After 12 long years, Ice Cube and his entourage of barbers and hair stylists arrive yet again in movie theaters for “Barbershop: The Next Cut” – the third installment in the Barbershop franchise. While many might doubt the ability to follow the movie’s story without viewing the prequels, Next Cut’s introductory scenes and loose narrative structure make it equally pleasing for series fans and newcomers completely oblivious to the former outings alike.

Following tough economic times in the South Side of Chicago, Ice Cube’s Calvin Palmer now co-owns his barbershop with business partner Angie (Regina Hall). They are faithfully served by a cohort of other employees, which includes Palmer’s friends Terri (Eve) and her husband Rashad, played by Common. From the onset it becomes clear that “Barbershop” is not the typical movie experience.  While the camera does roam about the South Side, the majority is shot within the confines of Palmer’s fine establishment. The only difference is that this time round, the barbershop is equal parts men and women, creating a battle of the sexes atmosphere ripe for hilarious comedic material. This enclosed space is utilized perfectly by veterans such as Cedric the Entertainer, playing the aging Eddie, and also by newcomers such as Nicki Minaj’s Draya. Almost everyone ends up bolstering the fun factor of the movie, from Anthony Anderson to J.B. Smoove.

The viewing experience can be stifling at times, forcing the audience to ask when, or if, they’ll ever get to see something besides a hair salon interior. But sooner rather than later, the setting grows on the viewer, and the infamous barbershop experience where people talk about everything and nothing, quickly takes over. In between the frequent jabs the men and women take at each other in the laughs department, there’s an equally powerful and significant debate on more worldly matters, from sexism to racism, political stagnation to crime. It is this last topic that becomes the central theme for the entire movie, as South Side experiences an escalation in gang-related activity, some hitting closer to home.

Calvin’s and Rashad’s sons, Jalen and Kenny, respectively, are teetering on the edge of destruction, growing ever closer to being lured into a local gang headlined by Yummy (Tyga). It is primarily this storyline which allows the audience to explore the world outside the barbershop, and it’s a well needed respite from the shenanigans brewing within the business, which includes a confusing love triangle subplot between Terri, Rashad and Draya.  Jalen’s and Kenny’s identity crises push both fathers into unchartered waters, testing their relationships with each other and their sons, giving the movie the dramatic punch it required but couldn’t necessarily find with the other actors. This doesn’t mean that they’re left on the sidelines, as the entire army of characters decides to find out if their business can be the neighborhood’s solution and saving grace.

Despite this, the dramatic undertones, which definitely resonate with the present social climate in America, lacked a strong punch to the gut. When the script decides to become serious, it’s too heavy-handed, with the characters spewing out exposition, choosing the easy way out as opposed to subtler means of communication. While the dialogue raises some much needed questions about today’s society as well as some harsh truths, the loose story of “Barbershop” gives it the feel of an extra-long episode of “The View,” only this time with more men sitting on the couch. This isn’t a criticism. In fact, it’s something endearing about the movie, to see both men and women duking it out to elicit laughs and also more thoughtful responses over prevalent social issues. “Barbershop” isn’t a life changer, but it isn’t a snooze fest either by any means. It possesses enough laughs and heart to get through its somewhat cliched story and dialogue.

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Since Nov. 4, student and professional actors alike have been performing in the Drexel University Mandell Theater’s latest production, Watership Down, directed by Allen Radway. Conceived when Richard Adams cooked up a story for his daughters along several car journeys, Watership Down was published as a novel in 1972. It received several literary awards before John Hildreth adapted it for the stage. Now, the adventure of countryside rabbits escaping the destruction of their warren has found its way to Drexel.

The critical aspect of the production is the nature of the collaboration going on behind the scenes. The performance was organized by the Mandell Professionals in Residence Program, a project whereby Drexel’s theater students have the opportunity to work alongside industry professionals on a rotating basis. Every year, Drexel’s theater faculty partners up with a local theater company for students to collaborate with. This fall, the Simpatico Theatre Project, a group dedicated to using the stage as a means of discussing social issues, teamed up with Drexel. With Watership Down, that conversation was centered on perseverance and community.  

Photo courtesy: Simpatico Theatre Project

The cast and crew for the production were split evenly between students and professionals, making the partnership a learning experience for both parties. For Drexel undergraduates, it was a peek into the working process of professionals. Students had the chance to take away lessons that taught them how to do more than just standing on a stage. Drexel sophomore Brendan McHale, who acts in the play, had the unique opportunity to work alongside Sound Designer and Composer Josh Totora, and ended up being the show’s live music coordinator.

