 |
The Tick |
I've long
been a fan of the off-beat adventures of the Tick and his fellow
eccentric superheroes, and I've decided that I like the new live-action
series even more than the cartoons. To make up for the fact that,
without animation, they can't as easily depict some of the wackier
villains and their outrageous antics, the new series has been
focusing more on the mundane aspects of life in the City where
superheroes are common. They don't so much fight crime as sit
around in the coffeeshop talking about fighting crime (and about
superhero licenses, publicity, relationships, and getting stains
out of spandex costumes). In other words, it's like Seinfeld
with superheroes. |
|
|
Connections |
Zany
British historian James Burke takes us on a journey around the
world and through 12,000 years of human history, as he examines
the invention of 8 everyday devices (the telephone, the computer,
the television, plastics, etc) by studying the chains of connected
historical events that eventually lead to those inventions. Burke
not only makes history come alive in this 10 episode series,
he also provides insight into the fundamental nature of change,
and even challenges you to think anew about all the manufactured
stuff we surround ourselves with, and now take totally for granted.
Could you survive if they were all suddenly taken away from us?
James Burke has done a number of similar series, but the original
set of lessons, made in the late seventies, is the most compelling. |
|
|
Mullholland Drive |
A
strange and creepy film by David Lynch that doesn't make any
sense until you've seen the whole thing and can piece it all
together and understand it for what it is. (Unless someone tells
you what it's all about, which I'm not going to do.) |
 |
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone |
Dazzling
special effects and faithfulness to the original text make this
a worthy adaptation of the first Harry Potter adventure. But
I was sad to note that my favorite minor character, Peeves the
Poltergeist, didn't make it into the film. |
|
|
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World |
The
last words of a dying man send a wacky assortment of strangers
on a crazed quest for a suitcase filled with cash buried in a
certain park under a "big W". An all-time classic of
comedy cinema, this influential madcap farce features a long
parade of cameos by comic personalities of 1963. I remember seeing
parts of this movie again and again over the years, but it seems
like I always tuned in late... having seen it again for the first
time in years, I found the opening sequence totally unfamiliar
(but quite informative). |
|
|
1984 |
Filmed during
the actual month and year in which the story is supposed to have
taken place, this striking adaptation of George Orwell's classic
novel of a grim dystopian future is one of the most faithful
film translations I've ever seen. It felt just like I was reading
that dark, depressing book all over again. The music, by the
Eurythmics, is also excellent. |
|
|
Mega-Tsunamis |
Did
you know that the next time a certain volcano erupts in the Canary
Islands, there's a chance half the island could slide into the
ocean, and that if this happens, it will create a tidal wave
taller than the tallest skyscraper, which would sweep across
the Atlantic and devastate the entire east coast of America,
destroying things as far inland as twelve miles? Neither did
I, until I saw this astonishing discovery on the Discovery Channel.
It could happen tomorrow, or not for a thousand years, but apparently,
it's inevitable. |
|
|
Biography Close-Up: Sesame Street |
I
often enjoy Biography's
profiles of noted personalities, but I particularly enjoyed this
2-hour special on the history of Sesame Street. The behind-the-scenes
material from the early days of the show was absolutely fascinating,
and I especially loved the scenes of early muppets in conference
rooms, talking about what to name this new show they were working
on. Also, as a kid who started watching it when it debuted, I
can remember when Oscar was orange (not green), and since I also
remember not being believed when I told my younger peers this
fact, it was great seeing early footage that vindicated my claims. |
|
|
Surviving Gilligan's Island |
This
delightfully informal documentary movie-thing features the surviving
cast members [minus the stuffy Ginger actress] reminiscing about
the show, with recreations of behind-the-scenes events starring
some pretty serviceable modern substitutes (in particular, the
guy playing the guy who played the Skipper got his voice exactly
right). Great fun, at least for anyone who grew up watching a
lot of Gilligan. |
|
|
Insomniac |
My favorite
new show on Comedy Central is Insomniac, in which comedian Dave
Attell stays up all night, each time in a different city, just
wandering around (with a cameraman) looking for spontaneous fun
in the wee small hours on the night. He meets quite a parade
of wacky late night characters, and shows us what various places
around town are like when most of the world is sleeping. As one
who routinely stays up until dawn, this is my kind of show. |
|
|
Enterprise |
This new
Star Trek series, set 100 years before the adventures on Kirk's
starship Enterprise, is actually looking pretty promising! In
particular, I'm excited about the ongoing "temporal cold
war" plotline they established in the two-hour first episode.
