Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon (2008) – Langella is great as Nixon; the time spent on Frost is less interesting; the faux-documentary style works for historical context but cheapens the film, which is rather too self-important. 6

Goyokin

Goyôkin (1969) – The cinematography is fantastic, and the whole thing looks amazing, but the story really could have used some tightening up. 6

The Twelve Chairs

The Twelve Chairs (1970) – Pedestrian, fairly stupid, and otherwise nondescript. 5

UHF

UHF (1989) – Clumsy, but it works; Weird Al isn’t a great actor, but he’s pretty darn funny, and they should have let him make another one. 6

The Yakuza

The Yakuza (1974) – Good but somewhat generic and predictable; it sometimes feels like it was designed to serve as an introduction to Japanese culture and crime; see it for the furious pinkie-chopping action! 6

Made of Honor

Made of Honor (2008) – Filled with sluts of both genders, lame jokes, inane dialogue, predictability, one-dimensional unfunny supporting characters, and no concern for anything the slightest bit realistic; in other words, it's not too different from many chick flicks. 3

Murder at the Vanities

Murder at the Vanities (1934) – Plenty of musical numbers and scantily-clad women, but precious little story and a rather obvious culprit. 4

Frantic

Frantic (1988) – Mundanely realistic and egregiously mistitled; it’s mysterious, but it isn’t a thriller; as one who travels internationally, I was as concerned about the missing suitcase as about the missing wife; the whole thing is just too tidy, and by the end it’s downright silly. 4

Gran Torino

Gran Torino (2008) – It isn’t without its feel-good moments, but it’s often stilted and two-dimensional; ultimately, it’s just trying to get by on the strength of Clint Eastwood acting badass one last time. 5

Paycheck

Paycheck (2003) – Riddled with plot holes; even in the most liberal spirit of science fiction generosity, words like “implausible” and “contrived” are too soft; is Spielberg the only one who can make a good Dick adaptation? 4

4D Man

4D Man (1959) – Slow and cheesy, although it invests heavily in its characters; James Congdon is not a good actor; what’s up with the overbearing big-band jazz dinner music score? Jack H. Harris seems to love inappropriate music genres. 4

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) – Thoroughly amusing; the leads have great chemistry. 7

Day of Wrath

Day of Wrath (2006) – Very good looking but ham-fisted period mystery/thriller that fails to live up to its potential; Brian Blessed is clearly having a great time and Chris Lambert is adequate as usual. 5

Ghost World

Ghost World (2001) –It has little of interest to say about social outsiders; much like its characters, the film serves little useful purpose. 5

TV: She-Ra: Princess of Power – A Quick Look

 

She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1986), 93 episodes

Filmation’s She-Ra: Princess of Power is a spin-off of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. It features Adora, Prince Adam’s twin sister, who was kidnapped as an infant and brought to the planet Etheria. Adora now leads a rebellion against the Horde, which rules the planet. She-Ra has He-Man’s strength and agility plus a large number of seemingly needless extra powers, including animal telepathy, healing, and the ridiculous ability to transform her sword into pretty much anything (sword to blanket, sword to racket and sword to digger are a few of the sillier examples).

She-Ra continues He-Man’s focus on a strong female character. There, we had Teela; here we have Adora/She-Ra. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters are fairly poor. Part of the problem is that the IQ of nearly every character besides She-Ra seems low (especially the villains; even Skeletor’s bumbling minions could find a bone occasionally). Just because a show is for five year olds doesn’t mean the characters have to have the mental abilities of five year olds. There’s no Man-At-Arms equivalent here; leading the rebellion is like babysitting a bunch of children sometimes.

Many of She-Ra’s characters feel like cheap copies of He-Man characters. Shadow Weaver is the poor man’s Evil-Lyn, Grizzlor is the poor man’s Beast Man, Kowl is an annoying version of Orko (while Madam Razz is the Jewish grandmother’s Orko), and so forth. Hordak isn’t quite a poor man’s Skeletor, but he is strictly middle management. Bow actually grows on you in spite of his outfit and mustache. He-Man himself wanders by occasionally, and when he does, we usually get one of the better episodes.