“We sort of arranged the music together. He did most of the arranging but we coordinated it together and saw how it fit, and added parts to the scripts. We were still adding music up until after tech, and we were adding little bits of music to really fill up the show,” McHale said.

He continued, “It’s great to have someone to look up to, in that sense, people who really know what they’re doing. Not that [students] don’t, but it’s a different perspective.”

The more experienced actors from the professional world also had some valuable takeaways from the production, especially after being surrounded by the students’ youth and energy.

Photo courtesy: Simpatico Theatre Project

“There is a kind of excitement and a newness to people who haven’t done it as much, a lack of jadedness, that it felt special, and an important part of life. That’s kind of refreshing to be around. It’s easy to not feel that way after you’ve found it for a while,” Sam Sherburne, the actor who played BigWig, said.

The show featured a surprising number of innovations, utilizing the restricted stage environment to impressive effect. Besides the anthropomorphic performances by the actors, the show used a digital backdrop as an added emphasis for the storytelling. Illustrations projected onto a white backdrop proved just as effective as handcrafted scenery, and the minimalist set design enhanced the impact of the amorphous background.

However, the most fascinating component of the show was the use of shadow puppetry to portray the story’s mythical characters and the humans, since the humans on stage were playing rabbits. This last mechanism was a true highlight. Using a variety of projectors, lights and cardboard cutouts, head puppeteer Lorna Howley and her team were able to produce dynamic characters that occasionally upstaged the actors. The puppetry was a great complement to the acting; at times, the puppetry mirrored the activity on stage, and interacted with the actors at others. Those interactions had to be synchronized and coordinated to perfection, and there were no hiccups during the night. The shadow characters were just as thorough with their sense of space and timing as the onstage talent was, with the puppeteers maneuvering those miniature cutouts behind the scenes, applying depth and distance for dramatic effect.

Despite the end of the show’s run Nov. 22, Drexel’s MPiRP will ensure that students continue to learn and thrive from the knowledge imbued by Philadelphia’s premier artists. This quarter may mark the conclusion to the partnership with Simpatico Theatre Project, but next year, another reputed organization will take the helm to school Drexel students on the intricacies of theater.

Photo courtesy: Simpatico Theatre Project

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Traditionally, weekends for teenagers and grown-ups would involve a visit to the movie theater, a Netflix binge, a bout of drinks at a pub or watching Sunday Night Football. Besides the drinking, all these activities require the adult to be a passive observer without having to put an ounce of thought into the endeavor. One might argue that playing Lumosity keeps those brain muscles well-flexed, but memory matrices and mental arithmetic can only take you so far. Luckily, a new solution has presented itself in the form of escape rooms.

Escape the Room is exactly what it sounds like. The primary objective of an escape room is to find a path out of an enclosed space, with most featuring an ambience of terror and suspense. In essence, it is similar to being in an installment of the “Saw” movie franchise. A group of individuals, who can be strangers or friends, enter a room and must sift through codes and clues to exit and see the light of day. Here in Philadelphia, there are several such locations, but the most recent to pop up may be the most intriguing: “Escape the 1980s.”

Located in East Passyunk, this escape room acts as a time machine into the 1980s, starting from the set design and going all the way down to the music. The interior is flushed with color schemes you would find in an Olivia Newton-John music video while cabbage patch kids and vintage board games sit in the lobby. A look at a corner revealed an ancient television coupled with the now extinct Atari game console. Hidden within the escape room was a library of aging Video Home System tapes that surprisingly worked after all these years. The venue could easily pass for a museum honoring the last decade of Generation X. That was the exact ambience that co-founders Elisabeth and Michael Garson were striving for, and Michael had a particularly difficult time locating these artifacts.

“It was a lot of searching on Craigslist, EBay, and I guess it took a bit of travelling as well. One guy owned a closed down video store. I got a third of the videos there, some were carefully selected and we had to pay top dollar,” Michael said.

Escape rooms in general were targeted at the masses. But having the entertainment format focused on one specific time period risked alienating people who were not fortunate enough to live through the decade, depending on one’s attitudes toward trends and fads of the time. According to Elisabeth, though, this was hardly a vulnerability to the business. It in fact turned out to be its greatest strength.

She said, “When I first started this I was like, this is for Gen X, we need something for us! That was my attitude. But we have more millennials than Gen Xers come through this game. They know enough about the 80s, they appreciate it. So our audience is really those two. We have millennials, and Gen Xers, and auxiliary groups, our kids and baby boomers.”  

