Chicken Little

Chicken Little (2005) – This is a film that tries and fails spectacularly to make us feel sorry for it; it relies almost exclusively on pop culture references for its miserable efforts at humor, and frankly, it’s a mess. 4

The Quiet Earth

The Quiet Earth (1985) – A sloppy, silly, bad dialogue-plagued hodge-podge of ideas, it ends up feeling like I Am Legend with a bunch of unnecessary male nudity and no creatures. 4

The Towering Inferno

The Towering Inferno (1974) – Interminable, cheesy, never intense and never surprising – a cast this good deserves a better story; how on earth did this get nominated for Best Picture? 4

W.

W. (2008) Surprisingly sympathetic, but disappointingly toned-down and unremarkable; very disjointed – it doesn’t flow well at all – and too Hollywood pretty; there are some painfully hackneyed moments. 5

TV: Star Trek: The Animated Series - A Quick Look

 

Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974), 22 episodes

The forgotten stepchild of the Star Trek universe, the technically non-canon Animated Series featured the voices of the entire original cast (except Walter Koenig) and scripts by many writers from the original series.

Koenig’s Chekov is not here for budgetary reasons, but Koenig did write an episode, “The Infinite Vulcan,” which is plagiaristically similar to the original series episode “Spock’s Brain.”

This is a Filmation cartoon, which means the animation is stiff and the use of stock footage is plentiful (which leads to numerous instances of incorrect rank insignia and swapped chest emblems). The characters look only vaguely like their original counterparts, and hearing the old voices from these faces takes some getting used to.

As a cartoon, the series is able to take certain liberties the original could not. There are now alien crewmembers, for one (and quite a few more aliens, period), and many more spacecraft are shown. Yet in traditional Filmation style, corners are cut wherever possible – the use of the life support belts, for example, is considerably simpler to animate than environmental suits would be (and sometimes they don’t even bother to draw the belts).

Nearly all the additional voices are supplied by Trek regulars James Doohan, Majel Barrett and Nichelle Nichols. Doohan has a talent for voices; Barrett and Nichols are hard pressed to do any voice that sounds different from their own, which causes problems when there are multiple female characters on screen.

Star Trek: The Animated Series doesn’t always feel like a kid’s cartoon. Just like in the original series, the best episodes deal seriously with themes like ethics and life and death (the worst are bogged down with exposition to the point they could be radio dramas). There are many sequels to episodes from the original series, which makes TAS more satisfying. TAS also adds significantly to the Trek universe: here we get a good look at Vulcan and Spock’s family and we see Uhura in command of the Enterprise for the first time.

The shortened running time (23 minutes) does necessitate a simplification of the stories, but it doesn’t hamper the series unduly. In fact, many of the oft-mocked Trek conventions are absent here: no redshirts die, Kirk keeps his shirt on throughout the series, and he never puts the moves on any women.

On the whole, The Animated Series is faithful in spirit to the original, and will be enjoyed by fans of the same. I give the series a 6.

Best episode: “Yesteryear”

VeggieTales: Tomato Sawyer & Huckleberry Larry’s Big River Rescue

VeggieTales: Tomato Sawyer & Huckleberry Larry’s Big River Rescue (2008) – This one’s kind of funny but the songs still aren’t very good. 6

Merrily We Go to Hell

Merrily We Go to Hell (1932) – The characters all act so shamefully the happy ending you know is coming is hard to buy; on the subject of alcohol this film is about as subtle as a tap-dancing hippopotamus. 5

Taken

Taken (2008) – “Let us do evil that good may result”; Neeson turns in a fine job, as always, but the script is weak and Maggie Grace is the oldest 17 I’ve seen in a long time; this is hardly the film to bring international sex trafficking into the social consciousness. 5

The Cheat

The Cheat (1931) – Like most “indecent proposal” stories, it’s hampered by a profound lack of sympathetic characters – even the faithful husband is whipped and oblivious; the film is by turns predictable and ridiculous, and it wallows in self-destruction. 5

Search for Beauty

Search for Beauty (1934) – The thing of it is, today none of this stuff is the least bit scandalous; let's not forget to “whistle gaily as instructors escort guests to exercise field.” 6

Okie Noodling II

Okie Noodling II (2008) – You will be amazed by what bumpkins do for fun. 6

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) – Well made, but for all its ridiculous length (this is Eric Roth) it doesn’t do near as much as it thinks; kudos to the makeup/effects people. 6

VeggieTales: Gideon: Tuba Warrior

VeggieTales: Gideon: Tuba Warrior (2006) – George Mueller? really? as VeggieTales goes, however, this has one of the sturdier messages, although Big Idea is still struggling to recapture the pre-bankruptcy magic. 5

The Wrestler

The Wrestler (2008) – The performances are good and the look inside pro wrestling is interesting, but the story is disappointing; it feels destined to be forgotten. 6

