BSHBen Reviews

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Not a Normal Thriller

[8/10 · 11 November 2009]

Do you remember curling up under the covers as a child to hide from whatever monster was surely standing at the foot of the bed? "Paranormal Activity," filmed mostly over a one-week period for a mere $15,000, perfectly recreates that feeling of terror in an adult setting.

The ingenious trailer shows members of a college-age audience at an early screening shrieking and jumping up in their seats in reaction to the events of the film. The effect of these early screenings was to generate so much positive word of mouth that "Paranormal Activity" has widely out-performed the sixth entry in the popular "Saw" franchise at the box office.

The premise is simple. Katie (Katie Featherson), a graduate student, has been stalked by some sort of malevolent spirit since childhood. Her partner (they're 'engaged to be engaged'), Micah (Micah Sloat), decides to take action after they move into a new house. The movie consists of the footage from Micah's camera, which he carries around the house during the day and uses to record him and Katie while they sleep.

"If you do try playing games with it, that's inviting it in," warns a psychic (Mark Fredrichs). He plainly asserts that Katie is being haunted by a demon, and his instructions are simple: leave it alone and the disturbances won't get any worse.

Naturally, Micah proceeds to sarcastically taunt the demon ("What is your quest? What is your favorite color?") and leave a Ouija board for it to use to communicate. He wants to solve the problem all on his own. The results are not pretty.

The tension in "Paranormal Activity" is so extreme that I was often forced to look away from the screen. The premise alone is terrifying – the demon will follow Katie no matter where she goes, so there's no safe place to hide. First-time director Oren Peli's wisely chooses to hold back a thorough explanation. He knows that what we do not understand is scarier than what we do.

The atmosphere of the film is one of absolute quiet punctuated abruptly by moments of horror. "Paranormal Activity" defines 'doing a lot with a little.' It's amazing what Peli can do with a bed, a door, and a few other household objects.

"Paranormal Activity" obviously owes quite a bit to the low-budget mockumentary "The Blair Witch Project" (1999). The unknown actors of both films improvised much of the dialogue, resulting in natural, believable performances. Katie Featherston is completely convincing in the tormented central role. Micah Sloat's character is more complicated: he does care for Katie, but he's stuck in the childish mindset that he can get rid of the demon on his own.

"Paranormal Activity" is a rare horror movie that will leave you nearly as scared a day later as you were when you left the theatre. It's not just a rehash of "The Blair Witch Project," but a well-acted, creative, and terrifying experience.

Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Sad Max

[6/10 · 11 November 2009]

"I have a vision of eight-year-olds leaving the movie in bewilderment. Why are the creatures so unhappy?" – David Denby from the New Yorker

I'll start by admitting that I had very high expectations for "Where the Wild Things Are." Though I loved the book as a child I never developed a particular attachment to it. Rather, I was impressed with the audacity of the concept of adapting such a short story into a feature length film, though including a version of Arcade Fire's brilliant "Wake Up" in the preview certainly didn't hurt. I had a mixed reaction to the movie – in terms of quality I found it to be the utterly lopsided. The first half it all the right notes, eloquently capturing a child's perspective and achieving a perfect balance between the wonder of the creatures and the setting and the underlying layer of sadness. For an hour "Where the Wild Things Are" is a masterpiece. The second half, unfortunately, scraps everything but the sadness. The creatures cease to be interesting. The charm and humor disappear. I understand that Spike Jonze is trying to say something deep and meaningful about leaving childhood, understanding the limits of imagination, and learning the difficulty of pleasing other people, but the point is as subtle as a charging rhino. I haven't seen this much moping since Hayden Christianson in Attack of the Clones. It's like halfway through the production Spike Jonze left to be replaced by Thom Yorke.

The best part of the film is the first fifteen seconds. We see Max (Max Records) in his wolf-pajama costume chasing a dog around the house, and the movie pauses on a blurred close-up on his face. It's a delightful moment. Let me say something about Max Records. He's absolutely amazing in this film. He crawls, runs, and speaks the way a child would. Watch him wield his staff as king, or listen to how he explains his unlimited powers. Even when the rest of the film doesn't work Max Records is always in top form. Jonze's chief accomplishment is in capturing Max's point of view. As he crawls around an 'igloo' he build at the start of the story, the camera is close enough to make us feel like we're inside of it, too.

The introduction of the 'wild things' works just as well. The creatures are magnificent creations. They are CGI-enhanced giant puppets, but never for a second do we question their physical existence. They are alternately amusing, sympathetic, and scary. Max proclaims himself a king, dons a crown, and the fun begins. There's a delightful sequence where the wild things jump all over the place, eventually landing in a huge pile in perhaps the most magnificent effect in the movie, which is significant praise as every special effect looks great.

The setting is impressive. The cliffs and trees of the island dwarf Max. The island fades into a desert where an old English sheepdog wanders for no apparent reason. It's a great effect. The fort that Max has the wild things build is awing and creative, as is the miniature city constructed by wild thing Ira (voiced by James Gandolfini).

Jonze imbues these early scenes with some significant dramatic elements as well. Max throws an tantrum early in the film, and it feels appropriate. Curiously, the wild things start off with problems of their own. They're an unhappy, bickering bunch who've apparently eaten all of their past kings.

Max decides to organize a 'good guys' v 'bad guys' fight, an obviously awful idea that, once again, feels appropriately in character, but it's here that the film starts to fall apart. The fight, though fun (and visually spectacular) goes out of hand. Many of the wild things become angry or hurt. Fine. It's just that the wild things whine incessantly. Everyone's mad off all the time. Ira destroys his own model city. Max fears for his life. One wild thing's arm gets ripped off. I'm serious about that. The sadness is so over-the-top that it approaches parody. It gets tiring. The most egregious scene occurs when the wild things ask Max to prove his powers and act disenchanted when he cannot. The problem is that whole sequence is beside the point. The wild things aren't supposed to be rational beings who question that sort of thing. The effect is devastating to Max and the viewer. When he leaves his motivation seems to stem less from homesickness or character development than from simply wanting to get away from these angry monsters. We get the impression that everyone has had a rather miserable time. We sure have.

Maurice Sendak has praised Spike Jonze's film for keeping the essence of the material and expanding upon it. I disagree. I think the first half did that but that the second half was overfilled with boring character conflict. Two things were continuously phenomenal: Max Records' performance and the special effects. Once again, I understand the point of the darkness. "Where the Wild Things Are" is meant to be a multilayered, bittersweet story. Jonze was on the right track for a while but the essence of childhood captured so well early was replaced with waves of depression. Childhood can be sad. Jonze knows this and relates that fact well with Max's early tantrum. Pleasing everyone is difficult. Max learns that. Again and again and again and again and again. The simple fact is that this film's wild things have serious emotional issues far in excess of what the story requires.

Let the Right One In (2008)

The Right Stuff

[9/10 · 24 October 2009]

Society's glamorization of vampires has always confounded me, and I doubt that Eli, the eleven-year-old bloodsucker from 2008's "Let the Right One In," is any less confused. Eli, played by Lina Leandersson, is a miserable creature, cooped away from society with an equally wretched caretaker, Hakan (Per Ragnar), but she is solemn about her curse. Human schoolboy Oskar (Kare Hedebrant), also eleven, is just as pitiable, suffering from neglectful parents and brutal bullies. Perhaps the factor that draws the two together is their hopelessness; they may not have reached puberty, but they have grown out of complaining.