“Escape the 1980s” first graced the Philly population in early September. Like all good things, it won’t last, despite drawing crowds on weekends and even during the week. The issue is an inherent structural problem in the business model, one shared by all organizations in the industry. A particular escape room is merely one game, with permanent rules, clues and codes. A particular individual can only play the game once before spoiling it for himself or herself.

“Escape the 1980s” is no different, as the nature of the game doesn’t change daily. According to Elisabeth, though, there is a solution through the parent company she co-founded, Steel Owl. “Escape the 1980s” has the scope to live on in a different geographic market where people haven’t played the game, just not in Philly. But instead of leaving a vacuum, Elisabeth and Michael would then come up with a new variety of an escape room for the local crowd. In this business, you are only as good as your next idea.

That being said, the ‘80s themed setting should be able to hold out for a while longer against the competition and the entertainment’s constraints, with the owners giving it a maximum of six months. The way Elisabeth described it explains why.

“I love all escape rooms, I love anybody who’s doing one. I think ours is different, but I already said that my bend is to not have mystery, to not have tense, so for me, mine is my favorite one because I feel like it’s a party when you’re inside, and the other ones, if you’re a person who’s really into mystery or scary stuff, that might be a better fit for you, but ours is just flat out fun.”

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Photo courtesy Universal Pictures

Basing a film on a true story is a difficult balancing act between reality and fiction. This difficulty is one that “Everest” has to contend with, making sure that the movie based on the 1996 Everest expedition tragedy was grounded, without being visually exaggerated to a farcical level. Thankfully, “Everest” manages to tread the line perfectly. The motion picture is centered around two teams that attempted to reach the Everest summit in 1996. One team was led by Rob Hall of Adventure Consultants, played brilliantly by Jason Clarke, the other by Scott Fischer, inhabited by Jake Gyllenhaal, who shows his chameleon nature as an acting stalwart here.
Besides the two leads, the movie boasts a truly impressive ensemble cast. Josh Brolin and John Hawkes play Beck Weathers and Doug Hansen, while Keira Knightley and Robin Wright spearhead the female cast, playing their respective spouses. Other big names in the cast include those of Sam Worthington and Michael Kelly. This in itself presents a major problem. Who is supposed to anchor the entire running time?
The first act itself tries to squeeze in as much of each character’s back story as possible through exposition, capitalizing on each character’s relationships with others, specifically with their loved ones. While it is definitely a congested landscape of actors, having the personal relationship interactions limited to Clarke’s and Brolin’s characters allowed them to stand out in their own light, while relegating the likes of Gyllenhaal, Hawkes and Kelly to supporting roles. Every actor in this film is a powerhouse in their own right, but creating that focus was a necessity to let the audience better connect with the film.
“Everest” begins with a standard, textbook approach for an adventure film. It commences with the planning phase, where each person sets off on the journey, covering everything from airport transits in New Zealand to bus rides in Nepal. This is followed by the meetup phase, where the all-star cast members get to meet each other, laying the seeds for future relationships and character development. Following this routine practice, the climbers power through, or rather struggle through from one camp to the next, slowly but surely, to reach the summit of Everest.
Watching the first half of the movie was rather tedious. After being overexposed to the flashy thrillers of mainstream Hollywood, one expects a twisted, adrenaline-inducing accident. Thankfully, “Everest” ignores these tired, cliched approaches. In fact, the more over-the-top moments can be found in the movie’s trailer, which is a good thing. “Everest” capitalizes on the less extravagant struggles the characters take.
How does a character struggle through his physical ailments to battle a blizzard and reach home? How does he or she take the next step forward while their lungs strain for oxygen in the cold air? Is he or she willing to risk his own safety to save another colleague? This is where the intentionally slow first half of the film pays off. It spends an eternity developing the characters so when time comes, the audience will be heavily invested in the people on screen, hoping for a fairy tale ending that they know will never come.
Once everything starts going downhill, literally and figuratively, the suspense suffocates the audience. It was a slow first half for the movie, but after reaching the summit, the pieces fall into place. The climbers’ fatigue sets in. A blizzard engulfs the entire mountain. Chaos slowly and insidiously enters the picture. This is exactly why “Everest” is a haunting film. The deliberately slow pace and restrained action sequences stretch out the actors’ torment and torture. The camera captures some truly arresting moments of the landscape and of the characters. Shots of the mountain and the storm dwarf the climbers. But when the camera cuts back to the actors’ ordeals, it is truly heartbreaking. Some lie frozen and etched in ice. Others lay plastered to the mountain range, their skin and the mountain’s rock become one.
“Everest” may test certain viewers’ patience, but to those comfortable with long running times, it is a great experience. It successfully juggles an expansive cast, permitting even those not on the mountain to chip in stellar performances. Keira Knightley’s pregnant Jan phoning her husband Rob, who is stranded on the mountain and fighting for his life, is a prime example. Their expressions, gestures and tone were befitting a moment few would ever find themselves in, and rightfully made them the highlights of the film. “Everest” is a remarkable movie, showcasing the epitome of human spirit and will in the face of one of nature’s most daunting challenges.

