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Reviews
Enough (2002)
A Preposterous Action Revenge Fantasy
Domestic violence is a serious topic that deserves a better platform than this crazy combination of domestic drama and crime thriller. Rather than deal with the realistic situations and consequences that abuse entails, it plunges off the deep end into an unrealistic, over-the-top fantasy of a poor little defenseless wife and mother abused by her suddenly psycho husband finding the only solution to her marriage problems is to become a Hollywood-style undercover martial arts expert bent on framing her husband for plotting her "murder" and killing him in "self-defense".
Egad!
Even a mediocre drama where the predictable plot elements seen in endless Lindsay Wagner/Meredith Baxter (Birney)/Lifetime movies playing out the emotional trauma of abuse (the lack of self-worth; the seemingly endless legal proceedings; the need to restore emotional health) would have been better. Instead, this movie ends with an unbelievable turn into a super hero/super villain knock-down drag-out fight.
There are a lot of other reviews that buy into the "vigilante revenge is its own reward 'cause everything works out in the end" plot, but be forewarned that the many plot holes, poor decisions and ludicrous actions (the nighttime sneaking out sequence is just dumb) make it difficult for the more discerning viewer to overlook the flaws. It's not so awful to enjoy on a so-bad-it's-good level but it's not really got the right movie slickness to forgive the terrible parts either.
It's Wallace? (1954)
Funniest show on TV when I was a kid
This was funniest show on TV for kids in Arizona in the 60s and 70s. They stole their material from all of the best comedians and comedy films, television and records; with the lack of home recording and playback, you didn't know this, you heard it for the first time from them and wondered how those other guys could steal from W&L. I saw them at several of their live shows and got to be on the show as a Ladmo Bag winner in 73. It was a large grocery bag with enough stuff to cover the bottom of the bag, which was disappointing, but it sure was fun to see the set and see them do their stuff in person (it was broadcast live every afternoon with a tape the next morning). The other best part were the Warner Bros. cartoons UNEDITED. Explosions, stereotypes and early 30s color cartoons were all there. Pat McMahon had some of the best characters: Aunt Maude and her tragic ending stories ("Bobby and Betty were never seen again." "All of the animals died in the forest fire."); Gerald, the worst villain on television (and the first boy to be made a Bluebird); Boffo (formerly Ozob), the clown who saw it as only a job and hated kids; and many others. Some of the late era cartoons were not good and the later characters were rather mild so they cause the loss of a couple of points. I think haters just didn't get the humor and that's a pity. Videotapes and DVDs are available for the curious and the web has plenty to sample. There's nothing like it on TV now. BTW, Steven Spielberg is a big fan and got his film debut on this show. He made a special greeting for their 35th anniversary show while filming Indy 3.
Earthquake (1974)
Peyton Place gets a shake up
For my second favorite movie, Producer-Director Mark Robson also gave this film an uncredited rewrite for the final draft and if, during the first 50 minutes, it seems like you're watching Peyton Place and not a disaster movie, you'd be right. More of a soap opera with an earthquake, this is a dramatically flawed film but not really all that bad. Gardner may be in her early 50s but Greene does look older than his real age (I was surprised to find out how young he was. That white hair is NOT very youthful.) Gortner's scenes are a bit much, but they aren't very frequent (unless you are watching the NBC '76 television cut prepared for the 2-part, 2-week fall premiere of The Big Event. Airplane and pawn shop scenes are part of this edit as are additional scenes of Principal and Gortner before the quake.) The effects are the best part and they start about 50 minutes into it, so skip ahead if that is all you really are interested in seeing. They did win a specially awarded Oscar as FX was not a regular category. A citation for the Sensurround and a win for Sound also happened. Some of the acting is just fine, it's the dialog that does it in. The animated blood splat came about because a more gruesome death was edited out after previews but before release. The main title theme is my favorite movie theme and it is much jazzier than Williams other scores of that time. Only commit to this if you can skip around the film or if you like soapy plots.