Tomas Alfredson's Swedish film is based off a novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist, raising obvious comparisons to the vampire-themed Twilight franchise. I'm above taking cheap-shots at a series intended for mass appeal, but there are reasons Twilight won't be appearing on any 'Best of the Decade' list. The key to Let the Right One In is its subtly, which is precisely what Twilight lacks. The dialog between Oskar and Eli is sparse, barely conversational, but we understand their relationship on a deep level. Eli murders to survive and has, perhaps, for decades, but around Oskar she grows to possess his wide-eyed innocence. The performances of the two leads are astounding.

"Let the Right One In" is, foremost, a horror movie, but the violence is never glorified. Alfredson emphasizes the crisp whiteness of the snow, and the blood that eventually stains it seems as otherworldly and unnatural as Eli.

The vampire genre has been done to death, making the originality of the story all the more remarkable. We get the usual conventions – vampires can't be exposed to sunlight or enter a room without permission (hence the title) – but "Let the Right One In" turns them upside-down. I won't spoil the surprises. The final confrontation with the school bullies is just as shocking, but it's not the thrills but the warmth between Eli and Oskar that resonates strongest through the freezing Swedish winter.

Anybody intrigued by the story but wary of the English subtitles may be in for a treat: an American remake directed by Cloverfield's Matt Reeves, currently in pre-production, is scheduled for 2010 release.

Finding Nemo (2003)

A Pixar Masterpiece

[10/10 · 24 October 2009]

Of Pixar's ongoing streak of CGI animated classics, I've always admired 2003's "Finding Nemo" the most. For a movie a about talking fish, sharks, pelicans, and turtles, it may be the most humane and endearing film of the last decade.

Like "Up", it opens with a tragedy: a shark devours Coral, the wife of Clownfish Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks), and all but one of their 400 eggs, leaving an overprotective Marlin to raise Nemo (Alexander Gould), who is handicapped by a short fin. When Nemo is captured by humans and placed in a fish tank, Marlin teams up with Dory (Ellen Degeneres), a regal tang, to rescue him.

"Finding Nemo" does to the ocean what "Up" does to the air. The water becomes a vibrantly illustrated, fully developed setting. We see schools of fish, sunken ships, and powerful currents. 'Eye-candy' is an understatement, and the setting makes the adventure all the more thrilling.

In the fish tank scenes, "Finding Nemo" presents one of the most hilarious scenarios in recent memory as the captive fish, led by Gill (Willem Dafoe), scheme to escape back to the ocean. These scenes are clever, tense, and surprisingly involving. Meanwhile, Dory, suffering from a "Memento"-like short-term memory condition, is as lovable as she is funny.

Laughs aside, Marlin's single-minded determination and Nemo's wonderful resilience really pull the audience into the story. "Shark Tale," from the very next year, took place in a similar setting but saturated its story with generic characters and ill-conceived pop-culture references (unlike the brief and clever quips in "Finding Nemo"). The fish looked like the celebrities voicing them, and the effect was vain and artificial. In "Finding Nemo," the vocal performances by Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, and the other actors fit their roles perfectly, and as a result we forget about the actors and accept the characters. Children raised on "Hannah Montana" deserve films as straightforward and good-hearted as "Finding Nemo."

Waltz with Bashir (2008)

A Great Film for an Open Mind

[10/10 · 1 June 2009]

What is guilt, and should we feel it? By that I mean, is it ever immoral not to? Do we ever deserve guilt, and by refusing to feel it are we evading a fair punishment? In my opinion, the most defining element of "Waltz With Bashir" is what is absent from the movie. The parties most "guilty", the Christians who actually committed the massacre and the Israelis at the top who allowed them to, are scarcely seen. The audience watches the events only from the point of view of the soldiers who stood idly, suspicious but mostly unaware of the slaughter taking place nearby.

Sometimes I find myself lackadaisically pondering the end of cinema when every filmable idea has descended into cliché. Movies like "Waltz With Bashir" give me new hope. I don't think I'm ever again going to see a flashback of a sea sick soldier lifted away by a giant, naked woman and carried out to sea as his ship explodes in the background. Like "Rashômon", a classic Japanese film, the structure consists mostly of subjective flashbacks told from the unique perspectives of multiple narrators. Writer-director Ari Folman puts an "Eternal Sunshine" like twist on this formula. The flashbacks take the shape of real memories, with all their imperfections and exaggerations.

I have never seen a movie with this style of animation. I was annoyed at first but as the movie went on I felt more comfortable and actually grew to like it mainly because the visuals tied into the structure of the film. Memories of the Israeli soldiers make up most of the movie, and memories are incomplete. When we remember we recall the basics and the details but not the specifics, like someone's exact facial expression. The animation successfully created a vague, dreamlike atmosphere and added to the film.

Several sequences, mostly early on, caught my attention and drew me into the story. I loved the recurring (somewhat false) memory of the protagonist lying on his back naked in the ocean. He emerges with a few friends, dresses, and finds a crowd of women in the city. Propelled by a dark and mysterious film score, the scene manages to be intriguing, enjoyable, and enveloping. The plight of one tank driver, the only survivor of a roadside ambush, into the ocean was captured brilliantly by the film, and the prolonged sequence of him returning back again was beautiful and strangely menacing.

I saw much of the movie as an exploration of guilt. The key issue is the massacre itself. The protagonist cannot remember it at all, perhaps because of his own lingering feelings of guilt. The film focuses on the Israeli soldiers, and the entire picture of the massacre is painted from their memories. The film indicates that they have little to feel guilty about. The ground troops were "just following orders"; none of them knew enough to understand exactly what was going on, and plenty of soldiers actually made an effort to report any wrongdoing they witnessed. I think that the filmmakers made the right choice by only focusing on the Israelis. The various anecdotes from the point of view of these soldiers work together to create a coherent impression of the events, avoiding pretension.

By the end of the film we get the impression that the protagonist has seen enough, that he has at last confronted and accepted his limited role in the massacre. His storyline reaches a resolution. But as real documentary footage replaced an hour and half of animation, I realized that Ari Folman has achieved something much more important than that.

Part of me can't help but feel that most Hollywood productions centering on the worst moments in human history, like the Holocaust or the Rwandan Genocide, are doing at least a mild disservice the real event. The most egregious is "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas", where, amidst millions of deaths in the Holocaust the movie contrives an absurd "tragic" ending that leaves the audience feeling sorry for a dead boy and his mourning Nazi father. Even good films, like "Hotel Rwanda" leave a bitter aftertaste in this regard; notice the PG-13 rating.

"Waltz With Bashir" redefined, for me at least, the limits of what can be captured in a single film. The variety of narrators slowly painted a detailed image of the war (I confess that I am not very familiar with the actual incident) out of brief memories of moments of intense feeling. The end result is far more convincing than a straightforward narrative or even series of flashbacks. The exaggerations, bloodshed, and song-and-dance sequences are engrossing and exist on an emotional level rarely explored in film.

