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Reviews
Alien Tornado (2012)
Better Than Shawshank
At least this movie was watchable and maybe even re-watchable, which is more than I can say for many Hollywood "A" pictures. The core idea of Alien Tornado was good and even somewhat original: Aliens invade Earth with something other than spaceships and death-rays. Given that setup and SyFy's regular treatment, it's a mildly entertaining entry with some fun bits here and there. Again, more than can be said for certain top-rated movies.
Jeff Fahey from Lost and Kari Wuhrer from Sliders were good enough for the material and I enjoyed their performances, though the director might have rushed through some scenes. No, the effects weren't great but, in my opinion, they were effective which is all I expect effects to be.
As for the screenplay, characters and dialogue I've got news for you: most big-budget blockbusters start out like this. The producers then bring in the high-powered script doctors to fix everything up, change or remove characters, make the "science" sound more believable, tweak dialogue into something resembling human speech. SyFy budgets don't allow for this so what we end up seeing feels like a first draft -- which is what it is, probably.
Archie's Weird Mysteries (1999)
Much better than Archie comics
This is a fun cartoon. Archie writes a "Weird Mysteries" column for his school newspaper and that leads him and his friends into wild adventures. The creators obviously realized that the stories in the Archie comics were too boring and repetitive (high-school life, dating, etc.) so they added the weird mystery angle.
The animation isn't great, but the voice work is very good and the stories are exciting and sometimes actually spooky... all in a little town called Riverdale.
The Trouble with Tracy (1970)
Worst show ever
You think you've seen bad TV? You haven't seen the worst until you've seen this gem. A few seasons were made and then rerun for years on Canadian stations to fulfill Canadian content rules.
The acting was atrocious, the direction non-existent, the production values were laughable, and the writing ... oh, the horror! Add in a tinny laugh-track and cheesy muzak and you've got Trouble. Flubbed lines were left in (and it was on video!), "jokes" were recycled ad nauseam, you could see the walls move when a door was opened or closed. Dyan Nylan as Tracy was cute in her micro-miniskirts but she had little acting ability or comedic timing, and the lines she was given to speak were cringe-inducingly lame. Every embarrassing stereotype was included, every Lucy and Honeymooners setup was ripped off, every stale Henny Youngman joke was massacred.
Simply excruciating, unredeemably puerile, so bad it's not funny! So why is it I wish I could see it again?