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After 30 years in Hollywood’s development hell, George Miller’s fourth installment in the “Mad Max” franchise has finally arrived. “Fury Road” heralds the return of the road warrior Max Rockatansky, played by Tom Hardy this time around since a 59-year-old Mel Gibson in an action film isn’t the most entertaining prospect.

The audience is reintroduced to the post-apocalyptic wasteland last witnessed in 1985’s “Beyond Thunderdome.” Not much has changed. People, or savages rather, still hunt and scavenge for resources like wild animals as civilization finds itself confined to small pockets amid the barren landscape. The opening sequence has Max captured by a group of War Boys, pale bald men, who happen to be soldiers serving King Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne). The self-appointed King, a gargantuan old man held together by a breathing machine (think of Bane from “Batman”), attains his ruling status by controlling access to food, water and fuel.

He sends his trusted Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) to bring back gasoline, only to discover that she has gone rogue, smuggling the King’s wives to safety, wives he specifically keeps for the sole purpose of breeding. Meanwhile Max gets assigned as a blood bag for the ailing war boy Nux (Nicholas Hoult) and has to go wherever he does. As things would unfold, they happen to go in pursuit of Furiosa after Immortan Joe sends his army to recapture his lost wives.

The plot may seem rather juvenile at first, but it has a tremendous amount of depth when considered in the context of the movie. This is a dystopian future where law and order has earned itself a cruel name. George Miller does a wonderful job fleshing out the rules of his world, using scenes throughout to detail the means and norms of a world deprived of basic necessities. Along the way, Miller doesn’t forget to treat us to a few laughs every now and again.

Jokes aside, a tremendous amount of credit should go to the actors, specifically Hardy. It is never a simple task to inhabit a character played to perfection by another actor, in this case, Mel Gibson. Think of the comparisons Ben Affleck will be facing with Batman after Christian Bale’s high benchmark. That was the challenge Hardy had, and he managed to surpass expectations. His portrayal was consistent with the Max of Miller’s past three films. Hardy was the reserved loner who maintains a calm, nonchalant manner in the face of maddening adversity, but he takes the role in an interesting direction.

By choice, Max has confined his life to one of solitude. This means that he has minimal contact with any living creature, and this shows when he is thrust into the midst of people. Hardy displays a man who has completely lost touch with the world in the first act, lost in the times. In the beginning he merely mumbles, speaking in only single words and grunts, as if playing a caveman who has forgotten how to speak. It was a bold and effective decision, one of many ways in which the actor reinvigorated the character.

Theron should also be lauded for her role. This movie has strong feminist forces in a male-dominated society and Theron’s Furiosa epitomizes that sentiment, matching Max’s daring behavior at every turn. Hoult’s Nux is a refreshing element, too, highlighting the misplaced zealotry of young men in a world without a true, honest leader.

Central to the movie, though, are its stunningly choreographed vehicle sequences. This is a staple of any Mad Max movie and Fury Road delivers unceasingly. Miller opts to go sans-CGI with the majority of the “road rage” incidents, minimizing the need for post-production effects. Simply put, most everything that you see on the screen is real. Cars grating against each other, trucks crashing and tumbling to set off explosions in the desert; this movie trumped all the sequences of the last three, showing how far filmmaking has gone in 30 years.

“Mad Max” is relentlessly good fun. “Fury Road” sees the franchise return to its roots and that is a welcome sign. Miller’s world building has given additional shades of political, or rather tribal elements to the movie’s universe. We are reminded of Max Rockatansky’s troubled past and his inability to move past it. Consequently, sequels are all but guaranteed. At its core, “Mad Max” has always been about retro automobiles doing exceedingly bizarre and crazy maneuvers.

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From Feb. 12 to Feb. 21, the student-run Drexel Co-Op Theatre Company presented the production “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” at the Black Box Theater situated in the URBN Center Annex. The show, originally envisioned by writer Bert V. Royal, took characters from one of America’s most beloved comic strips, “Peanuts,” and imagined them in a modern high school environment, perhaps portraying one of the most disturbing extrapolations mankind has ever witnessed.

