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alumni72
Reviews
It's About Time (1966)
I remember this show as well
I don't remember much about the show at all, except that I used to watch it with my sister. I was 7 years old in 1966 and she was 9, and all I recall is that some nights we were anxious to finish dinner early to go watch it. Thank goodness for our patient and understanding parents. I don't remember any details except for the first 2 lines of the theme song (It's about time, it's about space") - in my mind I figured the next line must have ended in "human race" so it would rhyme, but obviously I was wrong there. I can't share my memories with my wife - she was only 3 when the show was on - so it's nice to finally find other people who also remember the show - although you all seem to remember it more clearly than I do. Still, I'd be interested in buying it if it ever came out on DVD, and I would definitely be up for watching it on TVLand. I'm giving the show 10 stars - I can't recall much about the show itself now, but the memories that come back by just thinking about the show are definitely 10-star memories.
The Others (2000)
Good show - what happened?!
I really enjoyed this program - I watched every episode. Until - what happened? Was the show SUPPOSED to end after less than a season? Did NBC force a show-ending episode where all the characters were killed off in outlandish ways? I would love to see this show come out on DVD - I would love even more if someone would bring it back and bypass that ridiculous 'final' episode. The episodes were well-written and the special effects were pretty good for a supposedly low-budget program. The characters were developed quite well - not quickly and superficially, but in a natural way that drew us along with the story line as it exposed each character's personality, past, talents, etc. - and there was a desire to learn more about the characters and their past, especially Elmer, the 'leader' of the group. But all that was sabotaged by who knows who? Was it the writers or the network who decided the show should end? And why do it in such a was that it could never be brought back? It seems vicious, as though maybe the network deliberately killed the show out of spite. For what, I don't know...but if anyone does know I'd love to hear about it.
Casablanca Express (1989)
Words cannot describe the sub-mediocrity of this movie
...but I'll try anyway.
I got this movie in a package containing a dozen WW2 movies and documentaries, all for about $14.99. While the packaging didn't advertise the fact, I am convinced it was originally marketed as The World's Worst WW2 Movies - while this may be the worst of the lot, it isn't by much.
The actor playing Winston Churchill looks so unlike him that in closeups they only show his hand holding a cigar - the voice is close enough that, combined with the cigar, you can figure out who it is supposed to be, though. And for shots from farther away, the actor is never shown head-on; only in profile or looking away at an angle.
The plot makes absolutely no sense, and how Glenn Ford and Donald Pleasence got roped into taking part in this travesty is beyond me.
The only decent part of the movie is.........wait - I apologize. There IS no decent part of this movie. If you paid even a penny to see this movie, you got robbed! And if you saw it for free - you're within your rights to ask for your 90 minutes back.
The Black Adder (1982)
Witty, clever and DEFINITELY worth your time!
(Entire series) I first saw Blackadder on PBS (in the US) in the late 1980's. I was hooked from the start. All episodes, throughout the first 3 series, are without a doubt the most clever programs ever written for television. The structure of the 4 original series (excluding Back & Forth) is brilliant - Edmund believes he is destined to be king of England; with each successive generation, though, his family drifts another stage further away from the crown, but ironically, with each generation the main character (Blackadder) is more intelligent, and had the family remained close to the crown he no doubt would have found a way to become king. My favorite series overall is Blackadder III, though this may be a result of my literary background and the use of literary themes in this series. I dare you to not laugh uncontrollably at "Sense and Senility".
High Barbaree (1947)
I wish they'd put this movie on DVD!
I remember seeing this movie when I was around 11, one rainy Saturday afternoon, with my father. It's stuck with me all these years (I'm 46 now) and I wish I could see it again! I could be romanticizing it a bit based on memory of days long past, but I remember it well enough to know that it WAS a great movie despite the tricks the years may have played on me. It was indeed an unusual mixture of adventure, romance and fantasy - but what makes it unusual also makes it unique and well worth watching. I know I turned it on originally because of the phrase 'World War II' that I spotted in the TV Guide - but the war really has little bearing on how the story plays out. If you happen to see it advertised on TV, be sure and watch it - I've been waiting for years now, and have only seen it listed once (but sadly I wasn't home at the time and couldn't see it).
Alone in the Dark (2005)
Horrible, horrible, horrible!
My wife rented this movie last night for us to see - I'll probably forgive her...maybe.
Even before the film begins, during the Star Wars-esquire scrolling text exposition, we know we're in for a bad movie - we are told of two totally unconnected plots - one involving an ancient civilization that allowed evil into this world...and the other about a scientist conducting experiments on children in an abandoned gold mine. Just ONE plot, please! Then we have to endure bad guys who can't be killed with a bullet through the heart, but CAN be killed if you make them fall on a sharp stick. We see Tara Reid trying to be a brilliant archaeologist (no, it didn't work) and her former love (Christian Slater) as an investigator of the paranormal who jumps at the slightest sound - he is constantly looking over his shoulder, yet after fighting off the hit-man-who-would-not-die, who was after something in his possession, he goes home and hits the sack - apparently the bad guys don't know where he lives, even though they knew his complete itinerary up until this point. He even fails to close his apartment door all the way. Is that supposed to be this film's equivalent of - I don't know the 'official' term for it - (foreshadowing something that doesn't happen after all, so then we relax our guard, and then it DOES happen now that we thought it wouldn't)? Because if it is, they forgot to have that something surprise us by actually HAPPENING. We then learn that the bad guys are controlled by something amazingly like the symbiote snakes from Stargate SG1. They can only be killed by direct sunlight - or by special photonic bullets used by the secret government agency that pops up to also fight the monsters. But Slater's character was controlled buy one as a child, but it was killed when he was nearly electrocuted. But the monsters can control electrical current, since they make the lights go out whenever they're around - am I the only person confused by that? Skip to the end. They open the portal to another world and the monsters can now completely take over the world. So how to close the portal again? Close the door using the same key the ancient civilization used - the same one they used to open the door minutes earlier? Nah. Too easy. Leave the door open, and blow up the room where the door is located. That should do it. Now skip to Slater's voice-over where he tells us that the portal has been closed again. But wait - now he's telling us that it looks like civilization is being destroyed by these monsters again, just like the last time. Maybe I wasn't paying attention at the part of the movie that explained how that makes any sense. Oh, no! The last scene is Slater and Reid walking down the street in a major city that was somehow completely evacuated overnight (the message at the bottom of the screen tells us so). The camera rushes up behind them - it must be one of the monsters that can't survive in the daylight - but it's 8:45 am (the on-screen message said it's so) and the sun is out - but Slater and Reid spin around to face the camera, looks of terror on their faces ... The End.
Well, I suppose I DID include some spoilers despite my desire not to do so - but then again, how can you spoil something that is already so rotten that it stinks this bad?!