Farscape - The Complete First Season (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)Farscape is arguably the best SF ever produced for television. It takes a fairly common storyline of a group of travelers thrown together and being pursued by individual of near obsessive (and evil) qualities. This formula has gone bad before in several genres, western, SF, road movies etc. Here, an contemporary American astronaut is sucked through a wormhole into another side of the galaxy where he is immediately caught up in a "prison break" in space. What makes Farscape so successful is a mixture of qualities.

First the casting is excellent. Filmed in Australia, most of the characters (except the lead, John Crighton's) are from there giving it an "off" feel to American ears which contributes to it's alieness. Each of the character's is part colorful stereotype, has weaknesses and is extremely individual. The chemistry is fantastic, especially after the first two or three shows in the series. Especially notworthy is the chemistry between the love interests played by Claudia Black and Ben Browder (John Crighton).
Another plus is the writing. Non-stop action and story telling is the hallmark of this series. Little time is spent creating mood or atmosphere (that is done by the characters and background), everything advances the plot line. Additionally, most episodes are connected in that previous storylines are built upon and create a chronology of events for the later stories.
Farscape space is inhabited by aliens who pass gas, burp, have intimate relations, love, hate, get hungry and can be fairly dirty in their habits. Add to this the great cultural references made by Crighton, the viewer gets the feeling that this is a bit like what space would really be like. A far cry from the antiseptic cleanliness and "wonder" of the Star Trek franchise.
Lastly Farscape has a timeline in the sense that it's not an endless variety of adventures for no particular reason there is an actual endstate the writers and producers have in mind at the end of the series.

Let's hope that Sci Fi Channel has the good sense to let Farscape complete its last season and reverse its cancellation. Shows of this quality and with such a loyal fanbase are rare.

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Transformers (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)For a nerd that used to drool over this show as a kid, this movie hooks you from the very beginning. From Optimus Prime's summary intro (with Peter Cullen still at the helm of our favorite alien semi) to the Decipticon attack on the military base, you have no doubts that this is Transformers. Shia LaBeouf makes his entrance and proves the perfect part for this movie. He's actually pretty funny and acts the part well. As far as the rest of the humans in this cast, not as much can be said.
After the awesome introduction, the first part of the movie deals mainly with Shia LaBeouf's Sam purchasing a Camaro that actually turns out to be the Autobot Bumblebee (in the cartoon, originally a VW Bug. I think the yellow VW Bug in the car lot next to Bumblebee was a homage.) Sam unknowingly uses his alien car to impress a girl. Of course she actually is impressed when they find out it's an alien. There are some pretty funny scenes in this part of the movie as well as some action scenes that are very well done.
Soon comes the arrival of the other Autobots and they reveal to Sam their true purpose, which is to locate the Allspark -a powerful device capable of transforming a planet- before the Decepticons get a hold of it. I thought at this point that the slow parts of the movie were over, but not quite. From here we go into a few too many scenes dealing with side characters, from video game playing computer experts to goofy secret agents whose quirks border slapstick comedy. Too many of these characters could be chalked up as comic relief, and most of what they attributed was not very funny. There was a slightly funny but overly long scene where Sam was trying to hide the autobots while he searched through his house for a relic they needed. And then arrived John Turtorro (playing the said goofy secret agent) whom I love, but who severely overstayed him welcome in this. Other performances, namely John Voight's, were just plain campy and the cookie cutter dialogue was cringe inducing at times.
Luckily, I forgot most of that by the time the movie got to its last act. Once the Decepticons arrive in force the movie is a non stop ride of action and jaw dropping effects. While someone who's not familiar with the characters and story might not care what the outcome is, I found myself with memories as a kid, watching the 1986 movie for the first time. I forgot about the humans and their ho-hum sotrylines as my favorite characters and toys from my childhood crashed and shot and ripped each other apart. I forgot that I was watching CG effects as the transformers look as real as the environment they're destroying. The action scenes are larger than life and I'm amazed at how well the battles of the cartoons translated onto big screen. The transformers themselves were all very well done, applying actual physics to their transformations and robot appearances. They look real and modern but don't lose the heart of what the fanboys loved about them from back in the day. And Hugo Weaving as Megatron was genius. I missed hearing the original Starcream, but the original voice actor died many years ago, and the two or three lines Starcream had in this sounded suitable.
Despite the great flaws in acting, dialogue and script, I left this movie with that rare itch to want to go straight back inside and watch it again. From the previews, it looked like the movie was going to take a realistic perspective and show the warring alien machines from a human point of view. But that's really not the case at all. In every other Michael Bay movie, the corny dialogue and overdramatic characters ruin an otherwise good premise. But Transformers is based on a cartoon, so why shouldn't the movie feel like one? Here it works. It's big, dumb nostalgic fun that the kid in me has been after for 20 years.

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From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg comes a thrilling battle between the heroic Autobots® and the evil Decepticons®. When their epic struggle comes to Earth, all that stands between the Decepticons® and ultimate power is a clue held by young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf). Unaware that he is mankind\'s last chance for survival, Sam and Bumblebee, his robot disguised as a car, are in a heart-pounding race against an enemy unlike anything anyone has seen before. It\'s the incredible, breath-taking film spectacular that USA Today says "will appeal to the kid in all of us."

