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2/10
Not As Funny As "Space Balls"
10 November 2007
While I was trying to watch the premiere of this on Turner Classic Movies, someone walked by and asked, "Is that 'Space Balls'?" When I said "No, it's 'The Black Hole," they replied, "Wow, that looks incredibly bad." And it is. Incredibly. Bad.

I remember the big buildup of publicity when this was originally released, but even from the ads I thought the robots just looked too dumb and the actors too wooden. So when I heard the bad reviews from others I passed it up (in favor of trying to sneak in to see 'Alien'?). Now that I've finally seen it, I realize that I've wasted a bit more than an hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back.

Yes, it was cool to see that glowing space field of stars that no one has ever really done that way again. And some of the effects and models were pretty cool (though some were pretty bad). But the pluses are so far outweighed by the painful minuses that it's not even enjoyable in a campy way.

The best part is the John Barry score, but even it sounds half-hearted. The often poorly-staged action scenes are not helped when the music that's turned up to heighten the effect sounds too much like a funeral march.
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6/10
Michael Parks channels James Dean
15 April 2004
Unless you love small-town soap opera or are a big fan of Ann-Margret, the only reason to recommend this film is to see Michael Parks emulate James Dean. Perhaps Parks isn't quite as intense or as fidgety as Dean, but the facial expressions, mannerisms, stance, etc. are all spot-on for this Dean fan. I had never really noticed Parks in anything before seeing this, and I haven't seen someone play James Dean this well since James Franco in the TNT "James Dean" (2001) biopic.

Kim Darby, somehow looking older than she did in "Star Trek" or "True Grit" plays a high school version of Barbara Bel Geddes' Midge from "Vertigo."
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