After so much wild animation, the documentary footage at the end caught me off-guard. The barrier was broken. "Unforgettable" wouldn't begin to describe the sight of the mourning widows, demolished buildings, and piles of dead bodies stuffed into allies. I had seen the remains of the massacre few minutes before, when the film was still animated, but I didn't feel the massacre until I saw it for real. The movie had spent its entire running time preparing the audience for this one final scene (the present-tense narrators are never revisited), and I was ready, in some way, to understand the grieving and the bloodshed from the perspective of the soldiers who saw the immediate aftermath. "Waltz With Bashir" is a masterpiece in that it doesn't use a horrific incident to depress the public into giving it a bunch of awards, but instead actually lets the audience understand the massacre from one point of view. Hundreds of men, women, and children were rounded up and executed. No easy getaway, no Hollywood ending, no dramatic tragedy, no perseverance against all the odds. Just a truth that deserves to be remembered.

Extreme Measures (1996)

A Below Average Adventure with an Interesting Conflct

[5/10 · 16 May 2008]

Is it justifiable to kill innocent people to save thousands of lives? What if these people won't be missed by anybody?

This fundamental question behind "Extreme Measures" raises the film above the level of a purely forgettable action-adventure story. Two different positions on this issue are represented in the film by doctors played by Hugh Grant and Gene Hackman. Most of the movie focuses on Grants investigation on the nature of the mysterious deaths of several homeless people, an investigation that leaves him to uncover the truth behind research conducted by Gene Hackman.

In the meantime there's some routine, below-par chase scenes. It's all been done before, and better. An absolutely endless journey into an underground subway goes on for far too long. Hugh Grant is a surprising choice for his role but fares surprisingly well, despite his simply distracting hair.

But what's really worth thinking about is the ethical dilemma. Is Hackman's abduction (and essential murder) of the homeless men a justifiable way to find life-saving cures Hugh's stance, that the men didn't ask to be heroes, perhaps makes the most sense, but the question remains. Unfortunately the film requires and unlikely (but once again competently done) shootout to put an end to the conflict. But the film deserves credit for raising the issue, an issue that could very well become increasingly relevant to life and research. 2/4

Lonesome Dove (1989)

A Loyal Adaptation of a Great Book

[9/10 · 25 April 2008]

Wow. That's perhaps the most appropriate term to describe "Lonesome Dove", a long, beautiful adaptation of Larry McMurthy's classic book. Director Simon Wincer provides fans of the novel and those who'd never heard of it with a movie which is both extremely loyal to book and never slow. The long running time could have become turgid in less able hands.

The casting is absolutely perfect, from Duvall's lovable Gus McCrae to Anjela Huston's stern Clara Allen. After seeing the movie I really can't imagine anybody else in the roles. Tommy Lee Jones in particular shines in the role of Call, nearly stealing the show (although surprisingly several actors wee asked to play the role first, including Charles Bronson).

As in McMurthy's novel conventional rules are thrown out the window as sympathetic characters often meet cruel, undeserved fates. The danger and hardship of the old west are perfectly captured in the backdrop of some of the most beautiful photography ever seen on television. "Lonesome Dove" is a must-see for anybody who wants to have an engrossing, memorable experience. 10/10

Farscape: DNA Mad Scientist (1999) Season 1, Episode 9

An Excellent Demonstration of What Makes Farscape So Special

[9/10 · 28 March 2008]

"DNA Mad Scientist" exhibits many of the numerous qualities that set Farscape apart from nearly every other sci-fi series. On Star Trek, for example, the main cast usually works together in perfect harmony, and disagreements are often the subject of entire episodes. In Farscape, the main cast consists mostly of escaped prisoners with their own agendas. In the course of "DNA Mad Scientist", much of the cast turn against each other, willing to do anything to reach their goals.

As the episode opens, an alien named NamTar offers the crew maps to their home worlds (or at least worlds where they would again be accepted) in exchange for DNA samples. Rygel, D'Argo, and Rygel eagerly comply. NamTar then states that he also needs one of Pilot's arms - resulting in an absolutely shocking scene where Rygel, D'Argo, and Rygel violently cut of an arm from a protesting Pilot. This is perhaps the greatest demonstration in the series of the nonaligned nature of the main cast - the crew members are capable of committing such a violent act on someone who has been their close ally since the start of the show. Interpersonal conflict doesn't stop there - the three soon turn on each other when they realize that only one of the maps NamTar gives them will function.

Something needs to be said about NamTar as well. He's one of the most awesome creatures yet created for the show for sure. I've never seen any creature remotely like him, and his genetically enhanced strength makes him an extremely formidable villain.

Anyway, eventually NamTar injects some of pilot's DNA into Aeryn, resulting in a bizarre, painful, and disturbing transformation in another impressive display of makeup and special effects. Crichton teams with Kornata, NamTar's servant, who reveals that NamTar was a test subject who took over after he was greatly enhanced. The climax features more exceptional special effects as NamTar is reduced back to his original figure. The special effects are all believable - the episode never disintegrates into mindless technobabble like the similarly DNA-themed "Threshold" from Voyager.

All in all, "DNA Mad Scientist" is a first-rate Farscape production, ranking with "Back and Back and Back to the Future" as one of the strongest episodes in the first half of season one. 3.5/4

Farscape: That Old Black Magic (1999) Season 1, Episode 8

Solid Entertainment

[8/10 · 21 March 2008]

Captain Crais has been pursuing John Crichton and Moya since the Premiere episode - and "That Old Black Magic" provides the only direct face-off between him and Crichton so far. Crais is certainly a formidable antagonist, but his lack of screen presence throughout the first season season keeps him from having too much of an impact. In "That Old Black Magic", Lani Tupi shines as he, blinded with rage, relentlessly attacks Crichton, seeking to avenge his brother's death.

The plot concerns an omnipotent villain named Maldus who controls an entire planet. Revealed slowly throughout the episode is the fact that he gains energy from hate. When the crew of Moya arrives innocently at the planet, Maldus discovers Crichton's past. He takes the minds of Crais, present on his ship, and Crichton, forcing the two into a fight to the death in what appears to be some sort of giant castle. Meanwhile, Zhaan and a red ally she finds on the planet, Liko (Grant Bowler), combine their strengths to defeat Maldus.

Most of the episode consists of well-choreographed hand-to-hand fights between Crais and Crichton. These sequences all work - the sets are impressive, and the truth behind the relationship between Crais and his brother is fully revealed, allowing Crais to be better understood as a believable character. Grant Bowler and Chris Haywood (Maldus) are both effective in guest roles. The production designs for the whole planet are entirely believable, still a little sketchy but nevertheless convincing - the Farscape universe is truly like no other. The climax, in which Zhaan confronts Maldus, is awesome.

Only a few details go wrong - Liko's sudden explanation of Maldus and the state of the planet comes across as rather silly. Also, I'm a bit distraught that the only tangible conflict (this is kind of related to future episodes) between Crais and Moya in the first season is made possible entirely due to the magical requests of an omnipotent super-being. Where exactly is Moya going, and how important is it that Moya expels tons of energy evading Crais if he's too incompetent to ever find them, ever? Oh well, a few nitpicky problems aside, "That Old Black Magic" is a solid outing. 3/4

Farscape: PK Tech Girl (1999) Season 1, Episode 5

Sweet with Good Continuity

[7/10 · 23 December 2007]

"PK Tech Girl", the first episode of Farscape to be made on its own (as opposed to the previous episodes, which were made two-at-a-time), exhibits nearly everything that defines Farscape. It has bold alien costumes, interesting character conflicts, and fun action. That being said, "PK Tech Girl" is far from perfect, but it still comes across as a strong, intelligent episode.