The writing on She-Ra is noticeably poorer than it was on He-Man, which is surprising, given that the two series share quite a few writers. Nearly every episode is padded with needless dialogue. She-Ra is also considerably less funny than He-Man was. While He-Man had some genuinely funny characters – notably Cringer and Skeletor – She-Ra has none (although there are some genuinely annoying characters– notably Kowl and Mantenna). Worst of all, something like two-thirds (no, seriously, two-thirds) of the episodes are rescue stories. Just about every rebel character (including She-Ra) has to get bailed out of the Fright Zone (and other places once in a while, just to mix things up) numerous times. This may have something to do with the prevalence of low-IQ characters; in any event, the way the series goes suggests to the viewer that actually overthrowing the Horde isn’t very high on the rebellion’s to-do list. Oh, and there’s air in space, apparently (“Assault on the Hive”).

Since She-Ra’s target audience was girls, there’s a bit of romance here (there was none in He-Man); it was a good idea, and as far as I’m concerned, there could have been more; it tended to freshen things up. A little freshening is sorely needed; She-Ra recycles some really worn-out old stories (including some that were used in He-Man), like the old hit-my-head-and-got-amnesia bit. We even get the ridiculous fly-around-the-world-to-go-back-in-time business copied straight from Superman. Several stories have frame narrators – two of whom, strictly speaking, reveal She-Ra’s identity to their audiences in their stories. She-Ra generally tries to teach good (if simplistic) morals, although “The Bibbet Story” and other episodes teach kids that they should sacrifice their moral ideals and ethical beliefs for violence under certain circumstances.

She-Ra suffers from a deficiency of voice actors. For the most part, the regular voice cast consists of three women and two men. Most of them do a good job, but there just aren’t enough voices to go around, especially since three of these actors worked on He-Man. To try to compensate, She-Ra scrapes the barrel by giving nearly every villain (as well as a number of rebels) either a speech impediment or an annoying vocal tic. This gets tiresome in a quick hurry.

The music is a high point of the series. It uses most of the great themes from He-Man while adding an eclectic assortment of new pieces. The art is also good, especially for a Filmation series. Since it uses models from ­He-Man, there’s plenty of stock animation to draw upon (no pun intended), freeing up resources for plenty of new animation. And the backgrounds are particularly good; the villains’ lairs are so sinister looking that they contrast sharply with the clownish behavior of the villains themselves.

Obviously, it’s hard to evaluate She-Ra without comparing it to He-Man, to which it is noticeably inferior. But She-Ra is not without its own merits, which are easier to perceive when the show is watched in small doses (so that the viewer does not, say, catch five straight episodes where She-Ra has to rescue one of her friends from the Fright Zone because he/she did something stupid and immature). When it’s good it’s very, very good, but most of the time, it’s mediocre.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe always held my interest, even as an adult. She-Ra: Princess of Power struggles at times to do so, and often it makes me wish I was watching He-Man instead.

My favorite episodes:

1. “Sweet Bee’s Home”

2. “The Price of Freedom”

3. “The Inspector”

4. “My Friend, My Enemy”

5. “Into the Dark Dimension”

I give the whole thing a 6.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) – Visually quite impressive, but the story is rather muddled. 5

TV: Eleventh Hour – A Quick Look

Eleventh Hour (2006), 4 episodes

Eleventh Hour is a four-episode (each about 68 minutes) crime series starring Patrick Stewart as a government scientist and Ashley Jensen as his sidekick/bodyguard. This show inspired a short-lived American series of the same name starring Rufus Sewell in Stewart’s role.

Depending on who you ask, the series is variously billed as crime, horror, and science fiction. It’s definitely crime; it isn’t horror or sci fi by any real stretch of the imagination. It follows the investigation style of your typical crime shows, and while the cases are science-based, they have their roots in science of the present and immediate future. The cases here involve human cloning, a smallpox outbreak, global warming and cancer treatment.

The problem with Eleventh Hour is that it’s never particularly interesting. Its cases are interesting in theory, but we slog tediously through them, particularly as everything goes pretty much by the book (only the final episode, “Miracle,” generates any real mystery – it’s also the only one that’s any good). While this may be the way investigations go in real life, we don’t watch television for the realistically mundane. And while the actors do fine, the series tends to neglect the human element, and the lead characters aren’t compelling enough to generate interest on their own (they’re hardly developed at all). Director Terry McDonough uses some epic wide pans and slow-motion shots in an attempt to make the show feel more thrilling than it is, but to no avail. And when the stories get around to doing anything, they often strain credulity (plus Hood’s flagrant atheism feels forced).

