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Reviews
The Outer Limits: Specimen: Unknown (1964)
Wild to me the low rating
What an episode, I was legit gripped! I had no idea where this would go. I mean, when the clouds were coming suggesting rain, I did have a hunch, but that was very late in the episode.
If it were the 90s version, I would have assumed they were toast;)
I have never watched the original and didn't know it was so lavishly produced.
Plot wise, I absolutely would have destroyed the ship, but that's because a lot more is known now about potential contagions. When this made, it was less well known about those risks, at least with the public and that would include most writers of day.
I wrote this before seeing the rating and was surprised by the low score. Yes, it gets a little cheesy in the final act, and the lady should have rolled up the window, and was goofily unaware of that flower for a very long time.
They could have cut together the final act better. We already knew the fungus could breach metal and stuff.
Still, I thought the final act was pretty well done. Very nice touch imho when the camera would cut and there would be more... and more... and more. There are fungi that really can grow at freakishly fast speeds, and this was an unknown organism.
Star Trek Continues: To Boldly Go: Part I (2017)
Simply spectacular
This is the first part of a stunning two parter that wraps up the five year journey and lays down the backstory that The Motion Picture was based on.
Nicola Bryant's Lana is one of the best villains of any incarnation of Trek, period. Bryant plays her perfectly.
Anvar's performance is no slouch either and only looks smaller because Bryant's character had far more screen time.
Amy Rydell's performance of a character her mother(!) played 30 years prior is fantastic as well. It's kind of a wild form of fan service because Rydell herself greatly appreciated it (as shown in behind the scenes footage) but she looks just like her mother! But also, and ultimately more important, she nails the part.
And I put the STORY up there as good as any original TOS stories, and that's ultimately the most important thing.
Using the Smith character (from way back in "Where No Man Has Gone Before") is positively inspired and Kipleigh Brown plays it so well, her performance might even be the best upon many strong performances.
It's so hard not to fawn over this series and especially this two parter that it's almost hard to criticize. The only real negatives are a few of the performances of some minor characters make it obvious that not everybody is not rely a pro actor, but it's very minor.
The actors reprising the famous roles are, of course, not the originals, but they're absolutely not shabby. In particular, Kirk/Spock/McCoy are played not as parodies, but as these actors' interpretations of them. They're as good as any other actors recreating these characters.
Almost even another miracle is how well the new McKennah fits into the narrative. I have no problem believing she's an early version of a ship's counselor, and her role here plays a major role in the story.
2010 (1984)
Decent, but drenched in melodrama
It's a good movie and has even some scenes of wonder, which aren't exactly easy to pull off in the shadow of Kubrick's 2001.
It's absolutely drenched in melodrama though, without even comparing it to 2001.
The lengthy family scenes at the beginning are excessive and Floyd's wife (?) dropping her cup in the sink was way overdone and didn't feel real.
The Russians awaken Floyd but then tell him nothing. Would he not be given any briefing to tell him about the worsening problems on Earth? Did the American government not send Floyd any updates, not even a "crap has gotten worse"?
The two astronauts crossing over to Discovery suffered a bit of melodrama as well but at least had quite a "wow" factor. Though, there's unfortunately an enormous blunder here: these two are explicitly shown to be on the side of Discovery that's rotating away from them. Lithgow's character wouldn't be "getting heavy", they would likely be unable to hold on.
Aftermath (2014)
Curious but fairly accurate
This whole Armageddon scenario has become fashionable again... hopefully this isn't something we have to go through, but a fair number of Boomers and Xers expected this to happen many years ago.
It's possible we'll survive the nuclear age, but let's just say that the Fermi paradox has a very simple and tidy solution.
It was a curious throwback when it was made... not so much now. It to some degree gives a realistic scenario for what most people would actually go through. The uncomfortable reality is that very few (relatively) would immediately die from explosions, most people would die from the collapse of civilization.
With all that, the movie is pretty good, but still there's some unintended humor.
First, Thomason's character doesn't seem to be much concerned at all with the terrifying news updates he's explicitly listening to in the beginning. Including "world leaders urge restraint as nuclear explosions riddle the Asian continent.
Also, the main characters stop to raid a convenience store and he urges the others to get baby wipes and high protein food... and no "empty calories". Yeah, no, the correct thing to do is grab every single thing they can fit into their truck.
And apparently someone insisted the movie have a "zombie" scene because in the final act their house is attacked by a legion of other survivors. It just doesn't make any sense considering it's made very clear there's severe fallout in their area. It's implausible so many survived to bum rush their building.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
Terrible but has some redeeming qualities
It's an astonishingly cringe movie that took the "you will believe a man could fly" from the first movie and went back to "yeah that's cringe" effects from the 1950s.
I had not seen this in decades and definitely recalled it being... sub par... but I was pleasantly surprised to see the Hackman/Cryer bits are actually pretty good! Good charisma there.
I know Mr Reeves (rest in peace) didn't intend this as a farce but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it as an unintentional farce. Kubrick started Dr Strangelove with the intent to make a drama before realizing the material was inherently insane.
Lost in Space: The Mechanical Men (1967)
It is a silly episode that works
Agreeing with another reviewer, this is a silly episode that actually works.
It helps that this one almost takes itself seriously but as soon as you see all those toy Robots, you know it won't be too serious. Great marketing there too, I want buy one 55 years later!
Even so, as a prop, the toy robots look good enough that I don't find them distracting. Season two had some awful alien (and, ahem, "dragon") costumes and by those standards these little toy robots look pretty good.
Of course, there's barely a plot, and what little there is makes little sense. It's just an excuse plot to switch Dr Smith and the Robot (and sell toys!) and works well for that.