With generations of well documented future history at their disposal,
an on-going time travel adventure could turn this series into
something truly great. We shall see. |
|
|
The Amazing Race |
I've
gotten hooked on two very similar new reality game shows: Lost,
and The Amazing Race. Both shows send two person teams (each
followed by a cameraman or two) on a globe-trotting race that
ends in NYC, with a big cash prize going to whoever gets there
first. I'm really enjoying them both, but so far, I'd have to
say I prefer The Amazing Race. For one thing, it reminds me of
one of my all-time favorite adventure stories, Around
the World in 80 Days. It's also got some elements of Survivor: the prize is a million bucks,
and the last team to arrive at each episode's final checkpoint
is eliminated from the game. Lost has a less contrived setup
-- players are stranded somewhere remote, and need simply to
return home first -- but what ultimately makes TAR more appealing
is the nature of the two person teams. In Lost, all are strangers,
paired off when they're dropped off. In TAR, the eleven couples
are all pre-existing, and include just about every type of two-person
relationship you can imagine. Oddly enough, in both cases the
contestants I find myself cheering for the most are the gay men.
(Go Team Guido!) |
 |
Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back |
I've
enjoyed seeing Jay and Silent Bob as recurring characters, but
they just don't cut it as the protagonists of an entire movie.
This film has some very funny scenes, but it's also exceedingly
dumb and incredibly crude. Even so, there's absolutely no nudity
in this film, which was surprising given how heavily-laden with
adult content this film is otherwise. |
|
|
La Jetée (The Jetty) |
As is often
the case with remakes, I liked this poignant French short from
1962 even more than the masterpiece it led to, 12
Monkeys. While comparatively spartan, containing only the
barebones of the latter movie's complex time travel plotline,
the original version seems a lot tighter and more powerful. The
narrated slide show format, in B&W with subtitles, is also
quite striking and compelling. The title refers to the arrival
platform at an airport, where a violent incident has just occurred. |
|
|
Hair |
The film version
of the classic broadway musical is entertaining in its way, but
it's totally unlike the original broadway musical. I wish they'd
remake this film, with a return to the original script (if you
could call it that). On the other hand, I hope if they ever make
a movie out of "Cats" that they do what they did with
this film adaptation, which is to add an actual plot. |
|
|
Titanica |
I'd say that
seeing this footage of the wreck of the Titanic in an IMAX theater
is about as close as you can get to the experience of actually
going down there to look at it yourself (and it's a lot less
time-consuming). |
|
|
The Downer Channel |
This
new NBC series is hilarious! It's also painful at times, since
it deals with the every day bummers and downers of life that
we all have to deal with sometimes. Plus it's exhilarating, since
it's fast-paced sketch comedy served up in 30-second segments,
each like a highly compressed TV-series unto itself. My favorite
show on this show is the one starring Steven Wright as Walter,
but I think the biggest talent on this show is behind the camera,
executive producer Steve Martin. |
|
|
Forbidden Planet |
This
influential fifties sci-fi classic summarizes like a "Star
Trek" episode: a starship arrives at a strange, distant
planet and a team (consisting of the captain, first officer,
and doctor) leave the ship to investigate the planet's dangerous
mysteries. It also has the feel of a "Lost in Space"
episode... this crew's spaceship is a flying saucer, and this
film's Robby the Robot looks and acts much like the one that
was always warning Will Robinson about impending danger. "Twilight
Zone" fans will find these and other gizmos from this film
familiar, since many Zone episodes recycled "Forbidden Planet"
props. Fans of the comedy stylings of Leslie Neilsen will get
a kick out of seeing him as a young man in a serious role, namely
the starship's captain, but my favorite character is Cookie,
the food officer, who gets all the best lines. Even the special
effects still look pretty good today, and the music, which was
performed on a Theramin, is appropriately bizarre and otherworldly.