The show strived for an interactive experience from the very beginning. Upon entering the Black Box Theatre, a cast member would hand a patron an envelope containing a handwritten letter. It would ask us to think about a friend currently wading through murky waters, then urge us to write a message of hope and inspiration on the massive brick box stationed within the theater. The patrons naturally obliged. Once this process was finished, cast members, who had been helping the patrons write out messages, would suddenly break into song and dance, urging the patrons to enter the brick box through one of the four entrances at each corner. The brick box, it turned out, contained the stage, creating a miniature theater-in-the-round experience.

Charlie Brown (played by Justin Allison) and his friends are teenagers this time round, and the production begins with the death of Charlie’s beloved pet dog. He organizes a funeral that only his now gothic sister (Georgie Manera) attends, and harbors doubts about the soul of his dead dog. As most people would do, he posits this question to all his friends. The audience soon realizes that this group of friends isn’t even remotely close to its comic strip origins. We are dealt a slew of stereotypes – There’s the high school jock (Joe Canuso), the pothead (Carlos Roa), and a duo of materialistic girls reminiscent of the kind in “Mean Girls,” played indelibly by Alexis Pozonsky and Sophie Hirsch. We have a pyromaniac (Joy Weir), and then there’s the teenager, the grown up Franklin, named Beethoven (played by Aman Milliones-Roman), whom everyone avoids or chooses to make fun of. It’s this last character that spearheads the rest of the parody, introducing themes of homosexuality and bullying.

The audience was in for quite a shock, with an assortment of racial and homophobic slurs being thrown about by the characters, which made everyone wonder if things were being taken a bit too far. But upon further analysis, the script has to be applauded for its sincerity and honesty in presenting high school life, rather than hiding behind a facade of political correctness. It was mildly disturbing, especially since such things were said by people based on cartoon characters, but perhaps that emphasized the insensitive behaviors being portrayed.

The story deals with almost all the possible issues that adolescents are expected to face, ranging from drug use to one’s very own identity, but instead of petrifying the audience with an hour and a half long counseling session, the story took the place of a social satire, accentuated through the use of the aforementioned stereotypes. We are talking about teenage blockheads after all.

The acting was stellar in all aspects. Using a soundtrack that featured some of the most relevant pop culture hits today as well as some vintage piano classics, the stage cues were timed to perfection. The theater’s structure was unforgettable as well. The theatre-in-the round experience also meant that the actors were performing on all possible fronts, acting 360 degrees, rather than in a conventional theater where the actors need only concern themselves with the audience in one direction. The dialogues were delivered in clear and crisp fashion, with the coordination among the characters timed perfectly so that each joke was not lost on the audience.

While the characters from the “Peanuts” comics may have undergone some drastic transformations, the essence of the comics was still intact within the story. Charlie Brown is paradoxically an optimist and a pessimist as seen in his countless appearances in newspapers. This shines through from the get-go, as he struggles to comprehend the fate of his dead dog, and later on when he has to handle the bigoted opinions of his high school friends. The play also discussed the questions that plague most American schools, but the play chose not to hand out the answer to the audience. Instead, the actors mirror the activity that the audience performed prior to the play’s beginning where messages of inspiration were written on the big brick box. It reminds us that we aren’t necessarily alone when it comes to dealing with our problems.

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Christopher Nolan’s space opera “Interstellar” begins on more terrestrial grounds on planet Earth, set in the near future. Humanity has regressed to a more primitive condition where agriculture and farming are centerpieces of society, at least in the community we are shown at the beginning, as people struggle to survive on a barren planet, left short of resources. Our protagonist, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), is a former NASA pilot turned farmer caring for his teenage son and much younger daughter Murphy. They’re shown trying to get through their everyday lives, where events like dust storms like those from 1930s America are more than rare occurrences.

Cooper imbues scientific wisdom to his inquisitive daughter Murphy throughout, and following one of these aforementioned dust blazes, they discover a gravitational anomaly that lends them coordinates to a covert NASA station. It’s covert since the masses would question government funding to a space program when basic human needs aren’t necessarily met for the majority of Americans. Here, Cooper is introduced to Professor Brand (Michael Caine) and his daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway), who reveal a space exploration mission to another galaxy through a wormhole, where hopefully lies humanity’s chance at a new beginning. And naturally, Cooper joins the operation given his history with the organization.

From this point forth, the movie provides truly emotive scenes that would soften even the most hardened men, beginning with an emotionally gruesome farewell between Cooper and his family. The young Mackenzie Foy plays the part of “Murph” to perfection here, refusing to acknowledge her father’s departure and leaving their relationship in limbo as time and space come between the two for the rest of the film’s screening.

