David S. Goyer

  • Arcade (1993)

    Arcade (1993)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, November 2020) There’s no doubt that Arcade is a terrible film, and I find myself hesitant to cut it any slack for being a film about immersive videogames that came out at the dawn of the CGI era. It’s clearly terrible-looking—anyone who was around back in 1993 will instantly recognize the low-end awkward CGI that is meant to be the showcase of the film, as our teenage heroes immerse themselves in a form of virtual reality. (This being said, the CGI was not bad for the time and budget.) Other than Megan Ward and Seth Green in small roles, John de Lancie is the only recognizable name here as a scientist who realizes that his creation has taken a life of its own thanks to some terrible decisions. (Note to self and anyone else: using an abused dead boy’s brain cells in your AI development is really just asking for trouble.) But even if you’re feeling generous on the special effects, the rest of the film is not particularly good—while the script is an early piece of juvenilia from David S. Goyer (who would go on to write much, much better material), it’s directed by infamous B-movie mogul Albert Pyun, so the results are roughly what we’d expect. There are no surprises, no scares and no big ideas in Arcade, even accounting for a 1993 production date: even if some of this material might have felt fresh during the first year of Wired magazine, it’s all hopelessly trite now, and more of a period piece than something worth watching for itself.

  • Man of Steel (2013)

    Man of Steel (2013)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, November 2013) There’s something both annoying and admirable about the entertainment industry’s insistence at rebooting and shoving down superhero movies down our throats.  DC’s maniacal insistence at reviving Superman after the 2006’s disastrous Superman Returns is understandable: Superman is iconic, the superhero film genre is still going strong, and there’s still some goodwill among genre fans for a good Superman film.  Man of Steel, fortunately enough, is pretty much as good as it gets from a narrative perspective: Screenwriter David S. Goyer (with some assistance from Christopher Nolan) has managed to find a compelling story to tell about a fairly dull character, and it’s more thematically rich than we could have expected.  Man of Steel, in the tradition of Nolan’s Batman films, voluntarily goes gritty: Zack Snyder’s direction favour pseudo-documentary aesthetics, the cinematography is more realistic than glossy, and the final act’s destruction feel more traumatic than purely entertaining.  Much of this grittiness feels wrong for those raised on the squeaky-clean Superman character, causing more discomfort than necessary.  On the other hand, the result is a film that’s reasonably captivating to watch: Superman has an inner conflict to solve, the action sequences aren’t generic and there’s a real effort to ground Superman to an identifiable reality.  Henry Cavill is pretty good in the lead role, while Amy Adams does the most with a somewhat generic character.  Michael Shannon brings some unexpected complexity to the antagonist, while both Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner get small but plum roles as the protagonist’s two fathers.  While Man of Steel is (ironically) a bit too down-to-earth to feel like a blockbuster epic made to be re-watched over and over again, it’s a cut above the usual superhero fare: There’s some real pathos here, an origin story built on well-used flashbacks, sense of personal growth for Superman (something rarely seen) and the solid foundation for further entries.  Recent superhero movie history has shown that it could have been much worse, and if I’ll happily take a glossy Superman movie over an unpleasantly gritty one, it would be churlish to deny the successes of this version of the character.