Finally, this film is to Shakespeare's "The Tempest"
what "West Side Story" is to "Romeo and Juliet",
and we all know how much better that story got with a little
modernizing... |
|
|
The Return of the King |
A
few years after their success with the Hobbit,
and after a different studio had interpreted the first part of
the Lord of the Rings, Rankin/Bass adapted the final book of
Tolkein's trilogy for network TV. Unfortunately, picking up in
the middle of such a complicated story and attempting to reduce
it down as they did was a disaster. And instead of just using
Tolkein's lyrics for their songs, they put in completely new
songs (including the infamous "Where There's a Whip, There's
a Way"). |
|
|
The Hobbit |
The Hobbit
is my favorite of JRR Tolkein's books, and I've always loved
this animated version of the story, produced by the Rankin/Bass
animation team in 1977. The various songs and ballads that we
can read only as poems in the book are set to catchy music (or
in Rash-speak,
"Merry Tunes") and the animation is beautiful and stylish. |
|
|
The Dish |
This hilarious
Australian film is a funny and moving retelling of my favorite
adventure story which even manages to make telemetry work seem
sexy. Having once been in the business of moving data betwixt
spacecraft and scientist, I could really relate to this story
of the team of engineers tasked with being certain to capture
transmissions of the first moon landing on the Dish (this being
a giant dish antennae). The Dish also provides a great glimpse
into what it was like to have experienced the moon landing in
another country. |
|
|
Tomb Raider |
I freely
admit that in giving this film my highest rating, I am indulging
in a guilty pleasure. As a gamer, a male, and a long
hair fetishist, I have for years thought that Lara Croft
is the greatest action hero ever imagined, and I was delighted
with Angelina Jolie's realization of her in the film. The whole
thing in fact is beautiful and exciting, much like the game.
I think the best way to watch this movie is to imagine that it's
the year 2075 and you are watching your friend play the newest
Tomb Raider adventure on a PlayStation 9. "Wow, it looks
so realistic!" you'd say. "The plot's still pretty
lame, though." (Yeah, but it involves time travel! So how
could I not love this movie?) |
 |
Star Trek Voyager: Endgame |
I lost
interest in this series some time ago, but like many wayward
fans I tuned in for the big two-hour series conclusion. I found
it only reasonably satisfying. After successfully bringing her
ship home, Captain Janeway goes back in time to instruct her
former self to take a short cut at the 7 year point in their
26 year quest. There are some great scenes with Janeway and her
future self, but having decided to commit such a giant violation
of the temporal prime directive, why didn't she just go to the
beginning of their adventure and undo the mistake that stranded
them in the Delta Quadrant in the first place? Oh well, maybe
the next series, set prior to the original adventures, will be
better. I hear they've signed up Scott Bakula, the guy who played
the time traveler on Quantum Leap, to be the proto-Kirk. He could
be good; he's certainly a fine actor. But won't we always be
expecting Al to show up too, as a hologram that only Sam can
see and hear? |
|
|
The Fifth Element |
The
actual storyline is bogus (just another Battle Against Ultimate
Evil) but it's worth sitting through to see the vividly-realized
futuristic world of 250 years from now, in which said cornball
plotline is set. Think of it as being a cornball action film
from the Future, which you get to see now. The film has an interesting
structure, too, with each ten-minute segment having a different
tone, almost like the film was made in pieces by a series of
different directors. Plus, the music is great and the special
effects are amazing. So who needs a plot? |
|
|
Capricorn One |
OJ Simpson
plays an astronaut who thinks he can get away with faking the
first manned mission to Mars. Made in 1978, this film is a rather
interesting artifact of its time: Post-Watergate and Pre-Space
Shuttle. It's also a great example of how unbelievable the moon
landings would have been had they been similarly faked. |
|
|
Memento |
What's it
like to suffer from a mental condition that destroys your short-term
memory, so that you constantly find yourself completely confused
about the current situation you find yourself in? And what if
you're also on a mission of revenge, with only the notes you
leave yourself as clues to the path you must follow? This unusually
structured movie does an amazing job of imparting that experience
to the viewer. |
|
|
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure |
On
the face of it, this is a really bad movie, and actually, it
is a really bad movie. A couple of airheads who are flunking
out of high school are given a time machine by a dude from the
future so they can pass a history test and thus go on to fulfill
their important destinies as world-changing rock stars. So they
use the time machine to bring various historical personalities
to a modern school auditorium in California, where they all perform
a show for the enraptured student body. OK, it's not much better
than it sounds. Even so, there are a few chuckles, and more importantly,
the time travel is nicely thought out, featuring excellent Future
Self encounters and clever fourth dimensional solutions to common
adventure story problems, like making a mental note to return,
in the future, to deposit a badly needed item right when and
where they need it in the present. Plus George Carlin is great
as their most excellent guide from the future. |
|
|
Stand By Me |
- It's 1959 and a group of four adolescent
boys are hiking along the railroad tracks, on a coming-of-age
quest to go see a dead body. Well, it's better than it sounds.