The other cast members also do an impeccable job. McConaughey continues in his Oscar-winning form from “Dallas Buyers Club” here, despite playing yet another Southerner, a role he seems to be familiarizing himself with too often. Nolan’s regulars Caine and Hathaway, who play father and daughter, do their parts equally well in supporting roles, and provide some much needed points of debate when it comes to ethics in the film. The movie never really had a clearly defined antagonist, until that was resolved by the surprise appearance of a celebrity actor whom I didn’t know was even part of the cast. I will not reveal his identity since his entrance alone was startling, and should give way to some wide-eyed gasps in the audience.

Setting that aside, Jessica Chastain’s performance as an older Murphy must be commended by the highest regard. Following her entry halfway through, she provided some truly poignant moments in the film, serving as the chief perspective to narrate the happenings on Earth while McConaughey’s Cooper traverses another galaxy.

Hans Zimmer, Nolan’s go-to music composer, provides a truly original score for Nolan’s latest entry, free from his trademark electronica and drum beats seen in works such as “The Dark Knight” trilogy and “Inception.” The primary instrument here is the organ, and he creates something that is truly celestial, providing spine-tingling sensations at all the key moments of the film. The music befits a movie where exploration is a central component, and the score manages to accentuate an atmosphere of hope and fear, staples in any given epic adventure of the unknown.

My only issue with the film was most of the visual work relating to the cosmos. At times, the special effects didn’t seem as refined or crisp as they should have been. This was the pervading feeling I got when introduced to the wormhole and the other celestial bodies presented later on. The effects used seemed to be a little dated for my liking, and I’m not sure if Nolan wanted to pay homage to “2001: A Space Odyssey” by doing so. To me, however, it felt like those strange graphics from music equalizers on a PC’s media player.

Unlike his last mind-warping experience “Inception,” the ending of “Interstellar” isn’t ambiguous by any means. It answers the audience’s questions to an extremely satisfying end, striking a perfect equilibrium between finality and yearning for more. On a final note, though, it must be pointed out that this film, to me at least, was always about a relationship between a father and daughter. On his quest to save humanity, Cooper puts light-years between himself and his family, especially his daughter, and while distance factors in, we mustn’t forget how the progression of time gets distorted with space travel. Because of that, the film is an actual race against time, and about whether a father can keep his promise of returning home to his daughter.

The post Nolan’s Interstellar features star-studded cast, interesting effects appeared first on The Triangle.

I had the opportunity to partake in a conference call with first-time director and longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister to discuss his debut directorial effort in “Transcendence.” Though I unfortunately did not receive the chance to ask a question, as other college students barraged the director head-on for almost 40 minutes, the discussion was primarily centered on the technological basis of the movie and Pfister’s experiences being a first-time director.

A key point of issue was the concept’s originality, and most of the other student reporters asked the director about the factors that set his science fiction feature apart from the other entries in the genre. He spoke at length about how “Transcendence” is about uploading a human conscience to a computer, creating a sentient machine. While other movies would focus on artificial intelligence in isolation, “Transcendence” has that human perspective embedded in a computer in the form of Johnny Depp’s character, which gives the film a unique selling point.

Before anyone could settle with this answer, a similar question popped up yet again, comparing “Transcendence” to Spike Jonze’s “Her.” In Pfister’s defense, he had already shot his movie by the time “Her” was released. Both movies deal with artificial intelligence and the idea of humans forming emotional bonds with machines, but are distinct from one another in both tone and mood. Jonze’s movie is somewhat light-hearted, unlike “Transcendence,” in which an AI basically attempts world domination. Pfister even quipped that a journalist had called his movie “the dark side of ‘Her.’”

Dissecting the science fiction elements of the movie further, students asked how far the movie is from reality and since its emphasis is on fiction, whether there was a need to have a tremendous amount of research done. Pfister had done his homework for the movie, having visited several Ivy League universities as well as Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Of paramount importance to him were two professors at Berkeley, one in the field of nanotechnology and the other in neurobiology, who grew with the passage of time to become consultants for the movie. Using the input from these two scholars, most of the nanotechnology aspects of the film were indeed created, not from thin air, but from scientific theories that would seem plausible down the line. (The student who directed the question didn’t care to ask for the names of these professors.)

The other dominant feature of the conference was, as mentioned previously, Pfister’s experiences as director given that this was his debut in the position. He decided to jump into the role after being a cinematographer for most of his career, collaborating with Christopher Nolan on eight films, which include the epic “Batman” trilogy. He spoke about how his time as a director of photography aided his first time directing. In his words, Nolan’s on-set discipline was impeccable, not letting a single minute of production go to waste, since he understood that someone else’s money was being invested. These ethics were then naturally practiced by Pfister to good effect, evident through the lack of news on production delays.