Star Trek: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969)
Weak, but there's a possible explanation
The cinematography was very distracting here. Apparently zooming in and out on the Red Alert lights was a nod to one of the guests playing on Batman. It's still weird and distracting.
But the zooms and extreme closeups during the self destruct sequences are very weird and distracting. They don't add anything to the tension, other than, "that's a really tight closeup!" Too bad, too, because the scene had plenty of inherent tension.
Bele chasing Lokai for 50,000 years makes no sense. After all, the Enterprise just barely saved Lokai from death. Hard to believe these guys could be doing Todd this long if they need spaceships and oxygen environments, etc. Was this the first close call?
I think a better explanation is Cheron was actually destroyed 50,000 years ago and Lokai and Bele are ghosts, doomed to fight this battle for all eternity.
Doctor Who: The Angels Take Manhattan (2012)
I can't even believe how emotional this gets
I'm an American and watched Who back in the 80s on PBS. It was different and whimsical and quirky. It was often funny and occasionally horrific, such as the ending of the Five Doctors. And my favorite Doctor was Pertwee. I also absolutely love that they kept continuity in the reboot with the original show.
The loss of Adric was sad, but the ending here is stunningly effective and sad. And it's one of the most effectively emotional scenes I've seen in any show or movie ever.
As a much more mundane observation, I am amused that the new Who, while having ongoing arcs, is much less of a serial than the old days, despite most of me tv having a serial format.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
Boring cgi fest with no charm
It's very loud and very effect laden, but there's no story and no charming setting or characters. It's straight up $curcheng-ville.
Star Trek: Voyager: The Q and the Grey (1996)
Hollywood please never ever do fake cliches again
By "fake cliches", I mean an American Civil War that's not real, or a "boxing episode" that's not actual boxers, or Space Nazis.
Ok, Voyager gets a bit of a pass for it's Space Nazi story because that was a holodeck simulation.
Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
I like watching it now a lot more than when it first ran
I watched it when it first aired, but frankly, I found it to be like reheated TNG leftovers. And it really kind of was. Starting right after TNG ended made that crystal clear.
However, now that TNG has long ended, I definitely enjoy Voyager episodes a lot more. It still feels rather reheated, but after 20+ years, it's a lot more tasty. Plus, with practically every recent tv show being basically continuing storyline soap operas, the Voyager reset button every week is kind of nice.
The show definitely had some severe weaknesses. Firstly, the tensions from integrating the Marquis and Starfleet crews was almost immediately dropped. So why did they bother? And those motorcycle gang aliens with pine cones in their hair that they ran into for a couple years-- the Kazon never made any sense and were glaring low budget Klingon knockoffs. The Borg were also sorely overused, but that wasn't a surprise.
Also, way too many characters were boring duds. Chuckles, Tom, Harry, Kes and even Tuvok. Neelix was just annoying. I'm not sure Bellana was even that good, but she was great relative to those.
After Seven was introduced, it did pretty much become the Janeway/Seven/Doctor show, but those were the best characters.
While rewatching, I was surprised how many latter season episodes I hadn't seen. I was quite pleasantly surprised to see Voyager actually had very solid seasons six and seven. IMHO, TNG started coasting in its season six and its season seven was very weak and largely felt phoned in. Not Voyager. There were some ambitious stories ambitiously produced and performed.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Sigh, it was my favorite book
I kind of suspected a I would be disappointed in the movie because the book was indeed my favorite. And since the book is so long, there would be cuts for a film.
The book had me glued for like a 100 page climactic ending. Yet the movie seemed to glide through that part pretty quick. Oh well.
Testament (1983)
You won't forget this one, and it's extremely sad
One of the three most dramatically effective early 80s nuclear WW3 movies, the others being Threads and The Day After.
It's interesting to ponder which order they should be ranked in. The Day After is probably the most shocking, Threads the most bleak and Testament the saddest.
This was made as a low budget TV movie, so they pretty much skipped any makeup effects of radiation exposure, though they do discuss them. But aside from that, it's certainly cinema quality.
Testament depicts nuclear Armageddon in the way many people likely would have, at least back then. That is, there's no superpowers with an escalating conflict. It just happens one day and these people find out from the tv.
There's a whole lot of memorable bits to this. The school play being canceled because what's the point? Then being uncanceled.
Massive Retaliation (1984)
Feels 30 years too late
This is astonishingly bad. The Wikipedia says this is similar to a twilight zone episode, but I think it's like some of the first atomic bomb movies of the early 50s.
But those early movies were made when nukes were new and the ramifications of using them weren't fully thought out.
It may or may not be "so bad it's good" territory, but it might be worth watching to see several familiar faces.
The title of the movie seems rather sophomoric and hardly suggests the content. Pretty likely the studio or distributor or whoever were well aware it's a total turkey and slapped on a name that might generate interest.
Rooftops (1989)
What a silly movie-- at least NYC is shot well
Are we supposed to believe any of this is much related to reality?
Jason Gedrick is generally a pretty good actor but is ridiculously miscast here. He's far too pretty and far too sweet for this role of someone living on a roof.
The dance-fighting? Whatever.
Really the best thing here is the extensive and sometimes stunning views of NYC itself at a time now long past, making this a pretty good time capsule.
The Langoliers (1995)
This is actually pretty good
Not perfect, and Pinchot's performance is way over the top and he looks like Star Trek's Data...
But, it's still really compelling. The characters are largely exaggerated, and the pacing is leisurely, but I think the pacing actually works to give you the feeling that you are really right there with them and some crazy thing is going on.
This would have worked even without some of that stuff.