"PK Tech Girl" opens with Moya encountering a derelict Peacekeeper ship called the Zelbinion, an extremely powerful carrier was lost years ago. Rygel was held captive and tortured on board the ship for years by the captain, Durka. Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo soon encounter a Peacekeeper technician named Gilina, who was left by Captain Crais. Soon, an alien race called the Sheyang, who breath fire and basically look like giant frogs, threaten to destroy Moya.

The main plot threads of the episode concern the Sheyang attacks on the Zelbinion, Rygel's attempts to overcome his horrible memories of Durka, D'Argo and Zhaan's attempts to bluff the Sheyang, and a romance between Crichton and Gilina. Each subplot more or less works. The Sheyang attacks had good visuals but were borderline underdone. Rygel searching for Durka's corpse is perhaps the strongest element of the episode, revealing a previously unseen sympathetic side of his character. D'Argo's speeches to bluff the Sheyang are well-delivered, but his problems with lieing to an opponent, despite adding more to his character, seem unnecessary and thrown in to add conflict. The romance between Crichton and Gilina is too predictable, and their relationship escalates way to quickly. On the other hand, the scenes with Crichton and Gilina reveal a lot about both of their characters. Aeryn's response and unhappiness in believable and well-written. Crichton and Gilina's conversation at the very end is a sweet highlight.

The production design of the episode, although an improvement over previous installments, is still somewhat sketchy, and the Sheyang costumes go a little too far over the top. Nevertheless, "PK Tech Girl" is a good episode. I enjoyed the interaction among the characters, and the episode introduces surprisingly many characters who will return later in the show. I also like the fact that Gilina wasn't predictably killed off at the end of the episode; her survival was pleasant and unexpected. "PK Tech Girl" is a strong early episode of Farscape. 3/4

Farscape: Thank God It's Friday, Again (1999) Season 1, Episode 6

Farscape's First Complete Miss

[2/10 · 17 August 2007]

Farscape had a very good start overall, with solid episodes like "Back and Back and Back to the Future" and "Throne for a Loss", but "Thank God It's Friday, Again" is the first episode that really fails. "I, E.T." was fatally simple and unambitious, but still amusing and consistently watchable. Bits and pieces of "Thank God It's Friday, Again" work, but for the most part the execution is poor and the story just isn't intriguing.

The story begins with the crew following D'Argo to a planet inhabited by the Sykaran. After arriving, they are surprised to find D'Argo to be more than satisfied with his "new life" on the planet as a farmer. Volmae, clearly some sort of queen, greets the crew kindly, telling to stay as long as they desire. Soon after, Rygel claims to have been attacked with an explosive, leading him and Aeryn to return to Moya. D'Argo brings Zhaan and Crichton to his house to spend the night. The next day, D'Argo brings Crichton and Zhaan with him to a farming area where the Sykaran happily grow tannot roots. Then, in a very alarming incident, a group of Sykaran grab Crichton and, well, inject a worm into his stomach.

There is something very sinister going on on the planet, as Crichton soon finds out. The small group of Sykarans tell Crichton that a toxin in the tannot root makes everybody on the planet happy and stupid. Injection of the worm prevents the tannot root from having its effect. Besides this group of Sykarans, nobody else on the planet besides the queen is unaffected. The whole population basically works as slaves of the queen, always believing that tomorrow is a rest day (hence the episode's title).

More secrets about the tannot root and its involvement with the Peacekeepers are revealed later on, but by that point I had lost all interest in the episode. The chief problem is with the main storyline. There's never any action, romance, adventure, or anything else to keep the story interesting. "Thank God It's Friday, Again" fails to give the audience anything to care about. The premise simply is not strong enough to make the episode interesting. The production values and make-up are OK but nothing special. Angie Milliken, who plays Volmae, also gives a poor performance, placing random pauses between the words in her lines. I'm not sure what director Rowan Woods was going for with her character, but whatever it was, it doesn't work.

The idea of an entire planet's population being brainwashed into believing that the next day is always a rest day is silly, but skillful execution could have redeemed it. "Thank God It's Friday, Again", however, trudges along at a slow pace and spends way to much time on the main storyline. The only segments of the episode worth seeing take place between Aeryn and Pilot, in which Pilot reveals that he doesn't understand everything about science. Aeryn also gets to use her scientific knowledge, in an unusual change of character.

The episode's climax, involving a very unexpected stunt by Rygel, is at least not as mundane as the rest of the episode, but it still fails to create any level of interest. Farscape had a very good start overall, and "Thank God It's Friday, Again" is one of its few truly bad episodes. Still, it does have a couple of good moments, but it never amounts to anything interesting. 1.5/4

Farscape: Back and Back and Back to the Future (1999) Season 1, Episode 3

Easily the Best of the Early Episodes

[8/10 · 10 August 2007]

The episodes in the first half of the season one of Farscape, the episodes up until "Durka Returns", are similar in that they bear the usual signs of a sci-fi show's first season. The plots are simple, the sets are unelaborate, and the guest casts are relatively small. You can tell in these early episodes that the show has not been around for long and that the filming crew is still getting the hang of how to properly run the show. "Back and Back and Back to the Future" exhibits some of these qualities; the soundtrack is still experimental and there are only two guest actors. However, "Back and Back and Back to the Future" is an overall exception to the early episode trends in that it has elaborate special effects, an interesting plot line, a dark undertone, good style, and creative execution.

The storyline begins with Moya rescuing two Ilanics, named Matala and Verell, from their exploding ship. Matala quickly seduces D'Argo, turning him against the others, particularly John. John, meanwhile, begins to have strange visions after making contact with a substance in the damaged Ilanic ship. The visions are initially short and disturbing, but they increase in length and intensity as time goes on. Verell claims that he and Matala were conducting simple scientific experiments, but there is something sinister about their work.

The middle portion of the episode is creepy and intriguing. Zhaan notices strange sounds around Moya, and Natala's actions become more and more suspicious. Eventually, the secrets about Natala, Verell, and their experiment are revealed, leading to a truly incredible series of climaxes. Natala is shown to actually be a Scorvion spy, Verell was conducting top-secret military experiments for the Ilanics, and the goal of the experiments was to create a black hole, which Verell appropriately calls "the ultimate weapon".

Crichton's numerous attempts to foil Natala are extremely well-directed. Each of his attempts ends with disaster, but is then revealed to be a vision of the future. Director Rowan Woods successfully convinces the audience that each vision is in fact the real thing. A series of false visions could easily come across as confusing, but Woods pulls it off. The key, I think, to making the final act make sense is the manner in which each false vision ends with a return to the same conversation between John and Zhaan. John's consistent accidental breaking of some sort of mask during this conversation makes for a perfect parallel with the disasters consistently caused by John's attempts at defeating Natala. When his most recent attempt ends with the complete destruction of Moya, a frustrated John steps on the mask willingly, destroying it in one of the best moments in Farscape history.

