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Emerald Point N.A.S. (1983)
Forgettable
As the only other reviewer (from 20 years ago!) stated, this was a soap opera set on a U. S. naval base. In lieu of describing it as having an all-STAR cast, I'll go with all-recognizable.
I've never seen Dynasty, Hotel, Falcon Crest, Flamingo Road, Knots Landing, etc.---I suppose I'm aware of those titles mostly from seeing commercials for them back in the 80's---so I have no idea how Emerald Point NAS compares, but I can say that my wife and I did not find the show all that interesting. Out of respect to everyone involved, and to the wonderful 80's decade, we did sit through every single episode.
But when it was finally over, we were kind of relieved. Again, it just wasn't that interesting. It felt contrived and shallow, with lots of silly melodrama. Overall, just poorly written and executed.
Shows like The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Knight Rider are MUCH more fun! So search for those instead.
Glitter (1984)
A Bit of a Mess
Like many shows of its time, "Glitter" seemed to be a vehicle for giving work, in the form of each episode's several special guests, to older stars and, especially, to B-listers who were familiar to 70's and 80's tv audiences. In that sense, the show was a lot like "The Love Boat", "Fantasy Island", and others.
But "Glitter" just didn't work. In fact, it was a bit of a mess. The episodes made even less sense than the odd overall premise, which seemed to be: Tabloid reporters get assigned to do a big story on some celebrity, but end up getting involved in that celebrity's life, and usually helping the person through some drama, sometimes without even finishing the big story. Not realistic.
So it's a dumb show. HOWEVER, it's low-key, well-intentioned, and G-rated, so that's refreshing. And the fun that you can extract comes from enjoying the show's harmlessness, its awkwardness, and the array of styles (writing, directing, editing, acting, fashion, cars), all common in the early-80's, that have all but disappeared. That in itself is enough to give the otherwise dumb show a spin for at least a couple of episodes.
Hello I Must Be Going (2012)
Tainted By Unnecessary Content
A great performance by Melanie Lynskey is tainted by "dirty", completely unnecessary R-rated content that could have and should have been omitted to make this a clean PG-rated film.
While showing us a sad middle-aged divorcee slowly turning her life around by flinging with a teenager, this film preaches that guys are jerks, parents are hopeless, modern art is beautiful, modern artists are important, what Jeremy pretends to be is a great thing, how Gwen behaves about it is even greater, and also that are weed and anti-depressants are wonderful.
There's so much unrealistic profanity that it gets silly, and there are some indie trope traps, but it's an interesting film nonetheless. It's low-key and mostly well-crafted, with very good performances also from Sarah Chase, Blythe Danner, and Julie White.
Kicking and Screaming (1995)
Could Have Been A Great PG Film!
What should have been a hit and a period classic, like a 90's The Breakfast Club, instead sank and has been mostly forgotten. Why?
The blame probably goes to writer-director Baumbach, who couldn't resist ruining an otherwise wonderful script and great acting by injecting copious amounts of needless and sophomoric perversion and vulgarity. The ensuing (deserved) R rating didn't help.
It could have been an incredibly enjoyable Clean-PG, but TPTB, erroneously self-assessing as being all clever and edgy, did their obligatory best to cringe-up the whole production. What a tragedy, because if you skip past the degeneracy, it's an excellent, interesting, insightful, and hilarious film, with outstanding performances by Carlos Jascott, Cara Buono, Olivia d'Abo, and Chris Eigeman.
Knight Rider: Goliath Returns (1984)
Garthe and Goliath Are Pathetic
This may be the worst-ever script from the tv series with pretty much nothing but horrible scripts. Nothing makes any sense, Hasselhoff is absolutely ridiculous playing his own evil twin, and every character demonstrates utter incompetence with every single decision and action. It's like it was written by dumb little children.
Knight Rider: Knight of the Phoenix: Part 1 (1982)
Think of it as a comedy!
If you go in with the understanding that Knight Rider is one-third interesting sci-fi / crime drama, one-third nonsensical intelligence-insulting drama, and one-third comedy, with never-ending untalented D-list actors, producers, directors, and writers to shake your head at in disbelief, it can be a LOT of fun.
Just remember: every single episode (yes, literally) shows you that Michael especially, but also Devin, Bonnie/April, and even KITT are all incompetent. Oftentimes dangerously so. (That is to say, the writers, producers, and directors were all incompetent).
Just let it slide, enjoy the never-ending unintentional laughs, and comfort yourself in the fact that, very refreshingly, it's essentially G-rated and well-intentioned. Low on violence. And no depravity to poison your psyche!!
Without Consent (1994)
Jennie is a talented actress!
And she's utterly stunningly gorgeous!! Especially during the first ten minutes, but even after being sleep-deprived and put under severe distress, drugged, and physically and emotionally abused by evil corrupt sociopaths. How does Laura do it??!!
The actors who played her parents were dime-a-dozen, forgettable, trying-way-too-hard C-listers. They were borderline-annoying, especially Jill Frankenberry.
But those who played Laura's brother and all of the staff and inmates did a very fine job.
There's no sweet happy ending, which was surprising. No one was forgiven. I guess despite all of the drama and trauma, no one really engaged in any meaningful self-reflecting, or learned any lessons, or swallowed their debilitating pride, or "grew". Laura just moves in with her Jerkstore, self-important brother to his crappy apartment. Why, exactly??!
Another reviewer called this movie realistic. "Realistic" is not a synonym for "dark" or "sad", etc. How does that grammatically-challenged reviewer know this is actually realistic?! What he means, I suspect, is that it's gritty, thought-provoking, and its tone is very serious.
This is a must-see for any Real Man, for Jennie alone. Even on mute.
Baby Sister (1983)
The description is wrong
Annie didn't "concoct a scheme", she merely fell for her sister's boyfriend. And the sister and boyfriend were having trouble and were on the verge on breaking up anyway. Annie even felt guilty and tried to resist the boyfriend. It was no scheme.
Another reviewer talked about battling sisters. There were no battles, not one bit. The sisters seemed to be lifelong best friends. The only drama occurred at the very end when the sister found out about the affair and, naturally, was very hurt and felt betrayed. Yet she quickly forgave and expressed her love for Annie.
I don't know what movie some of these people were watching...
Starsky and Hutch: Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty (1977)
Julie McCoy Sighting
This episode guest stars a pre-The Love Boat Lauren Tewes, who was only 23 at the time, playing a character who was an assistant district attorney. The vast majority of future lawyers are only in their second year of law school when they're 23.