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Reviews
Starship Invasions (1977)
What a stinker
I remember going to this at an Air Force Base theater in Oklahoma (Vance AFB, BTW). I was in third grade? My dad must have thought this was a kid movie, because me and my sister went alone. Now don't think my Dad was a bad parent. We didn't do trick or treating due to the occult influence it was based upon. I don't think he knew what we were going to see in the way of content. The excessive blood, and implied sex and nudity, was way more than I was prepared for. I didn't even know what sex was back then... hey, it was only the 70's... we wuz simple folk way back then. Not "sophisticatd" like today's kids are supposed to be. I remember going home and telling my dad, "I don't think I should have gone to that one".
Anyway... The aliens come to take our planet, need our "seed" to do it, and use a transmitting device that turns humans into wanton killing machines. People start killing "for no reason". The hero tries to fly a saucer, and disable the device before we wipe ourselves out, thereby doing the aliens job for them.
The movie was way over the top for a kid's mind. There was little action... and yes, I think this movie suffered from the "improvisation" move of the 70's movies... just say whatever comes to your mind, never mind a script. This is why Star Wars and Close Encounters did so well... they actually had a script and assigned dialog.
Avoid this one. I don't know why this came to my mind this week, but I am glad I found this IMDb entry... so I could warn others. Don't expect this to come to DVD anytime soon. Hopefully, someone will have the better taste to file 13 this one.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Blair Witch meets Plan 9 from Outer Space!
Terrible... When the gratuitous nudity occurs within the first two minutes of the movie, and you are NOT watching a porno... WARNING! WARNING, Danger Will Robinson!!! Was C. Thomas high on cocaine or meth? He acted, barely, more like someone who had not seen a naked lady before, instead of someone celebrating his tenth year married. Oi! What is with all the walking? Okay, you're trapped in a house... we get it.. for 20-30 minutes! Poor sfx, poor editing, campy acting... no wonder this never made it to a theater. The extras running around were obviously "improvising"... poorly. I can't believe I was suckered into renting this at Blockbuster. I was surprised to see Jake Busey in such a stinker of a movie... his was the only worthwhile acting.. And he was acting CRAZY!!! The Sgt, whom the credits listed as a Lt., was good in Scanners with Peter Weller... how far has he fallen... Run... just as fast as you can. Maybe Tom Cruise's version will be better, but don't sign up for that Scientology newsletter just yet.
Automan (1983)
Nice try on the heels of Tron
I remember this weak show. I had high hopes for it, as a closet fan of computers. I remember using an Apple II Plus in 7th grade math class, and we owned an original Macintosh. Computers were a slowly growing trend at the time, and few used them in any frequency. Now we all use them daily. This show ranks up there against the super-motorcycle cop show (the one that flew), "Viper", and Manimal... another in the long line of knight-rider wannabes. There is no spoiler that could be given, even if I wanted to. The show was weak, and deserved the toss into cancellation hell that it got. The slow shot, then sped-up car chase scenes were so obvious, as to be funny. This could have been so much better.
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
An entertaining piece of fiction
I AM NOT an enviromentalist. I did enjoy this movie. I see it as a piece of SciFi... no different than the director's other notable movie... Indep Day... Aliens and Man-Induced Ice Age... sounds about right. The science here is sketchy at best... although I do not doubt that changing the warm water currents would be less than good for the world, I don't think that if it happens it will be because of my Crown Vic sedan... Mt. Pinotuba in the Phillipine let out more "greenhouse" gasses in the early 90's eruption than man has managed to scrape up in his entire existence. Couple that with the hundreds (thousands?) of volcanoes that occasionally blow their top... some regularly (Hawaii)... and I think we are gnats compared to their great outputs... but enough already. The Movie was enjoyable. The effects were effective and lent to the story. This was way better than Indep Day. Although the VP Cheney look-alike in the same job was hard to miss... the Algore-ish stand-in for the president was laughable. At least the leaders didn't fall in to smarmy, campy acting like the President in Indep Day. It was worth the popcorn needed to watch it. I gave it a solid 7.
American Beauty (1999)
Demented
The premise of this guy falling for his teenage next door neighbor... can you say "child molester"... I hope this didn't inspire any fence-sitting, would-be molester to approach his neighborhood cutey... I admit that annette benning's character... what a witch... made me want to reach into the movie and slap her... sheesh, she was mean! Not one of kevin's better choices in scripts... then again, does anyone remember K-Pax? Kevin was much better in LA Confidential. Maybe I was hoping for a better "nude shot", but the flat chested girl... though probably realistic, was anticlimatic. I am so glad I saw this on HBO and didn't pay to see it in the theater or rent it. I would have been irritated beyond measure.
Warlords of Atlantis (1978)
Hard to find
I have been trying to locate info on this movie for over year. I tried searching on IMDB before, and maybe I just missed it. I remember watching this in the theater in Enid, OK, where we were stationed at Vance AFB. I remember it as one of the more outstanding of the Doug McClure adventure movies, all were great for heir time... the big mecha-bug attack on the walls of the city is seared onto my mind... reminds me of the Bug attack in Starship Troopers. Sure wish it was released on DVD, would buy it, and would be nice if AMC or TMC played it once in a while. This should at least be release with the other land that time forgot Doug McClure SCIFI classics. To leave this out would be a travesty.
Screamers (1995)
Cult Classic
Under rated, scary, yes, even creepy. I LIKE IT! I rented the DVD years ago, and look to buy it for my collection... to put next to my soldier and starship troopers dvds, no less. Petter Weller carried the movie. No doubt about it. The whiny, phsycologically scarred soldier from the NEBs was far better tolerated than Mr "Game over man!" from Aliens (bill paxton at his unusual worst). This movie deserved a better budget, but was well made within what they had. Yes, I see the static back drops... a far cry from the dynamic CG animated ones we have grown used to in recent films. However, the "Outer Limits" style of cinematogrophy worked well for me. Okay, everyone just getting up and dusting themselves off after launching a mini-nuke into their kid-infested base was unrealistic and could have been portrayed better. The David screamer caught me off guard from the beginning, I didn't suspect anything until he was shot. And the chick? classic move. The teady bear at the end was UBER CREEPY... and begs for a WELL DONE sequel... with Peter Weller... or else don't even try. Mark this as one of my favorite unsung movies. A must see for the SCI-FI afficianado.
Ghost Ship (2002)
EEWWW! That was completely unneeded!
Okay, I am a police officer... I see dead people and get paid for it... like the suicide by gunshot the other day... my first, but it didn't bother me. Any way... the first 5 minutes of this movie could have been left out... completely... I can get the picture of what the crew did with out the cruelty and barbarism being played out in lingering gory detail. That scene on the promenade dance deck really bothered me. I went away from juvenile blood and guts hacker/slasher movies when I stopped getting zits. This could have been a scary and well scripted movie without the extended gore... gore done, it seems, only because they could do it "so realistically" (I just got off of a midnight shift, so pardon any misspelling). The story line was a good rendition... A rather fresh take on this "find lost ship, everyone envision riches, everyone but the female lead gets killed in misc and spooky ways" genre. "A+" on story... "F" on "good taste". The happy music at the beginning really set me up. Thanks guys. YUCK!