The actual ending of the episode includes some of the best special effects yet seen on Farscape. Natala escapes, killing Verell, but Verell activates the black hole in Natala's ship with his last breath. This results in an impressive sequence in which both Natala's ship and the Scorvion ship coming to pick her up are destroyed by the black hole while Moya starbursts away.

"Back and Back and Back to the Future" is an excellent episode of Farscape. I may have over-hyped it a bit; it does have some flaws. Some of Crichton's early visions are never explained, and the (thankfully) final appearance of the joystick that Aeryn uses to control Moya is a mere distraction. All in all, however, "Back and Back and Back to the Future" is a must-see episode. 3.5/4

Farscape: Throne for a Loss (1999) Season 1, Episode 4

A Lot of Fun

[7/10 · 20 April 2007]

"Throne for a Loss" is a high-energy adventure episode which combines a genuine sense of excitement with dead-on humor and impressive special effects and makeup. Rygel is captured and held for ransom by a group of aggressive Tavleks, prompting the crew to attempt to rescue him and a crucial crystal that he was carrying. The Tavlek's falsely believe that Rygel is, in fact, an important Dominar with millions of subjects who will gladly pay a ransom for his release. Rygel spends much of the episode engaging in well-written conversations with another captured ruler, an alien named Jotheb, who is also a high-tech puppet. A conversation between two non-real characters would normally be unconvincing and even boring, but Farscape, as usual, manages to make the puppets seem completely alive.

The design of the Tavleks itself is a masterpiece of originality and high-tech makeup. The Tavleks are strong and ugly, and, interestingly, they have a metal plate growing on their faces. The Tavleks are driven to their violent lifestyles by a stimulant-injecting gauntlet, which is capable of firing out bolts of energy and increases the strength of the wearer. One of the Tavlek is captured near the beginning, and his gauntlet falls off of him when he is knocked unconscious.

Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo all wear the gauntlet at some point during the episode. The adrenaline makes the already aggressive D'Argo go a little crazy, forcing Crichton, Aeryn, and Pilot to knock him out. Aeryn then decides that she and Crichton need to go to the planet to rescue Rygel (or at least to get the crystal), but Crichton objects, forcing Aeryn, in a humorous scene, to knock him out, too. The rest of the main storyline of the episode is basically a series of fun action as Crichton, D'Argo (who returns later), and Aeryn go to rescue Rygel. The action scenes are very well done, especially during the escape from the Tavlek prison compound and in the climax, where Crichton takes on a group of Tavleks, including their leader, Bekhesh. The dialogue during the final conversation between Crichton and Bekhesh is priceless. The reasons that Crichton gives Bekhesh to give up Rygel are hilariously unconvincing ("He's very sick, and very contagious"), and the screenwriters added a nice touch by having Crichton finally get Bekhesh to release Rygel by simply telling the truth.

There are however, some clear problems with the logic behind the Tavlek's plot in general. Clearly, they specialize in capturing leaders and then convincing their subjects to pay a ransom for the leader's return. For starters, isn't it more than likely that a civilization would try to, say, rescue their ruler rather than pay the ransom? The Tavleks have practically no defense against any sort of rescue team, which is demonstrated by D'Argo and Crichton simply walking right into their camp. Surely the idea of rescuing a leader captured by the Tavleks did not originate with the tiny crew of Moya, who, with practically no plan at all infiltrate the entire Tavlek camp and later rescue Rygel. It is mentioned that the Tavlek's are planning on moving Rygel to a more secure place, but really, Crichton and D'ARgo made in through the camp so easily that it leads me to wonder how the Tavleks manage to avoid the rescue of every one of their prisoners.

The subplot, involving Zhaans treatment of the captured Tavlek is even better than the main storyline. The prisoner at first rebels against Zhaan, who turns out to be stronger than previously indicated. Zhaan tries to convince the young Tavlek to resist from using the addictive gauntlet, but the final result of the subplot is powerful and surprising. Despite Zhaan's attempts to help him, the young Tavlek ends up wearing the gauntlet once more - not what you'd expect from a television episode.

Despite some logical flaws, "Throne for a Loss" is a very good episode of Farscape. Rygel and Zhaan have excellent roles, and Bekhesh is a good villain. The pacing, dialogue, and interaction are a step above the previous episodes, although it doesn't end up amounting to much more than a lightweight, fun adventure. 3/4

Farscape: Exodus from Genesis (1999) Season 1, Episode 2

Typically Entertaining

[7/10 · 9 April 2007]

The plot of "Exodus from Genesis", Farscape's third (or second, if you look at the episodes by air date) episode is nothing unusual: Moya gets invested with bugs. What makes "Exodus from Genesis" succeed is simply that everything works. The character interaction, acting, special effects, and visuals are all at least adequate. This episode is a good step above the previous "I, E.T.".

"Exodus from Genesis" opens with a Peacekeeper Marauder scanning around for Moya. Some strange particles floating in space block the scan, saving Moya. The Marauder leaves, but the particles turn out to be a collection of bugs, which then infest Moya. I can't help but wondering as to how the bugs managed to survive in open space, but that's not a major issue. The bugs soon raise the temperature and take samples of the crewmembers' DNA. The temperature increase is particularly harmful to Aeryn, who, as a Sebacean, is subject to heat delirium. The bugs seal off an area of Moya and start to produce clones of the crewmembers.

The efforts by John, Zhaan, D'Argo, Rygel and Aeryn to stop the bugs from killing Aeryn and investing the ship are handled with full competence by director Brian Henson. Each character is well-utilized, and the climax, involving the return of the Marauder, is handled intelligently. There is a slight continuity problem in that Crichton's plan at the end, aimed at convincing Crais that he can replicate himself, is never mentioned again. Also, the soundtrack and atmosphere still feel kind of experimental, which is nothing serious considering how early this episode is in the series. Overall, "Exodus from Genesis" is a perfectly good Farscape episode. Sure, it doesn't go above and beyond, but it has all the action, drama, and character development that makes Farscape so great. 3/4

Farscape: I, E.T. (1999) Season 1, Episode 7

Pleasantly Underdone

[2/10 · 7 April 2007]

"I, E.T." opens with the blaring sound of a distress signal, which had been activated by the absence of Moya's control collar. Pilot lands Moya on a swampy planet, the home of the Deneans, in the hopes that the water can prevent the sound from alerting a nearby Peacekeeper ship of their presence. Unfortunately for Moya, the beacon is in small, sensitive location. Removing the beacon will be very painful, leading to Aeryn, D'Argo, and Crichton searching the planet for an element called clorium, which could numb Moya from the pain.

Many mistakes were made in the filming of "I, E.T.", but nevertheless the episode succeeds with its beautiful visual effects and simple, enjoyable premise. "I, E.T." is far from a fan-favorite, but it deserves credit for competently relating its basic plot line. The background interaction is much more interesting, especially in the scenes involving Zhaan and Rygel.

The main plot line concerns Crichton's capture by a Denean mother and her son. The Denean's are yet to encounter extraterrestrials, and a menacing military chief nearby seems especially xenophobic. Crichton, after being convincingly zapped by a somewhat unconvincing zapper-thing, convinces the family to hide him from the military.