His most significant challenge on set was directing actors. As a cinematographer, he had to tell the story with images, but with this movie, he had to have the story told through the actors as well. Interestingly, he described the director’s role as being a psychologist sometimes, since one has to elicit the correct response for a given scene, and that requires the correct instructions. Pfister’s position as director also meant that he had to meddle in other areas of film production, such as sound design. He mentioned spending months getting the final sound mix sorted out, and that his new job title gave him the chance to play around with new tools — an added perk despite the increase in labor hours.

During the discussion, some interesting trivia popped up here and there. If given the chance to lecture a university course, Pfister would choose cinematography (surprise!). To top that one off, he said that he still shoots in anamorphic film instead of shooting digitally because the resolution is much higher and allows for a better contrast and color saturation.

Since the conference call was held, “Transcendence” has gone on to be critically derided and it has fizzled at the box office. My mind is drawn to the challenges that Pfister detailed, and perhaps this new woe can be included on that list. It’s unsure if he’ll go back to the job at which he excelled or continue to direct in the years to come. He could get it right the next time.

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Marvel truly has the Midas touch. While their DC rivals struggle to gain public approbation over even casting decisions, Marvel Studios continues to release one blockbuster epic after another. This time, they’ve released an entertaining thriller by the name of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

After a 70-year deep freeze in a post-Avengers world, Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) struggles to adjust to the present day, which is understandable given the great deal that can happen within seven decades. Yet, while he catches up on a to-do list that includes listening to albums released by Marvin Gaye and Nirvana, he continues to satisfy his commitments to the United States. For example, in the opening sequence, Rogers (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) save a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel from Algerian pirates. Starting from this very intense scene and continuing until the very end, the choreography of the fighting sequences must be lauded. Every throw and flourish of our superhero’s indestructible shield, along with his routine kicks and punches, emphasize the sheer strength of this superhuman. Even the Captain’s movements, as he jumps and leaps from one location to another at lightning speeds, resemble the unique form and robust style of the Parkour training discipline. All the fight scenes have the Captain harnessing his superhuman abilities in different ways, which keeps the action lively and fresh.

The movie doesn’t dwell on the troubles pirates create in the open oceans. Rather, the focal point of the movie stems from right under Captain America’s nose, with the very organization that he serves on a daily basis, S.H.I.E.L.D. A subversive force attempts to dismantle the organization from its very core and in the process take out the key members that pose a threat of thwarting those efforts, Rogers and company included.

A standout element of this particular installment of the Marvel arsenal is how closely the film echoes current events. Paranoia is a central element of the film, which is quite obvious, given that insiders are scheming and conniving to dismantle S.H.I.E.L.D. This, through critical planning or mere coincidence, allows the audience to relate to the happenings of the movie given recent events ranging from NSA surveillance leaks to drone strikes authorized to vanquish the enemy no matter what the cost.

Despite the movie acting as a follow-up to “The Avengers,” it by no means ignores or neglects “Captain America: The First Avenger,” the film that established Chris Evans as the Captain. The predecessor holds a key to explaining the titular Winter Soldier, another human experiment that unfortunately is aligned with the side trying to bury Steve Rogers six feet under. This rival, notorious for shaping humanity’s past through his many assassinations, links right back to Rogers’ past as well. A word for the wise, then, would be to make sure to recap “The First Avenger” on Wikipedia, or better yet, watch the movie for those who are newbies. Besides the Winter Soldier, the movie will unearth several links to the preceding film with regard to science and technology, but most importantly through Rogers’ past connections.

Complete newcomers to the scene are Anthony Mackie playing Sam Wilson (or the Falcon) and Emily VanCamp playing Agent 13. While the former gets plenty of time to spread his wings (literally) after befriending Rogers on an early morning jogging session, it’s disappointing to note that the latter is present on screen for no more than 10 minutes; so much for gender equality on screen. Wilson’s interactions with the Captain draw the most laughs throughout the movie, proving yet again that Marvel hasn’t made any compromises when it comes to cracking jokes, despite the extremely serious material dealt with in the film.

The film also features plenty of screen time for Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Johansson’s Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, when in past movies such as “The Avengers” they were reduced to having mere background roles, thanks to heavyweights such as Iron Man and Thor. Fury manages to gain the spotlight in a highly elaborate chase scene where he fends off a fleet of vehicles using his armored SUV that comes with a built-in machine gun, of course. Johansson’s Romanoff gets promoted to being Rogers’ right hand (wo)man this time around, being effective as usual with her glacial demeanor for the purposes of action and humor.

