roman sculpture produced by our hypothetical Arkansas guy would be a fake if represented as being authentically roman. But it would be a work of art in its own right if represented as “American, 1999”—though probably decried as being an obvious Roman rip-off…

    Any book that can have me thinking about this kind of stuff gets points for audacity. On the other hand, False Impressions is not exactly a great book and part of the problem lies in the medium. Text-heavy books are not a good way of discussing art. Art is made to be seen, to be touched, to be felt in person. A study of fakes almost requires us to be able to compare original with fake, or at least see what we’re talking about. No such luck here: False Impressions does contain photographs, but they’re on a black-and-white insert late in the book that feels a lot like if each one was painstakingly inserted after much arguing. This would have been terrific material for a TV documentary, even a four-part miniseries. But as such, False Impressions is a tease in its text format.

    Compounding the problem is that Hoving might know his subject like few others, but his writing style often veers into irrelevant minutiae. Everything he writes isn’t exactly essential. Where was the editor?

    Still, I have to admire a book that can make me ask questions about artwork and fakery. False Impressions, despite significant flaws, is an eye opener and a mildly diverting trip into a hitherto unsuspected shady underworld. Not exactly recommended to everyone, but worth picking up if you’re really intrigued by the subject.

  • Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows (1998)

    Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows (1998)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 1999) A documentary about wrestling? Yes, and a darn good one. Beyond simply exploring the fascinating “sports/entertainment” business of wrestling (and settling once and for all the question Is-Wrestling-Fake?), Wrestling With Shadows details the real-life sordid business surrounding the fall of Bret “Hitman” Hart, the Canadian “good guy” wrestler forced into “bad guy” status by World Wrestling Federation honcho Vince McMahon and then unceremoniously fired—all in the name of ratings. The documentary is very well-done and incredibly managed to obtain actual proof of McMahon’s duplicity. Wrap this up in the carnival spirit of wrestling shows, and you’ve got a documentary that almost has it all. Though overlong in spots (during flashbacks to Hart’s family history, for instance), Wrestling With Shadows is certainly one of the best documentary I’ve seen in a while, and should appeal to a variety of viewers not necessarily fascinated by wrestling.

  • High School High (1996)

    High School High (1996)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On VHS, August 1999) This gets a failing grade for two reasons. One, this parody of high-school dramas isn’t very funny. Yes, there are chuckles; yes, some set-pieces are great; yes, the whole movie is fun. On the other hand, it’s not that funny if you’re not familiar with the source material, the material isn’t clever or unexpected and there is far too much plot for the various gags. The second failing of High School High is that despite everything, it thinks of itself as terribly funny. The biggest sin of the film is to actually allow long reaction shots to let the audience laugh. (There’s a gag, then a second-long shot of a character looking amused/puzzled/nauseous while -in theory- the audience laughs their heads off, then the movie continues) This, given the non-hilarious nature of most jokes, totally kills the pacing of the film and gives an air of unbearable pretentiousness to the whole movie. Oh well, at least Tia Carrere (and not a few young actresses) looks good, which is considerably more than what one can say about Jon Lovitz.

  • Forces Of Nature (1999)

    Forces Of Nature (1999)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In theaters, August 1999) Yet another one of these everything-goes-wrong comedies that could be over in fifteen minutes if anyone in it acted rationally. But no, we get lies-leading-into-more-embarrassing-lies, idiotic decisions, contrived bad luck and a bunch of other annoying things. The result is a comedy with some moments, but a romance that falls very flat. Fortunately, the direction has its moments of interest, the soundtrack is unusually dynamic and a few scenes work well. Despite the happy (?) ending, this is not really a good date movie.

  • Dick (1999)

    Dick (1999)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In theaters, August 1999) Back in 1973, right after Richard Nixon’s resignation as President of the United States as a result of his implication in the Watergate, not many people would have been favourably predisposed toward a comedy about these events. Times have changed, tragedy plus time equals comedy and Dick arrives as a cross between bubbly teen comedy and nostalgic social comment. Despite a few misfires and an unwillingness to really go over-the-top (or to tone down the most outrageous scenes), this movie does its job reasonably well, and leaves the audience satisfied. Great soundtrack, good acting and a decent script (which unfortunately lags in the second half), plus amusing funhouse-mirror portraits of such figures as Nixon, Kissinger, Woodward and Bernstein. Though not required, it helps enormously to prep up on your Watergate history before seeing the film.

