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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 12/18/92 -- Vol. 11, No. 25
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are in Holmdel 4N-509
Wednesdays at noon.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
01/06 The Best (and Worst) of 1992
01/27 THE ENGINES OF CREATION by K. Eric Drexler (Nanotechnology)
02/17 ENTOVERSE by James P. Hogan
03/10 STEEL BEACH by John Varley
03/31 WEST OF EDEN by Harry Harrison
04/21 ARISTOI by Walter Jon Williams
05/12 THOMAS THE RHYMER by Ellen Kushner (Fantasy in a modern vein)
06/02 WORLD AT THE END OF TIME by Frederik Pohl
06/23 THE USE OF WEAPONS by Iain Banks
07/14 SIGHT OF PROTEUS by Charles Sheffield (Human metamorphosis)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
12/12 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA
(phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
12/19 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 hocpb!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell HO 1D-505A 908-834-1267 hocpb!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
HO Librarian: Nick Sauer HO 4F-427 908-949-7076 homxc!11366ns
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 mtfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzfs3!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Well, the great Northeast storm of 1992 is over. Our area was
considered to be a disaster area. I wasn't worried. Your remember
for the last four or five years it has been Evelyn's responsibility
to clear the driveway and by extension to take care of all
outside-of-house damage due to the elements--mostly hydrogen,
oxygen, and nitrogen. Whatever it is that looks out for her,
squirrels, and idiots was protecting the house. Now, we'd left
outside a garbage can that was empty and hence fair game for the
THE MT VOID Page 2
up-to-90-mile-an-hour winds to pick up and throw around. We were
at work when the storm hit its stride and I knew I would never see
my beloved garbage can again. I'd painted the house number on it,
but not the street or the town. I expected we would never see it
again. Driving home I saw a similar can blowing down a street
about five miles from the house. I was tempted to see if it had
our house number. We got home and found our can had moved about
fifteen inches. I don't know how Evelyn does it.
I guess I should not chuckle at destruction done by the storm, but
on the major road near my house I saw only one thing that really
was destroyed by the storm (aside from some trees down). It was a
sign and it was pretty messed up by the storm. I suppose had the
owner known to put up a couple of pieces of plywood, it could have
been save, but who expected such a bad storm? The sign was out in
front of a small house and proclaims the owner is a palmist, a
tarot reader, and a seer. The future is no mystery to this woman,
supposedly.
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzfs3!leeper
Happiness is the perpetual possession of being well
deceived.
-- Jonathan Swift
A FEW GOOD MEN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1992 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: _A _F_e_w _G_o_o_d _M_e_n is an
entertaining courtroom drama with some good dialogue.
The script raises issues and then unfortunately
handles them in a very superficial manner.
Nicholson's Colonel Jessep is so despicable and vile
that the film bypasses a discussion of issues and is
more the story of the slaying of a monster. Rating:
low +1 (-4 to +4). Very minor spoilers.
Rob Reiner has proved himself to be a fine director, though his
scripts have occasionally been better directed than written. His
latest film has just such problems. _A _F_e_w _G_o_o_d _M_e_n is his film
version of Aaron Sorkin's Broadway play with Sorkin himself writing
the screenplay. Any court martial play invites comparison to Herman
Wouk's "Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," and in several major aspects,
Sorkin's play falls short.
Marine Pfc. William T. Santiago, stationed at Guantanamo, Cuba,
just did not measure up to the high standards set by the U.S. Marine
Corps. He is killed in a hazing incident perpetrated by Pfc. Lawson
Downey and Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson. A mis-matched set of Navy
lawyers is given the task of providing the defense in the court
martial. And over the whole idea is the shadow of Col. Nathan
Jessep (played by Jack Nicholson), who commands the Marines at
Guantanamo. We know almost immediately that Jessep is the source of
all the evil that has taken place. Little effort is spared in the
script to make Jessep as vile and politically incorrect as possible
The goals of our three defense lawyers--Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway
(played by Demi Moore), Lt.(j.g.) Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom
Cruise), and Lt. Sam Weinberg (played by Kevin Pollak)--are first,
to stop conflicting with each other; second, to put together a case
to help Downey and Dawson; and third, if possible, to at the same
time bring down the incredibly nasty Col. Jessep. The result is a
fun, entertaining, Kleenex-like sort of movie that is a long way
from the classic that some critics are claiming it to be.
While I enjoyed the film, it did not work for me as a drama for
three very strong reasons. The first is that the three lawyers are
trying to defend two men who to better their position in the Marines
were willing to stuff a rag in a man's mouth, seal his mouth and
bind him with duct tape, and (in so doing) cause the man's death.
It is a little hard to root for the lawyers defending them. It is
even harder to root for this team of lawyers. In their own way they
are every bit as unprofessional as Jessep. Kaffee and Galloway
start out at each other's throats for the good reason that neither
Few Good Men December 13, 1992 Page 2
is particularly good as a lawyer. Cruise's Kaffee, slick and just a
bit slimy as a lawyer, is lackadaisically doing his job and prides
himself on his long list of low-effort court cases. Moore's
Galloway is hopeless in her efforts to control Kaffee, and it is
only Pollak as the sweet, healing, wise, Jewish lawyer who is able
to hold the team together. These are flat, unengaging characters,
and they are not written very well. But the film could have
survived that if Nicholson's Jessep had been better written.
The third complaint is in the portrayal of Jessep. If the
other characters are flat, the disgusting Jessep is linear. It is
difficult to believe that this tactless, rather disgusting man could
be given a position of prominence as he has been in this film. And
it is a serious mistake to oversimplify the negative characters of
the film, making them easier to detest. At no point do we see
anything in the film from Jessep's point of view. How much would it
compromise his character to show a little merit in his arguments?
Bringing him down has much more dramatic impact if it is regrettable
but necessary than if it is dragon-slaying. That brings me back to
how much better a similar story was handled in the play "The Caine
Mutiny Court-Martial" or nearly as well in the film _T_h_e _C_a_i_n_e
_M_u_t_i_n_y. _A _F_e_w _G_o_o_d _M_e_n is a film whose conflict was asking to be
fleshed out, but which preferred not to risk having the audience
agree with the wrong side.
In the final analysis, we have a film that is entertaining
without being provocative, but is enjoyable for mindless
entertainment. From me it gets a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. I
am a little surprised at the positive critical comment it has gotten
elsewhere.