The makeup used for the Deneans is underwhelming to say the least. Only three Deneans are ever shown in full makeup; other's are conveniently wearing masks or are obscured in shadows. The Deneans that we do see look just like people with the exception of a strangely-shaped ear. Wild, original, and impressive alien makeup has consistently been a trademark of Farscape, but he aliens in "I, E.T." are unusually unimpressive.

As mentioned above, Rygel and Zhaan have the best scenes in the episode. Zhaan, apparently, has the ability to absorb another's pain, which she uses on Moya while Rygel tries to remove the beacon. Rygel is very convincing in his scenes, and the other cast members successfully treat him like a person rather than a prop. Even earlier episodes like "I, E.T." manage to bring puppet/animatronic/digital characters like Pilot and Rygel to life, one of Farscape's greatest strengths.

D'Argo is less fortunate. He fulfills his typical function in early Season 1 of Farscape: he gets beaten/captured/proved wrong/rescued. Aeryn is in the background of the episode, but she and Crichton get some good dialogue. Ben Browder is as good as ever as Crichton. Crichton is a little less confused than he usually is in early Season 1, perhaps due to the simplicity of this episode's plot. He has some great references to pop culture, especially his "Dagobah" comment.

The visuals, water effects, and sets are impressive in "I, E.T.", but it is the storyline, makeup, action, and pacing where this episode disappoints. By no means is it a total failure, or even a bad episode at all; it's just that little in it excels or is particularly interesting. The episode is peaceful and refreshing, but, unlike the "Premiere" it is totally unambitious. "I, E.T." seems content with mediocrity. I don't mean to sound harsh, because "I, E.T.", is a good episode, better than much of what's on television, with some interesting character interaction and dialogue. Despite its drawbacks, "I, E.T." is a worthy entry in the Farscape series. 2.5/4

Farscape: Premiere (1999) Season 1, Episode 1

Ambitious but Far From Flawless

[7/10 · 30 March 2007]

When I first saw the Premiere Episode of Farscape, I had no idea what to expect. I was immensely impressed and satisfied with "Premiere". Subsequent re-watches, however, have made numerous flaws apparent to me that I missed initially. "Premiere" is not a great Farscape Episode, but it deserves credit for successfully and efficiently setting up the plot and giving the basic back stories to many of the regular characters.

The episode begins with John Crichton (Ben Browder), an astronaut and scientist, preparing to launch into space in the Farscape Module, a small space ship perfected by Crichton and his friend DK. Crichton has a revealing conversation with his father, Jack Crichton, and then begins his test flight in space. Of course, everything goes wrong and Crichton is "shot through a wormhole" and winds up in "a distant part of the galaxy".

After exiting the wormhole, Crichton's module is pulled on board a living space ship. From here, the characters and story line for the Farscape series are introduced in an entertaining albeit rushed manner.

The regular characters are properly introduced during the first half of the episode. Of course, there is Crichton, played well by Ben Browder. He offers a the audience a sympathetic character to identify with. He's lost and has no idea how to do much of anything. In "Premiere", Crichton has to choose between joining the prisoners or the Peacekeepers. He knows nothing at all about either side, but in helping Aeryn (a captured Peacekeeper pilot) it becomes clear that he intends to help the Peacekeepers. He probably would not have ended up siding with the prisoners if it hadn't been for Crais, a Peacekeeper captain, declaring Crichton to be the murderer of his brother. This puts Crichton in an interesting situation: he's stuck with bizarre, violent escaped prisoners in a far-off galaxy about which he knows nothing at all. Crichton's total lack of knowledge of the Farsape world makes him a particularly interesting protagonist during Farscape's first season.

The supporting cast is just as compelling. There's Zhaan, a blue Delvian and former prisoner. She's peaceful and reasonable, as opposed to fellow prisoner Ka D'Argo, a powerful and hard-headed warrior. Virginia Hey is totally covered in blue makeup, allowing her character of Zhaan to appear cool and convincing. D'Argo's mega-makeup, in contrast, is below-par. He looks kind of silly with his giant tentacles and strange nose, and there is something peculiar about his eyes. They look as if they have had some sort of allergic reaction to his makeup. Farscape would give some improvements to his makeup in Season 1, but the overall costume would, for me at least, remain as a problem until Season 2.

The puppet/digital characters of Rygel and Pilot are, to put it simply, excellent. Rygel is a tiny Hynerian Dominar who floats around on some sort of hovercraft. In "Premiere" he is given some good dialogue but not much else. Pilot nearly steals the show as the liaison between the living ship, Moya, and Moya's passengers. Even in the first episode, Pilot gives off the appearance of being a real, living alien; he never once in the show seems to be a giant, expensive machine.

The Peacekeeper characters introduced are quite interesting as well. The Peacekeepers are made up of a race called Sebaceans, who look just like humans. The chief antagonist is introduced in "Premiere" as Captian Crais, who believes that Crichton killed his brother. In reality, Crais's brother's death was merely an accident resulting from an accidental collision with Crichton's ship. Aeryn Sun, a pilot who Crichton helps escape, tries to explain that the death was an accident, but Crais just claims that she is "irreversiby contaminated" and refused to change his mind. Crais obsession for revenge, warranted or not (it should be clear to Crais that Crichton isn't responsible), is mysterious in "Premiere", but would be explained later in the season. Aeryn herself provides an extremely interesting character. By being forced to leave the Peacekeepers, she changes her whole way of life, and is in that regard in a similar (though less severe) situation as Crichton.

The actual episode, as mentioned earlier, feels somewhat rushed and clunky. So much happens that not enough time is spent on anything. Also, D'Argo (for now) looks kind of silly running around in his mediocre costume trying to appear menacing. Still, "Premiere" is solid entertainment. The special effects (such as in the starburst sequences) are impressive. Most of the costumes and the sets on board Moya are original. Despite its flaws, "Premiere" is a must-see for Farscape fans. 3/4

Les Misérables (1998)

Loyal to the Basic Storyline but Unforgivably Condensed

[5/10 · 7 January 2007]

I first saw the play version of Les Miserables, and being extremely impressed, read an unabridged version of Victor Hugo's novel several years later. I loved Hugo's book and enjoyed every page of it, even descriptions of cities, rooms, sewers, and the Battle of Waterloo, which are all passages that many fans think should have been cut out of the book. Les Miserables is by far my favorite book of all-time.

Of course, nearly any film adaptation of a book has to be abridged to allow for a quick running time. However, this film version of Les Miserables goes way too far by cutting out many secondary characters and giving others practically no screen time.

The storyline of Les Miserables, for anyone not familiar with it, concerns a convict named Jean Valjean. After being released from prison, Valjean steals from a kind priest and is caught by the authorities. The priest spares Valjean, leading Valjean to reform and dedicate his life to helping others. He soon becomes a generous, benign mayor, but is persuade by an obsessed inspector named Javert.

The strongest part of this movie is its casting and acting. Liam Neeson is the perfect choice for Valjean and gives a flawless performance. Geoffrey Rush is equally effective as Inspector Javert. Claire Danes perfectly captures Cosette's innocent character and Uma Thurman acts admirably as Fantine.

Despite these strengths, the film cuts out virtually all of the secondary characters. Grantaire, Thenardier's wife, Marius's father, and Marius's grandfather are no where to be seen. Eponine, Thenardier, Enjolras, and Gavroche, all extremely important characters in the novel and even in the play, are given virtually no screen time. Only the characters absolutely essential to the storyline are kept in, and even some of these characters, such as Marius, receive no real development.