My favorite line in this film is "Come on guys, let's get
moving! By the time we get there, the kid won't even be dead
anymore!"
|
|
|
Countdown |
This 1968
spaceflight drama is a fascinating artifact of its day, and it's
kind of fun if you think of it as being a true story from an
alternate reality. (It's also a fine example of how bad the real
moonshots would have looked if they'd been faked by the government.)
With the Russians on the brink of landing a trio of cosmonauts
on the moon, NASA embarks on a desperation program called Pilgrim,
designed to deposit a single astronaut on the moon, before the
Russians, with enough food and supplies to sustain him for 10
months or so, until a finally-ready Apollo mission can retrieve
him. (Such a plan was actually considered, at
least by some.) |
|
|
Big |
Tom Hanks plays
a 14-year old kid in the body of a 30 year old after wishing
to be "big" at a mysterious carnival sideshow. He ends
up becoming Vice President in charge of Product Development at
a toy manufacturer, his youthful insights into toy design having
been discovered after he was hired as a computer operator. He
makes it look so easy, doing it all in just a few weeks... for
me, it's taken 15 years. |
|
|
- Triumph of the Nerds
|
Even
if you lived through the microcomputer revolution, you'll learn
a few things from Bob Cringley's entertaining 3-part documentary
on the history of the home computer... and if you weren't around
back then (or just weren't paying attention) you'll find the
story of the early days of the Macintosh vs. Windows feud fascinating.
But since the history of computers changes as fast as computers
themselves, this show is as obsolete as a computer from 1996...
it portrays Apple as a fading star, but this was before Steve
Jobs returned, created the iMac, and revolutionized everything
yet again. (Oh, yeah, and then there's the internet...) But the
best material is timeless now, this being the history of the
early days, i.e. Part 1: "Impressing Their Friends".
It reminded me a lot of my own experiences with cutting edge
micro-computer technology in the late 1970s, when my dad was
one of those home computer hobbyists who built his own computer
using a kit. (Some of my earliest programming experiences were
accomplished using a 3K cassette-loaded Basic interpreter, which
was a challenge to make useful when the remaining memory available
for the program was no bigger than the length of this review,
the kit computer having at that time only 4K total. (Let that
sink in. 4K. Not gigabytes, not megabytes, just good old kilobytes.)