  • Chill Factor (1999)

    Chill Factor (1999)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In theaters, August 1999) A sad paradigm of the stereotypical Hollywood formula action film. Use an easily-graspable premise (two strangers stuck with chemical weapon that detonates if heated up at more than 50F), an unbeatable pitch to studio executives (“Speed on ice!”), two young and popular lead actors (Skeet Ulrich and Cuba Gooding Jr.), terrorist villains and the expected plot twists. Those still hoping for a moderately entertaining film are in for a disappointment. It’s not that these is no chemistry between the actors (though it takes a while to get going) or not interesting stunts (a few action scenes are mildly exciting), but the movie’s flaws overcome its few assets. For one thing, it suffers from serious tone problems, throwing in dramatic tension and dead bodies with wisecracking buddies and over-the-top histrionics. The numerous plot holes (why not bring back Elvis where it started, why let the terrorists go, why “forget” about the ventilation shaft at first?, etc…) don’t help. The choppy action scenes don’t allow us to get involved in the tension. But these are nothing compared to the frustration caused by the ultra-predictable “surprises” of the film, (He stole it! It’s a fake! They’re not dead!) which can be guessed ten, fifteen minutes in advance. Maybe worth a late-night viewing, but not much else.

  • Fool’s War, Sarah Zettel

    ByChristian Sauvé Book Review

    Warner Aspect, 1998, 455 pages, C$6.99 mmpb, ISBN 0-446-60293-0

    A few contemporary Science Fiction critics of late have bemoaned the tendency of contemporary SF to become entrenched upon itself. Rather than being stories about the effect of rational change on humanity, SF is now most about SF itself. Instead of fresh ideas, we get stories that are explicitly about SF gadgets, space adventures with robots, laser guns and aliens that refer only to other SF stories and not plausible development from today’s world.

    This description of SF-as-SF certainly applies very well to the “media” segment of written SF, those bastardized written STAR TREK episodes, or infamous STAR WARS trilogies. These are not SF-as-literature-of-ideas, but SF-as-moneymaking-machine-for-media-corporation. The work aims at nothing more ambitious than giving existing fans a story in a predefined universe where sweeping changes are forbidden by license holders.

    But one doesn’t need to go in media-SF territory to encounter SF-as-SF. The whole segment of space opera is arguably based on premises that will not be realized “in the real world”. Who can argue in favour of Faster-That-Light engines? Who believes that Galactic Empires are a viable form of government? For all we know, FTL drives will never exist and all of space-opera is fantasy.

    So say the critics. And they’re mostly right: SF has acquired a specialized audience in its long existence, and many of these readers are perfectly content with good old-fashioned stories about AIs, robots, aliens and galactic empires. Where critics err, however, is when they assume that SF-as-SF is somehow less worthy than its more realistic counterpart. Which finally brings us to Sarah Zettel’s second novel, Fool’s War.

    Judge for yourself from the plot description: “Katmer Al Shei, owner of the starship Pasadena, does not know she is carrying a living entity in her ship’s computer systems. Or that the electronic network her family helped weave holds a new race fighting for survival. Or that her ship’s professional Fool is trying to avert a battle that could destroy entire worlds.” The only missing thing is a few exclamation points.

    But however conventionally specialized her setting may be, Zettel knows how to please her public. Fool’s War is clearly written (up to a point where it’s easy to skim and gloss over crucial details), her characters are pretty well-defined and the plotting maintains an adequate level of interest.

    Her take on Artificial Intelligence is one of the elements that Zettel brings to the SF idea cauldron by writing a genre novel. In Fool’s War, AI self-consciousness is a product of sudden paranoia. Succinctly put, sentience happens as soon as a program realizes that it is susceptible to being turned off at any moment. The inevitable systemic crashes caused by newly-conscious paranoid AIs are cause of significant concern for many characters in the novel, and some barely-repressed anger from one particular character.

    Distinctive touches like these, plus genuine dialogue skill, cause renewed interest in Fool’s War. Zettel’s attention to the people side make her space opera read far more like Lois McMaster Bujold than E.E Doc Smith. While some elements are unconvincing (Her inclusion of Islamic characters is understandable, but neither touching or impressive), the novel as a while holds up pretty well.