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Starship Troopers (Special Edition) (1997) Review

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(More customer reviews)So says Paul Verhoeven, who has said (and says again in the commentary on this DVD release) that it's one of the statements made by this morally complex film.
I love listening to Verhoeven's commentaries (especially the one he does with Arnold Schwarzenegger on _Total Recall_). Here he shares the task with screenwriter Ed Neumeier, and putting the two of them together was an excellent choice. The commentary is one of the best features of the special edition.
The film itself is hard to evaluate. Because it's Verhoeven, it's got sex, gore, and social satire. What it's also got -- and something that was arguably missing from the Robert A. Heinlein novel on which the film is based -- is a high level of moral complexity that doesn't divide everyone neatly into Good Guys and Bad Guys.
The effect is odd, and oddly disturbing. On one hand, the film succeeds quite well as a combat shoot-'em-up in the style of the great World War II films. At that level, if we like, we can take the 'bugs' of Klendathu, playing as they do into our 'natural' loathing of insects, as a politically correct version of the sort of enemy Heinlein probably intended. (As long as we don't take the film's incompetent 'military action' too seriously.)
On the other hand, the film also contains lots of sly references to the Third Reich, lots of little clues that suggest the 'bugs' didn't start the war, and lots of opportunities for the characters _and_ the audience to conclude that war may not be the best way to approach the problem here at issue.
Okay, this latter stuff is a huge departure from Heinlein's novel, which was primarily focused on what makes military folks tick and what it means to be a responsible citizen. Heinlein's civics lesson is duly incorporated into the film, of course: a 'citizen' is one who takes personal responsibility for the safety and well-being of the body politic. But the film doesn't stop there.
In fact, it incorporates elements that could have come from two other SF novels that have been read as responses to _Starship Troopers_, namely, Joe Haldeman's _The Forever War_ and Orson Scott Card's _Ender's Game_. I don't _know_ that Neumeier had either of these novels in mind, but there's an important reference to Mormons in the screenplay that in this context might suggest Card. Be that as it may, Heinlein's civics lesson is here subjected to severe scrutiny and even dark satire.
That's okay by me. I regard _Starship Troopers_ as one of RAH's better novels (and as a success in its exploration of the military-man-coming-of-age mindset; I can see why military readers like it so well). Nevertheless there are problems with it that a straightforward screen adaptation wouldn't have been able to address. Neumeier and Verhoeven address those problems precisely by exaggerating them and sometimes openly ridiculing them -- while still managing to remain sensitive to the integrity of the military outlook.
Such nuance may unfortunately be lost on much of the film's audience. Heinlein fans may either disapprove of Verhoeven's approach or miss it altogether; viewers who haven't read their Heinlein may not even be aware that there's an argument going on (and mistake this gorefest for nothing more than an earlier version of _Independence Day_).
That's too bad, because this well-scripted, special-effects-laden film is a cinematic triumph on several levels -- only one of which is the gut-wrenching battle between humans and bugs. Verhoeven has long been clear that this film is _not_ an endorsement of either war itself or the fascistic society it tends to promote; that this isn't just obvious is a testament to Verhoeven's subtlety and, indeed, his _refusal_ to engage in 'propaganda' of the sort he satirizes.
It's an odd film in the sense that, in order to like it properly, you have to dislike it. If you enjoy it too much, you're missing the point its director wanted it to make.

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Computer Science 101 (Wargames / Anti-Trust / Hackers) (1995) Review

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(More customer reviews)This collection contains some great films that have strong computer hacker/espionage themes. The first film, "War Games" stars Matthew Broderick as an underachieving high school student and computer enthusiast who inadvertently starts a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia after hacking into a government artificial intelligence system, which he thinks is a prototype video game. Of course, this sparks a race against time to thwart the destruction of the world as we know it.
The film was shot in 1983, so if you don't mind the quirks of movies from that era this should be an entertaining thriller.
Next in the lineup was "Hackers" starring Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie. This film is by far the most delinquent of the three. A group of young cyber criminals end up being blamed for a computer virus they didn't plant, which leads to them having to expose an elaborate cover up. If I were to grade this movie on its accuracy in the portrayal of hackers it would be a negative 4 stars. However, movies are meant to be entertaining, and quite honestly most people would rather watch paint dry than pay to watch a true account of a hacker's life.
The last film, "Anti Trust", posed the most plausible storyline within this collection. The film stars Ryan Phillippe and Tim Robbins. Phillippe assumes the role of a recent college grad, who also happens to be a computer genius, and Robbins is cast as a Bill Gates type software tycoon who wants to recruit the youngest, hottest talent in computer programmers and he has his eyes set on Phillipe's character. Phillippe and his best friend part ways because of their differing ideologies about supporting the free software movement and working for software giants (like Microsoft). Shortly after starting his new career, Phillipe's friend turns up dead, and he has a growing suspicion that his new boss is somehow behind it. There are a lot of twist and turns in this film, and the acting is quite good. The film also deserves a gold star for staying true to the technology without losing casual watchers whom have limited experience with computers.


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Disc 1: Wargames Disc 2: Anti-Trust WS Disc 3: Hackers

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