Ah, what a joy it was when he upgraded the machine to a whopping
16K!) |
|
|
Repo Man |
Another quotemaster's
favorite, this bizarre film features one of the most intensely
striking setup scenes I can think of: A cop pulls over a mysterious
Chevy Malibu and is vaporized when he looks at the contents of
the trunk. The film then follows the adventures of several competing
auto repossession agents trying to grab the car. My favorite
of the many vivid characters in this film is Miller, a philosophical
sort who gave us the term "Plate
of Shrimp" and who thinks the more you drive, the less
intelligent you become. |
|
|
Traffic |
This film
is typified by a scene in which the new National Drug Czar, played
by Michael Douglas, asks his advisors to "think outside
the box" about the drug problem, and to feel free to suggest
anything new we might try. But no one dares say anything. The
obvious answer is so unthinkable that even this film refrains
from coming right out and suggesting it... nowhere in this film
are the words "legalization", "decriminalization",
or even "prohibition" ever uttered. But perhaps that's
the best way to get the conversation started, with a problem
statement that begs for discussion. I think everyone in America
should see this film, but I particularly recommend it to whoever
might actually become the next drug czar: See this before
you accept the job. |
|
|
Torn Curtain |
Nowhere
is Hitch's concept of the "McGuffin" more strained
than in this film. This was his nickname for the secret message
or stolen death star plans or whatever it is that everyone in
the film is chasing after. In Torn Curtain, Paul Newman plays
an American scientist who defects to the other side of the Iron
Curtain with a headful of nuclear secrets, which can supposedly
be used to build a "defensive weapon" that would somehow
make the atomic bomb useless and obsolete. For some reason, the
United States military had canceled this project, but then those
peace-loving East Germans said they'd fund Paul Newman's research,
leaving him no choice but to defect, to live and work in East
Berlin, for the sake of peace. Uh, huh. Anyway, you can tell
he's up to something, since he tried to ditch his assistant/fiancée
Julie Andrews in Sweden, without telling her anything about his
plan. This is one of Hitchcock's last films (made in 1966) and
it's got more logic flaws than he usually permits, but there's
still a lot to like in this film, particularly if you fancy Germans. |
|
|
Stairway to Heaven |
Also
released under the title "A Matter of Life and Death,"
this classic romantic fantasy is linked in my mind with the Wizard
of Oz. Filmed just on the other end of WW2, it reverses that
film's color scheme: real life is all in Technicolor, while the
scenes that take place in Heaven are in silvery B&W. The
story concerns Peter Carter, played by David Niven, a British
pilot who survives a parachuteless jump from a crashing bomber
(due to the incompetence of his conducting angel) and immediately
thereafter falls in love. No longer so ready to die, he refuses
to go when his conductor catches up with him, and is eventually
granted a full jury trial in Heaven. Oddly enough, despite the
religious plot devices, this is more a piece of patriotic propaganda
than an advertisement for God, who appears in this film as an
English judge, complete with a poofy wig (and as Peter's brain
surgeon). Indeed, all of the interactions with Angels and the
Great Beyond are presented as being explainable as "highly
organized hallucinations" brought on by a neurological condition
which Peter is suffering from. (I'd also like to point out that
technically, it's not a mere stairway, it's an escalator.) |
|
|
Survivor |
I missed
out on the first season of Survivor... I didn't really become
aware of it until it was nearly over, and by then it was too
late to get caught up in the drama. But I was impressed enough
by what I saw and heard to tune in for the start of the second
season, and I'm hooked! But my question is, what kind of rewards
do they give to the cameramen and crew who endure the same harsh
climate in order to film and set up challenges for the survivors?
(Well, I suppose they get to eat...) [Hmm, maybe
I should rename this "Daddy-O's Media Reviews"...] |
|
|
LA Law |
I rarely watch
regular broadcast TV, so I never saw this show until Kristin
started watching the twice-daily reruns on A&E (it comes
on after Northern Exposure, itself a remarkably good TV series).
But gradually I've gotten drawn into it, and at this point, I've
become completely hooked. It's partly just a good courtroom drama
show, but the romantic soap operas going on in the law offices
of the firm the show focuses on can become rather addictive.
Which reminds me - it's 2:57, I have to stop writing now and
go watch today's rerun. [Postscript: It was a
good one!] |
|
|
Apocalypse Now |
This
film is a must-see if you want to know why helicoptors are associated
with Wagner's "Ride of the Valykires", or if you're
curious about the famous quote, "I love the smell of naplam
in the morning." On the other hand, if you don't like disturbing
images, this film is a must-avoid. But if you want to know what
it was really like in 'Nam, this film is probably a good place
to start. |
|
|
Bedazzled |
The Devil,
appearing as a British fellow named George Spigot, buys Stanley
Moon's soul for 7 wishes. Hilarity ensues. This 1967 classic
is a must see. The best parts are the sequences in between the
wish fulfillment sequences, where Peter Cook's best-realization
ever of the Devil carries out non-stop acts of mischief in the
background while delivering marvelous philosophical monologues.
Watch for the T-shirt worn by Anger: "Make War, Not Love";
I've always thought that would make a great Gobstopper. |
|
|
Fantasia 2000 |
In a
world of bad and ill-advised sequels, here's one that shoulda
been done years ago. Fantasia 2000 is a worthy successor to the
original. (My favorite
sequence: Rhaposdy in Blue.) |
