|
Well worth the time to watch |
Don't watch under any circumstances |
 Highlander - This
first movie was odd and novel and brilliantly done. It's pure, shameless
fantasy with no attempts to rationalize explanations for the Immortals and
the Rules of the Game. HIGHLANDER is the
story of a group of immortals who must battle each other throughout the ages
for “there can be only one.” With beheading the only way for them to die,
the immortals – even into our century – carry and use swords. The film is
beautifully shot and makes splendid use of transitions. There are
two versions floating around out there. The original British version has
several scenes cut out of the American version. I like the editing of the
American version better--it's stronger, especially at the beginning--but the
added scenes in the British version clarify several otherwise puzzling
things, like MacLeod's relationship with his aging secretary. |
Highlander 2 - If any movie could make "Plan Nine From Outer Space" look good, it's this one. It's astounding that the same people who made one of my favorite movies--the first Highlander--could follow it up with one of the worst movies ever made. They did a Director's Cut that supposedly 'fixed' all the problems with the original version. It's every bit as awful, just longer. The only salvation of HIGHLANDER 2 is the open acknowledgement that it was all a Hideous Mistake. When asked at a Highlander convention about the second Highlander movie, the producer responded, “What second movie?” Highlander 3 and Highlander 4 aren't as purely awful--they're just utterly forgettable.
|
| Until the End of the Universe - This movie is near-term sf that reminded me in many ways of Heinlein's book "Friday." It's an odd, but finely done film. The story is wandering and a bit slow but it works. It's a very moody film. It gives a good look at upcoming technology--which is probably becoming current technology right now (Sony provided the gadgets to the film). |
Speaking of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, the film about that infamous movie’s creator, ED WOOD, is well worth seeing. Though not strictly science fiction, it ought to be. Filmmaker Ed Wood certainly lived his life in a very unique universe. |
 Grand Tour: Disaster in Time
- This poor film has apparently been someone's unloved step-child--it's had
several different titles yet is still quite unknown. This is one of the
surprises in the video store. It looked like the sort of low-budget crap
that "Nightfall" was, but the film is absolutely lovely. It's about a tour
company that travels through time to watch great historical disasters. They
arrive in a small northeast town where their secret is slowly unwound by the
hotel owner who realizes his town is soon to be destroyed. It is a very good
movie starring Jeff Daniels. The disaster, itself, is quite well done. |
Nightfall - This extremely low-budget movie is based on Isaac Asimov's classic, and excellent, short story "Nightfall." There is no similarity of the movie to the word "excellent" in any way. It's not just gawdawful, it's boring, boring, boring. I can’t tell you if the ending holds true to the written story for I don’t know anyone who has made it all the way to the end of this film. |
| Miracle Mile - What an absolute surprise this movie was! It starts out in a late night diner in Los Angeles--on the Miracle Mile--with a wrong number phone call from a nuclear missile silo letting the odd group of people at the diner know that a nuclear attack is coming. They're the only people that know but gradually the word, and the panic spreads. The movie turns around and around, moving between somewhat slapstick comedy to dark drama until you can't tell where they're going with it. I don't know if that was an intentional technique, but in this case it worked for them. The movie has Lt. Yar from Star Trek: TNG proving she still can't act. But she's a minor role. The main players are very good--Anthony Edwards, in particular. I think Tom Cruise plays a cameo--watch for it. |
Contending for the role of worst book-to-film adaptations is DUNE (but you all know about that one already – okay, let’s have a joint shudder). There is no salvation for the first movie version. On the other hand, the 6 hour Sci-Fi Channel made-for-tv version isn't bad. It's infinitely better than the movie version, but on it's own it's pretty good. Not great--with that much material in the book to work with one wonders why they felt compelled to create new scenes while skipping some of the book's scenes. They also missed the point of a few scenes. But, overall, worth spending some time watching. |
 Atomic Cafe -
This is a documentary, not a fictional movie, about the development of the
US nuclear arms programs. You wouldn't think this that would make a good
subject for a humorous film, but it is. Okay, it's not light-hearted humor.
It's dark, ironic satire. The films relies on old Defense Department footage
and propaganda films from the 1940s and 50s. The things they expected people
to believe about nuclear weapons, and the earnest tone they used in spewing
out the nonsense, will make you distrust everything the government tells you
thereafter. |
Jurassic Park 2 - Jurassic Park 2: The Mindless Carnage. Again, the sequel to a good film misses everything that worked in the original and carries over everything that didn't work. This one is nothing more than a long, tedious string of killings and mutilations. There's no mystery, no sense of wonder or discovery... no plot that I can recall. Amazing how something so violent and full of action could be so dull. |
 Aliens - The
first movie didn't do much for me but the second, "Aliens" was very good.
Think of Heinlein's book, "Starship Troopers" without the politics. It's
actually a better version of "Starship Troopers" than the the movie
intentionally made from the book. |
Alien 3 & 4 - In the "how to screw up a series" department... Everything that worked in the first two was destroyed in the third. The title sequence of #3 is well-done. The movie goes to hell after that. |
| PLYMOUTH - If you can find it, is worth seeing. It was originally the pilot for a television series that was never produced. Airing as a television movie, PLYMOUTH is the story of the first town on the moon. Fairly predictable, but nicely done. | |
I’ll end with
recommending a film you probably wouldn’t expect on a list of science
fiction and fantasy films:
 ROMEO AND JULIET.
Yes, from the play by William Shakespeare. This version is the recent one
with Leonardo DiCaprio (the pretty boy from TITANIC). ROMEO AND JULIET is
true to Shakespeare’s story, and to his dialog, but set in a bizarre,
alternate universe called Verona Beach. It’s wild and unconventional with a
nasty little twist on the ending. |