Whisper of the Heart

Whisper of the Heart (1995) – Completely immersive, but the film struggles to overcome the everyday-ness of the story; it’s a little bit slow and a little bit corny but quite endearing. 6

Inkheart

Inkheart (2008) – Given the premise, this is a profound underachievement. 5

Leviathan

Leviathan (1989) – Flagrantly apes its survival-horror betters, most notably Alien and The Thing; it has a good cast and that’s it. 4

Raising Arizona

Raising Arizona (1987) – Not the slightest bit funny, and often painfully stupid. 4

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie

Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) – None of this is particularly interesting or suspenseful. 5

Bolt

Bolt (2008) – Not great, and rather predictable, but it does have its moments. 6

Hot Saturday

Hot Saturday (1932) – Scandalously boring – not even Cary Grant can help. 4

TV: Star Trek: The Original Series - A Quick Look

Star Trek (1966-1969), 79 episodes

Occasionally on this site we will take a look at the complete run of a television program. Over the last month and a half, my film reviews (book reviews, too) have been somewhat less frequent. This is because I have been watching the complete Star Trek: The Original Series. (Next I will be watching Star Trek: The Animated Series, then Star Trek: The Next Generation, then Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It remains to be seen if I will have any interest remaining for Star Trek: Voyager. Certainly I have none for Enterprise.)

Star Trek has been analyzed and overanalyzed a million times, from the redshirts to the plot holes to Kirk constantly losing his shirt to the campiness to Bill Shatner’s acting. But here are just a couple of thoughts on the original Trek.

Recently the series has been remastered, with modern special effects added. This has for the most part been done in moderation, and there’s no out-of-control-George-Lucas feel to it. The new effects are mostly fine, although they're sometimes unnecessary (like in “Catspaw”). They always improve the space battles significantly, however.

Certainly Star Trek was campy at times, but then again, science really worked in broad strokes in the sixties. The silliest part of the show was the sheer number of English-speaking worlds that not only had perfect humans but perfect earth culture, too (a very feeble attempt to explain this was made in “The Paradise Syndrome”).

As classic as this series is (which has more to do with the characters than anything else), and as great as the series’ best episodes are, it’s a little surprising how many bad episodes there are (and most of the bad ones are bad because of how illogical or ridiculous they are, not because of the show’s limited budget). Many otherwise-good episodes feel padded, as though the writers couldn’t come up with fifty minutes’ worth of story (“The Devil in the Dark,” for example – that mind meld lasts forever).

Although Star Trek, like all its offspring, features an ensemble cast, the show is basically about Kirk and Spock (and to a lesser extent Dr. McCoy). Spock is a fantastic character, masterfully portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, and he almost single-handedly makes Star Trek a worthwhile show. And while these characters are quite good, certain patterns emerge over the course of the show’s run: Kirk is a slut, Spock does all the work, and McCoy disagrees with them no matter what they say because otherwise he wouldn’t have much to do.

Additionally: Shatner’s Season 1 stunt double looks nothing like him; the two shooting models of the Enterprise have different endings on the warp nacelles; Shatner is actually quite a fine actor when he puts his mind to it.

My favorite episodes:

1. “Errand of Mercy”

2. “A Taste of Armageddon”

3. “The Trouble with Tribbles”

4. “Elaan of Troyius”

5. “The City on the Edge of Forever”

My least favorite episodes:

77. “Spock’s Brain”

78. “The Omega Glory”

79. “The Alternative Factor”

I give the whole series a 7.

Prime Suspect 2

Prime Suspect 2 (1992) – Doesn’t generate much interest or suspense; has some plot holes and convenient developments; loses its way in the last hour; as heavy-handed on racism as the first one was on feminism. 5

The Trouble With Harry

The Trouble With Harry (1955) – Moderately entertaining murder-comedy from Hitchcock. 6

Torch Singer

Torch Singer (1933) – It takes a good look at what it means to be a single mother (and a woman of ill repute) in a judgmental society; the story is surprisingly rich. 7

Up

Up (2009) – Thoroughly enjoyable; holy smokes does that decrepit old man have some upper body strength. 7

The Enemy Below

The Enemy Below (1957) – A slow starter and a slow finisher, but a decent sub movie overall; the original Star Trek episode “The Balance of Terror” completely ripped this off. 6

Everything Is Illuminated

Everything Is Illuminated (2005) – An unusual story with an odd streak of silliness; it’s a little bit smug and a little bit forced. 6

Cross of Iron

Cross of Iron (1977) – It aspires to greatness, but it’s meandering and muddled, although the characters are vivid and the ending is intense; has way more than its fair share of Wilhelm screams. 6

About Schmidt

About Schmidt (2002) – The first half is a great story about aging and the search for fulfillment that feels genuine, but the second veers into the usual, contrived Hollywood nonsense; Jack Nicholson does a great job throughout. 6

Deep Impact

Deep Impact (1998) – The first half is Armageddon all over again (with the dumbness mostly intact); the whole thing is simultaneously preposterous and boring. 4