    Though “merely” a genre novel, Fool’s War play the rules of the game very well. Experienced SF readers will find what they expect in here: A good plot, professional characterization and touches of humour mixed with a sprinkling of ideas. With just some more work, Zettel shows a lot of promise as an author worthy of attention.

  • Bullitt (1968)

    Bullitt (1968)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 1999) Some types of movies don’t age very well, and older action films often pace in comparison to the frantic pacing of their more recent cousins. While the car chase centerpiece of Bullitt -nowadays the movie’s main claim to fame- may have thrilled audiences in 1968, it pales in comparison to what’s been done since. The non-action remainder of the film has its moments, but ultimately ends up in an overlong, quasi-senseless foot chase. Though not a bad film per se, Bullitt has few new or fresh things to offer thirty years after its release.

  • Bowfinger (1999)

    Bowfinger (1999)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In theaters, August 1999) Somehow, I expected better from this Hollywood satire, almost as if it was deliberately pulling its punches in order not to offend anyone. Yes, Eddie Murphy does a creditable job in two roles that ask a lot of courage from a superstar actor, but is this the hilarious comedy we could have expected from Steve Martin? Though steadily amusing, there aren’t very many big laughs in Bowfinger and one has to wonder why given the great premise (an actor is manipulated to star in a film without him knowing it). As it is, though, even if the film is a slight disappointment, it is not a waste of time.

  • Blast From The Past (1999)

    Blast From The Past (1999)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In theaters, August 1999) There’s a limit to what you can do with the “fish-out-of-water” concept and this films pretty much reaches it. Fortunately, Brandon Fraser and Alicia Silverstone sufficiently brighten up the screen so that we can gloss over the other less satisfying parts of the film. Some plots “twists” are seen miles in advance. The conclusion annoyingly relies on a coincidence. There’s a very good swing dance number. Otherwise, it’s a good, but unmemorable film.

  • Black Sheep (1996)

    Black Sheep (1996)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, August 1999) Oh my… I sat down to watch this, thinking that if anything else, David Spade’s sarcastic brand of comedy would liven things up. Mistake. Even though Spade comes through with some dignity, I’ve never been a fan of Chris Farley (dead now; not a cinematic loss) and Black Sheep only reminder why. A big, unfunny mess that somehow thinks it’s worth considering seriously, Black Sheep contains a scattering of chuckles, but is otherwise cloyed in false sentimentality and immature embarrassment humour. Not many movie can pull off unfunny characters-on-drugs moments, but Black Sheep does. Thrice. Give this one a miss; it’s a definite potential choice for “worst movie” awards, and not the “so-bad-it’s-good” ones.

  • Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, Dale Pollock

    ByChristian Sauvé Book Review

    Harmony, 1983, 304 pages, C$14.95 hc, ISBN 0-517-54677-9

    Summer of 1999 was flagged, in movie circles, as being “the summer of STAR WARS” given the release of the newest chapter in the saga, STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE. The movie certainly captured media attention for a while, mostly under the form of humorous human-interest stories about the hordes of rabid fans lining up days, even weeks in advance to be the first to get tickets for the movie’s premiere.

    Your reviewer has more than a soft spot for the STAR WARS films, even though this fondness never reached unreasonable levels. Growing up with the STAR WARS films, however, makes them almost critic-proof, impervious to critical judgment. (Seeing the new STAR WARS on opening day was a must, though a flexible work schedule and matinee showings simplified matters considerably.)

    In this context, it might seem a bit belated to do a review of a 1983 biography about STAR WARS creator George Lucas. But after reading the book, the new STAR WARS summer of 1999 makes it the best year yet to review Skywalking.

    Stop. Rewind. Play.

    Skywalking is a biography of George Lucas. From his childhood in California to teenage years marked by a passion for sport cars—a passion that would culminate in a spectacular car crash, and would be immortalized later in AMERICAN GRAFFITI. The narrative follow Lucas from his first few days at USCinema school, through his student films to, finally, his first full-length feature, THX-1138.