As mentioned earlier, no film adaptation can keep in everything from the book. However, the play kept in much, much more and still managed to maintain a reasonable running time. This film should have been more ambitious and extended its running time to include more of Hugo's novel. It seems to me that a short film cannot capture the novel effectively; a movie of at least three hours, a series, or a miniseries would be preferable.

The film does effectively tell the main storyline without any major flaws. However, the visual style is a little too gloomy and the film score is less than amazing. Still, the film is appropriate for anyone who has never read the novel or seen the play as it will convey the main aspects of the plot efficiently.

In some ways, though, I dislike the fact that so many people just see the film without every reading the book or even seeing the play. The movie gives away numerous plot twists and brilliant sequences that would be enjoyed far greater if read in Hugo's book. The same problem occurred to me with Simon Birch, and adaptation of John Irving's incredible "A Prayer for Owen Meany". Like Les Miserables, this film version is well-acted but totally condensed, and it gives away several major plot twists to viewers. The result is that viewers of these movies will never be able to fully enjoy the books on which they were based.

Still, this version of Les Miserables is appropriate for people who have never read and never plan on reading Hugo's brilliant novel.

Solaris (1972)

An Engrossing Masterpiece

[10/10 · 2 December 2006]

Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (or Solyaris) begins with the introduction of the film's principal character, Kris, at his house in rural Russia. From that moment, Solaris continuously intrigues the viewer with its captivating premise (adapted from a novel) and its distinct visuals. The plot concerns a mission undertaken by Kris to reach a remote space station orbiting the planet Solaris. Soon after arriving, Kris's dead wife appears, apparently having been created by the planet from his memories.

The scientific storyline serves only as a backdrop for complex reflections about human emotion. The main question posed by the film seems to be about whether the beings created by the planet are real people, or at least whether they should be treated as real people. At first, Kris treats his wife, Hari, with apprehension and distrust, but eventually he grows to love her.

In Solaris, Tarkovsky includes many long scenes that, to a typical modern-day viewer, will seem to be overlong at best and simply boring at worst. However, this is not a weakness; Tarkovsky just refuses to spoon-feed everything that the audience needs to know right to them. Many brilliant moments, such as a beautiful scene where Kris and Hari are floating in zero gravity for (a very long) 30 seconds and the perfect, creepy, and fascinating ending are not given an explanation. Rather, Tarkovsky allows the viewer to come to his/her own conclusions about characters, story lines, and motivations.

Solaris isn't a film for every one. It's perfectly understandable for someone to find Solaris' long shots and running time to be revolting and tedious. Still, anybody interested in a surreal, captivating, and unique Sci-Fi film should be sure to see Solaris.

Steven Soderbourgh made an excellent remake in 2002. The remake's great visuals, cast, and soundtrack made up for its short running time. However, I recommend Tarkovsky's original Solaris for its atmosphere and intelligence.

SimCity 2000 (1993 Video Game)

Great, If Not Primitive, PC Game

[9/10 · 31 October 2006]

Sim City 2000 was one of the first PC Games that I ever played, and I don't think that I've ever enjoyed a game as much as I originally enjoyed Sim City 2000. The gameplay is perfectly simple and the lack of any sort of general plot or goal makes the game peaceful and transfixing. In Sim City 2000 you just build a city - it's that simple. With patience and effective management, you (the mayor) can eventually expand a small town into a booming metropolis.

Sure, the gameplay is extremely primitive, but that for the most part works to the game's advantage. The three or four repeated music tracks remain stuck in my head after years (a compliment) and the simple budget design and tax system make the game easy to play. The sounds in Sim City 2000 are perfect - especially the ones that play when building roads or stadiums. Also, newspapers and the budget people's advice are great (just try cutting the transportation guy's funds).

Destroying a city, which I only do on rare occasions, is also super fun. Monsters, floods, and even a controlled bulldozer can rapidly destroy entire maps.

There has always been one problem that I had with this game - the incredibly low costs of everything. Just about everything costs fewer than hundred dollars. I would have preferred a somewhat more realistic expense system, but that doesn't matter too much.

Overall, I give Sim City 2000 a 9 out of 10. It's a well-made, classic, simple game.

Mission to Mars (2000)

Flawed but far better than you'd expect!

[7/10 · 20 October 2006]

Brian de Palma's "Mission to Mars" was a critically panned upon its release in 2000. It was also a financial flop when one considers the approximately 40% of the gross kept by the distributor. I saw the movie on the Sci-Fi channel recently, and I was surprised to find myself completely engrossed in the storyline. This was surprising, considering the movie's low rating on the IMDb and the numerous negative viewer comments.

"Mission to Mars" begins with a team of astronauts on Mars finding a strange object on the planet surface. After examining the object, two of the three astronauts are killed by a mysterious force, prompting a rescue mission. The rescue team consists of four members: Woodrow Blake (Tim Robbins), Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise), Terri Fisher (Connie Nelson), and Phil Ohlmyer (Jerry O'Connell). Of course, everything goes wrong on the way to Mars, including a hole in the ship and the destruction of the ship's engines. Upon reaching Mars, the surviving rescue crew members team with the surviving astronaut, played by Don Cheadle, to solve the mystery of the force that killed the two other astronauts.

Many, many people have criticized the movie for having undeveloped characters and a plot stolen from "2001: A Space Odyssey" (mainly "Mission to Mars"'s ending sequence.) I really didn't find any of the characters to be particularly uninteresting. All of the actors were convincing in their roles. Their characters were admittedly somewhat one-dimensional, but no more so than in most big Hollywood productions. To dislike this movie just because it uses many of the same story elements as "2001: A Space Odyssey" is rather picky and illogical. Really, just because it borrows some of 2001's plot line doesn't make it a worthless rip-off. The point of view of "Mission to Mars"'s critics seems to be that no movie can ever under any circumstance whatsoever use the same plot line as "2001: A Space Odyssey". "Mission to Mars" did re-use the same story element that worked so well in "2001", but it re-used it very, very well.

The special effects in the movie are superb, typical for de Palma. There is a great sequence involving a life-or-death decision on the rescue crew's descent to Mars which is helped out heavily by the flawless visuals of outer space in the background.

Still, "Mission to Mars" is far from perfect. Its pace is relatively slow and the movie has no real antagonist. The dialog is consistently unimpressive and the film often seems desperate to create conflict. Their is a sequence towards the end involving Cheadle and Nelson racing back to the Mars outpost that seems totally contrived and unnecessary. A (very well-done) sequence in which a small hole in the shuttle in suffocating Sinise seems to be in the movie for no purpose other than to create a tense conflict.

Honestly, I really would have only given "Mission to Mars" a 5 out of 10 if it weren't for Ennio Morricone's incredible, beautiful score. The ending sequence - which I won't give away - would have been almost laughable without it. Morricone's score makes the scene work and helps to create a true sense of wonder.