These scientific topics might be socially relevant, but Eleventh Hour isn’t very well written, and it isn’t very interesting. I give it a 4.

The Outrage

The Outrage (1964) – Yet another western rip-off of Kurosawa; why would you watch this when you can watch Rashomon? 5

Jeremiah

Jeremiah (1998) – An adequate adaptation with a great score, the film neglects too much of the fascinating politics in favor of fictional subplots, but even so, the power of the story comes through; Patrick Dempsey? 6

Anatomy of a Murder

Anatomy of a Murder (1959) – Melodramatic with no real surprises, but Jimmy Stewart carries it in his usual manner. 6

Dave

Dave (1993) – Disposably enjoyable. 6

China Cry

China Cry (1990) – Way too condensed to do the story justice, but see it because it’s a true story of Christian persecution. 6

Mutant Chronicles

Mutant Chronicles (2008) – You have post-apocalyptic WWI-style mutant zombie steampunk with Ron Perlman et al and this is the best we can do? it’s a mess, and the cartoony green screen effects make the whole thing look like a two-hour video game cut scene. 5

Westworld

Westworld (1973) – Like so many Crichton works, this is a great idea not well told; Yul Brynner is perfect; Richard Benjamin’s mustache is highly distracting. 6

The Fall

The Fall (2006) – No obvious story and a hodge-podge of artsy, Gilliamesque images make this feel like a two-hour music video; it’s unique, but it’s too bad it never pulls everything together; even so, I'm glad I watched it. 5

The Rapture

The Rapture (1991) – Lurid nonsense; the seeking feels earnest, but the film makes Christians look like retarded sheep, and God comes across as a real asshole; this movie wouldn’t know real Christianity if it bit it on the ass. 2

Catlow

Catlow (1971) – It’s a generic western under the mistaken impression it's interesting and humorous; beware a naked Leonard Nimoy. 4

Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express (2008) – Like most films Rogen is involved in, it’s vile and not very funny; this one’s also horrendously stupid. 4

Hobson’s Choice

Hobson’s Choice (1954) – Quaint but not overly amusing, the performances are good but it spends too much time just sitting there; watch for the 1880 nuclear cooling tower. 5

Galaxy Quest

Galaxy Quest (1999) – Not only is it a hilarious send-up of the Star Trek franchise, it’s a darn good action movie in its own right. 8

Papillon

Papillon (1973) – Despite the hype and accolades, its failure to invest in its characters inhibits its emotional impact and makes it feel like just another escape movie. 5

TV: Robot Chicken - Star Wars Episode II

Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II (2008) – It takes a somewhat more esoteric approach than its predecessor, and it mostly works, although it’s more clever than it is laugh-out-loud funny. 7

Coraline

Coraline (2009) – The quasi-Tim Burton “creepy” style doesn’t really work here; it’s visually impressive, but never very interesting (which is surprising; one expects better when Neil Gaiman is involved); it doesn’t feel like it’s geared for either kids or adults, and it gets lost somewhere in between. 5

Valkyrie

Valkyrie (2008) – Decent enough, but historical films like this (and Apollo 13) have trouble generating suspense; Tom Cruise wasn’t the best choice, and that glass eye looks like it doesn’t actually fit in its little tin. 5

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) – It succeeds as a Cold War allegory, a whodunit, and a final farewell to much-beloved characters. 7

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) – The effects aren’t good and this probably is the worst Trek film of them all, but it doesn’t deserve most of the vitriol it receives; the story is okay and it has some wonderful character moments. 6

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – Very funny; the story’s leisurely pace lets the supporting characters get some quality time. 7

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) – Quite good, although the planet-side crew (David, replacement Saavik and a procession of unSpocklike young Spocks that don’t do anything but holler) isn’t that interesting. 7

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) – Personal, philosophical and poignant, it masterfully handles the aging characters; the flaws are easily forgiven; who doesn’t love Montalban’s magnificent 60-year-old pecs? 8

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) – It’s terribly slow at times, it isn’t an original idea (see the TOS episode “The Changeling”), the pajama uniforms are terrible (they come in paunch-disguising and genital-accentuating cuts), and the usually-great chemistry is largely missing, but the film takes an interesting philosophical bent and it powers through on the quality of presentation and the strength of Shatner’s performance (see the director’s cut). 6