    Then Skywalking details the steps leading up to the release of the first STAR WARS film, from the agonizing screenwriting to the chaotic filming (sets destroyed by sandstorms, malfunctioning special effects, etc…) and the almost-unexpected success of the film. By that time, two-third of the books are done, and the remainder of the book seems like routine; the success of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, the production of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, the making of THE RETURN OF THE JEDI…

    Unexpected details pepper this biography. A visit on the RETURN OF THE JEDI set. Descriptions of George Lucas’ student films. A summary of the first, first STAR WARS screenplay. A chapter on the friendship between George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.

    This portrait of George Lucas is fairly complete. Dale Pollock takes great care in establishing, even at first, the traits that would push Lucas to build a cinematographic empire: His thriftiness, his sense of authenticity, his distrust of authority, his desire to entertain and his refusal to compromise.

    Skywalking remains relevant even seventeen years later because this is a relatively unbiased portrait of Lucas. Relatively, because Lucas granted unprecedented access to Pollock, numerous private documents and several interviews. It’s a fair bet to assume that Lucas cannot be studied in this fashion any more: Would his status as a legend of filmed SF (gack!) allow him to collaborate so willingly to a book of this type nowadays? Hmm… LucasFilm is already known for extensive history rewriting… (“EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE”)

    But the true value of Skywalking in 1999 is to be found in the last chapter, where George Lucas allows himself to talk about his future projects: Enhanced special effect, independent production facilities, forays in video games… THE PHANTOM MENACE is the culmination of these elements, and 1999 is the first year where we can see the extent of Lucas’ success. Yes, George Lucas has accomplished everything he’s set out to do. The irony, after seeing THE PHANTOM MENACE, is that he’s put himself in a position of supreme accountability for the considerable flaws of the end product.

    Skywalking won’t convince those who criticize Lucas. It’s not a chainsaw biography, it’s not a slavish portrait of a demigod. It has managed to remain relevant seventeen years. It even shines on current event, proving that nothing ever exists in a vacuum, that nothing new is without antecedents. Not bad.

  • Manhattan Transfer, John E. Stith

    ByChristian Sauvé Book Review

    Tor, 1993, 381 pages, C$5.99 mmpb, ISBN 0-812-51952-3

    New York, New York.

    Has a city ever exerted a greater fascination from the popular media? Whether in song, literature or film, New York has invaded the popular consciousness, coming to stand for the archetype of the Big City. One can easily mention multiple movies taking place there (1997: MIMIC, MEN IN BLACK and THE PEACEMAKER. 1998: ARMAGEDDON, DEEP IMPACT and GODZILLA. 1999: EYES WIDE SHUT and THE CORRUPTOR…)

    People across the world can enumerate New York’s biggest attractions without ever having set foot on American soil: Lady Liberty, the United Nations, the Empire State Tower, the World Trade Center… Even the districts have acquired reputations of their own: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Harlem, the Bronx… (For bonus points, name movies whose title is inspired by these districts)

    For a variety of reasons, New York has become a locus of multiple interpretations. Some of it is simple rural jealousy, though to be honest, in comparison to New York we’re pretty much all rurals. New York stands as the incarnation of all of our feelings toward big cities. Who hasn’t ever dreamt that New York’s problems could be solved by making it disappear?

    That’s what happens one morning in John E. Stith’s Manhattan Transfer. UFOs appear and start severing Manhattan’s links with its surrounding: laser beams cut bridges, subway tunnels, roadways, solid earth… Then a bubble is installed over the city, and the whole package is lifted up in the sky, brought inside a spaceship and installed on a vast plain where dozen of other bubble cities are also lying there…

    A team is quickly formed inside the human city to try to find out what the heck is happening. As they try to enter in communication with the other cities, they find out that the aliens are installing power, water, and waste conducts. Clearly, the aliens want to keep them around for a while… but why? Is this a zoo, an experiment or a grocery cart? (The alien’s true reason for taking Manhattan becomes far too obvious even at mid-book.)

    All of this happens in the first fifty pages of Manhattan Transfer. If only the remainder of the novel could have been that good… Like many premise-driven SF novels, this one falters after the initial setup, and goes on for maybe a hundred pages too long. The middle section is sorely in need of some tightening up. (Maybe by cutting the unnecessary “preacher” subplot?) Fortunately, the novel picks up interest again as it advances forward. If the ending undergoes too many false climaxes, it wraps up in a satisfying, if abrupt, manner.