I am one of the very few people who enjoyed "Mission to Mars" more than its rival "Red Planet". I can easily understand someone liking the fast-paced, action-packed "Red Planet" more than "Mission to Mars", but I found the plot line of "Red Planet" to be a little bit too unbelievable and Val Kilmer's "acting" to be horrible. "Red Planet" had some great moments but lacked the sense of awe created by Brian de Palma's special effects, the whole cast's acting, and Ennio Morricone's incredible soundtrack. 7/10

Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far (1997 Video Game)

Great PC Game

[9/10 · 26 August 2006]

Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far is an excellent and superior sequel to the Microsoft Game's original Close Combat. A Bridge Too Far covers Operation Market Garden, an attempt by the allies to capture several important bridges in Holland during World War II. The complex game covers the entire operation in the Grand Campaign mode or just one portion of the operation in one of three smaller campaigns.

Players chose between the Allies, who consist of the Americans, the British, and the Polish (only in one small operation), or the Germans. As the allies, the player has to use paratroopers to try to take the following bridges in the order of the distance from the main army: Son, Veghel, Nijmegan, Arnhem Rail, and Arnhem. Then, the allied player must hold the bridges until the XXX Corp arrives to reinforce them. The German player must take the paratroopers' landing zones (where all supplies for the paratroopers are dropped) and defend the bridges from the allies. If necessary, the Germans can blow the Son, Veghel, or Arnhem Rail bridges rather than let the allies take them.

Gameplay in A Bridge Too Far is nearly flawless. First, the player purchases units with requisition points. Each unit is unique and has its own special capabilities. The main units are Heavy Infantry, Rifle Infantry, Reserve Infantry, antitank infantry, Snipers, Machine Gun Infantry, Mortars, Antitank Guns, Halftracks, and Tanks (A Bridge Too Far has some of the best tank battles in computer game history). Then, the units are placed on a map and the battle begins.

An immense amount strategy is usually needed to win a battle. Players need to utilize such tactics as smoke screens, ambushes, and cover fire to win battles. Battles are won by forcing the enemy to flee or by taking all of the Victory Locations (marked with a flag on a map) and calling a cease fire.

The game is balanced perfectly to reflect the actual campaign. Any delay in the XXX Corps progress results in allied paratroopers running out of supplies while the German forces continue to grow. In the actual Operation Market Garden, the allies took the Nijmegan Bridge but failed to reach the Arnhem Bridge, resulting in the near destruction of the unsupported British 1rst Airborne. However, in Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far, the player can prevent the allies from even getting that far as the Germans, or take the Arnhem Bridge as the Allies. 9/10

Greed: The Series (1999–2000)

An Excellent Gameshow

[9/10 · 24 August 2006]

"Greed" is definitely one of the best game shows ever to air on television. The music and set for the show create a perfect, tense atmosphere. Chuck Woolery is a great host. The best part of the show is when he takes out giant wads of cash and offers them to the players.

The game play of "Greed" consists of a team of five people (a sixth player is eliminated before the actual game begins) trying to answer questions worth increasing amounts of money. After each question, the team captain can decide to quit and keep the money that the team has earned. The money is split equally between the players. However, once the questions become worth $200,000, between every question a terminator round occurs and players have a chance to eliminate another player by answering a question first. The terminator randomly selects a player, who then either selects the player that he wants to eliminate or chooses to not eliminate anybody. Chuck Woolery hands a challenging player $10,000 automatically. The winner gets the loser's share of the money.

"Greed" offers more money than just about any other game show, but as a rarity, the money is extremely hard to earn. Once the team reaches $200,000, each question has four correct answers out of 4-8 choices. Most of the questions are nearly impossible, and the teams need a lot of luck to get them right. On one episode, one person won $10,000 from a terminator attempt and nobody else won anything at all. Most teams lose once they reach $200,000, so the game gets really exciting when a team gets to a $500,000 question.

Overall, "Greed" is an entertaining, well-made show. Players can earn a lot of money (it should be noted that, if the team stops after the first question, then each player gets $5,000, the same amount that the winning two people on Supermarket Sweep get to share) but must answer super hard questions. Any fan of game shows should make sure to watch "Greed"

Virtual Chess 64 (1998 Video Game)

Very, Very Bad

[1/10 · 13 June 2006]

Virtual Chess 64 is really one of the worst N64 games ever made. I have always enjoyed playing chess, but I would much rather play on an actual board than in this game. First of all, I could never figure out how to change the difficulty level of the computer. To this day, I have never beaten the computer on any level or even been ahead of it. I'm not an incredible chess player, but I am really not that bad! Whether I selected beginner, level 1, level 2, or any level up to 10, the computer always played perfectly and made the same moves.

When I first started playing, I was looking forward to the virtual graphics. In order to see the small movies of one piece comically taking another, you must play in 3-D mode. However, in 3-D mode, the viewing angle is so slanted during regular play that you can barely see many of the pieces.

Overall, Virtual Chess 64 is not very much fun at all. Anybody interested in playing a fun electronic chess game should get Chessmates, an extremely fun and educational chess computer game.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998 Video Game)

One of the Weaker Star Wars Games

[2/10 · 13 June 2006]

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes back (except for some bonus levels). Each of the game's 15 regular missions requires Rogue Squadron, an elite group of rebel pilots, to complete a unique task. Goals in a mission include guarding supplies, destroying tibanna gas, and raiding an Imperial space port. You can fly X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings, V-Wings, Snowspeeders, and, with cheats, a Naboo Starfighter, an AT-ST, a car, the Millennium Falcon, or a Tie Interceptor (my favorite).

Rogue Squadron does have some advantages. All of the starfighters have their own, unique abilities and different speeds. Also, there is an immense variety in the levels; no two levels are the same.

However, Rogue Squadron has many, many problems. First of all, multiplayer is mysteriously missing. Perhaps the biggest problem in the game is that you can never see anything that is not immediately in front of you. Any object that is not extremely close to your ship is invisible. At-Ats and mountains will suddenly appear right in front of you. Also, the lasers that you fire take forever to reach any target. You can typically fire at least five shots before any reach their target. This results in the lowering of your accuracy because you'll fire more shots than you need to hit targets, and the extra shots will be counted as misses. Also, there is never any way to identify who is who during the missions. If you see another friendly ship, it could be any member of Rogue Squadron. Finally, the medals are rather hard to earn. You can get a bronze, silver, or gold metal during each level. To earn a medal, you must have completed the mission quickly, destroyed nearly every enemy, have high accuracy, find a powerup, and protect most of the allies. These are way too many requirements; it's simply not fun to try to fulfill them all.

Still, it's almost worth earning the medals because they unlock the bonus levels. The three bonus levels are a lot more fun than the regular levels, and the best is the Death Star Trench.

StarFox 64 is basically what Star Wars: Rogue Squadron should have been. It corrects just about all of the problems in Rogue Squadron. Overall, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron is fun for a little while but is too heavily flawed.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998 Video Game)

The Best Video Game That I Have Ever Played

[10/10 · 23 July 2005]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is quite possibly the best video game ever made. The environments, particularly Hyrule Field, are huge and very detailed. Perhaps the best part about Ocarina of Time is the incredibly long game play. The main game is exciting and their is an almost uncountable number of side-quests. You can try to find all 100 Gold Sculltulas, collect all the pieces of heart, acquire the Biggoron's Sword, complete the Training area for the ice arrow, catch the 20-pounder fish, or own all four empty bottles. Ocarina of Time's N64 sequel, Majora's Mask, is also a great game, although Ocarina of Time is a bit better.