Unsurprisingly, Marvel manages to keep the excitement at a high level throughout the movie and even into the final credits. It’s the elements of mystery and mistrust that keep the viewer engaged, though the astute and comic book savvy may know what’s right around the corner. In traditional fashion, the audience is rewarded with two end credit scenes that pave the way for the upcoming Avengers sequel and possibly beyond, given that Marvel head Kevin Feige has movies lined up until 2028. Yes, DC definitely has some catching up to do.

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“Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington stars alongside Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje in the movie “Pompeii.” Harington plays a gladiator named Milo, who has to try to save himself and others from the destructive eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Photo courtesy of Caitlin Cronenberg.

Hollywood has a particular fondness for making movies about ancient Rome and Greece. The stories of Roman generals and statesmen, such as Julius Caesar and gladiator-turned-slave-leader Spartacus, have undergone various iterations over the decades in both cinema and television. It was only a matter of time before a film about the ancient Roman city of Pompeii was envisioned to show the time period that led up to the infamous eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

But the movie “Pompeii” doesn’t begin in the city itself. We are first taken to Britannia (present-day England) in the prologue, where the Roman army, led by Gen. Corvis (Kiefer Sutherland), butchers a Celtic horse tribe, leaving an infant child orphaned. The boy is enslaved, and we are reintroduced to him years later in Londinium (present-day London), where he has become a gladiator named Milo, played by “Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington. His prowess in fighting is spotted quickly by the Roman aristocrats stationed there, and he’s transported, along with other gladiators, to Pompeii, where his skills can be put to better use.

Once Milo enters Pompeii, there’s an overwhelming amount of activity that takes place. First, there’s the reason for his arrival in Pompeii: to fight in the gladiators’ arena. Here, we are introduced to Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), an African slave-turned-gladiator whose relationship with Milo takes plenty of twists and turns, both within and outside the arena. Then there’s Emily Browning’s role as Cassia, an aristocrat’s daughter, thrown into Milo’s path with the definite intention of creating some sparks. To complicate matters a bit further, Corvis, now a senator after his victories in England, decides to show up in the city to discuss politics with Cassia’s father, Lucretius (Jared Harris of “Mad Men”). From the get-go it becomes clear that Corvis, too, will have his own face time with Milo.

From what little is said here, it’s clear that the movie has several competing plots and themes. One recurring theme that is clear from the onset of “Pompeii” is that of revenge, with Milo seeking retribution from Corvis for slaughtering his family. Then there’s the competing romantic component of the movie that develops unexpectedly into a love triangle. Add to that the gladiatorial elements and you have the movie being stretched in different directions. And we mustn’t forget the volcano. Vesuvius, with all that goes on, gets relegated to being merely a background prop, with the occasional earth tremor grabbing the attention of the audience and the actors until the very end. It’s hard to pinpoint the focus of the movie, and it feels as if each storyline pulls the movie in a different direction.

The inclusion of gladiators in the movie merely seems to be an act of embellishment required to draw the younger demographic to the theaters, rather than a necessity to the plot. Even here, the desired audience may not be greatly interested, since nothing exceptional or ground breaking is brought in when compared with the likes of Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” or TV’s recent “Spartacus” series. The PG-13 rating of the movie reaffirms this, as it restricts the use of weapons and the like so as not to draw the ire of parents. In concise terms, the fight sequences won’t blow your mind.

Despite all of this, the movie doesn’t flop by any means. The contending storylines are suitably converged in the finale while Vesuvius rains hell all over the place. The emphasis becomes rather obvious towards the end, where everyone, lovers included, attempts to escape the wrath of the volcano. There are some unintended moments of hilarity here and there, especially in seeing certain characters try to outrun the eruption’s pyroclastic flow on horseback, but these are far and few between.

The movie’s use of 3-D is most evident in the arena’s fight scenes as battle axes and spears whiz past the audience’s faces. However, that would cap the 3-D highlights. Nothing exemplary takes place with regard to cinematic use of the technology and this is quite a disappointment, especially since the volcano’s eruption and the like could have been invigorated through the use of an added dimension. Director Paul W.S. Anderson’s experience with filming the “Resident Evil” franchise in 3-D should have given him the opportunity to surpass his previous efforts, but it was not so. Just save yourself some money by refraining from the 3-D screening.

“Pompeii” tries to place its feet in several categories by combining a variety of plot lines. The genre could be action, adventure or even romance. Ultimately, this manages to create mixed results. “Pompeii” isn’t a complete disaster, but it isn’t a triumph either.

“Pompeii” is out in cinemas Feb. 21.

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