    Adding to the fun, Manhattan Transfer is written with the can-do attitude exemplified by golden-age SF. The characters of the novel are almost invariably competent men and women, and they won’t stay kidnapped for too long! It’s one of the intellectual pleasures of the novel to see how Manhattanites end up coping with this radical lifestyle change. Though Stith is far more optimistic than it could reasonably be expected, his characters are so sympathetic that readers will forgive some easy rationalizations.

    Devotees of the hard-SF school of thought will find a lot to like in Manhattan Transfer. Even though the writing isn’t as concise and as clear as it could be, the characters are above-average for this type of story, and there’s a clear narrative drive from cover to cover. An unusual, yet well-handled premise and some cool scenes make this a worthwhile read. Better yet; consider it as an alternate version of INDEPENDENCE DAY.

  • Standard Candles, Jack McDevitt

    ByChristian Sauvé Book Review

    Tachyon, 1996, 248 pages, C$20.00 hc, ISBN 0-9648320-4-6

    As a marginal Jack McDevitt fan, imagine my surprise as I browsed through the Science-Fiction Book Club’s latest catalogue and discovered a mention of the previously-unknown title Standard Candles. A trip to amazon.com later, I had found out that this was McDevitt’s first short story anthology, and that it had been published in 1996 (!) by a small publisher.

    Given that I’ve read all of McDevitt’s other books, my surprise was compounded by the complete absence of Standard Candles from his bibliography. Granted, McDevitt’s latest publisher (Harper Prism) doesn’t list other publishers’ books, but still… So I ordered Standard Candles, curious to see what McDevitt had produced in short-form SF.

    The SFBC edition of Standard Candles is a slim (248 pages) volume containing 16 stories. Given that one of them is more than fifty pages long, the remainder of the stories in this book are fairly short and can be easily read in one time.

    I have a special fondness for single-author collections because they tend to succinctly summarize everything you want to know about an author’s interests, style, strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, in this case, it brought back memories of how, if McDevitt can be great, he can also be insufferably annoying.

    For each Moonfall, Engines of God and Hercules Text, suspenseful novels against backgrounds of hard physics, archaeology and SETI alien contact, there’s A Talent for War, Ancient Shores or Eternity Road, disappointing stories that barely explain their own premises and suffer from pointless detours, unresolved events and depressing finales. And so the pattern repeats itself in Standard Candles, in 248 short pages.

    McDevitt is not a conventionally optimistic SF writer. His stories are filled with fallen civilizations, sentient stupidity, matrimonial failures and malfunctioning technology. His roots in classical studies inevitably bring us back to boom-and-bust cycles, to uncertain futures and the possibility of total systemic collapse. Even his most optimistic scenarios always include signs that, gee, idiots will always be with us.

    Ironically, historian McDevitt often writes Science-Fiction stories in the vein of physicist Gregory Benford, about scientists stuck with very ordinary problems and extraordinary discoveries (“Standard Candles”, “Cryptic”, etc…)

    It’s no mistake if this book is classified as being “Science Fiction/Literature” on its dust jacket, especially after reading “Translated from the Collossian” (aliens go around stealing classical literature) and “The Fort Moxie Branch” (about a mysterious library of lost literary gems). Is it a coincidence, however, if these are two of the book’s best stories?

    Similarly enjoyable are the two great stories related to chess. “Black to Move” is a chilling (if overlong) story of alien cunning explained in chess terms. “The Jersey Rifle”, on the other hand, is a charming, quasi-comic tale about The Best Chess Player in the World.

    There’s nothing charming about most of the book, however. A typical McDevitt conclusion resides heavily on the threat of future Very Bad Things. A welcome exception is “To Hell With the Star”, which certainly ranks up there with the best of the SF wish-fulfillment fantasies. But McDevitt is, by and large, a melancholic, pessimistic writer. Nothing wrong with that, but taken in long sustained doses, it does put a dampener on your day.

    Standard Candles is still a worthwhile anthology: McDevitt delivers more often than not, and provided one doesn’t read all the stories one after the other, the dark and depressing tone is a change of pace. More significantly, Standard Candles is a pretty spiffy summary of everything that interests the author, from classical history to hard physics. Fans will love it; non-fans are advised to wait until they’re fans.