Reviews

This is a fairly boring and inconsequential episode. Overall, however, the thing it makes me wonder most is this: why does every starship seem to have nearly unlimited information about earth history?

Voyager apparently has access to 20th/21st century birth/death/marriage certificates, voter registration forms, census forms, &c. At least in TNG or DS9 that could be explained-away as them accessing the Federation network, but that's certainly not the case here, out in the Delta Quadrant. Anyhow, it is one of those silly little inconsistencies which makes this show so very weak.

This show has suffered greatly from the absence of Bill Schulz. While I used to watch at least three times per week, I now catch it perhaps once. The greatest reason for this is that Schultz was the comedic heart of the show, while Levy was the brains and Gutfeld the glue that held it together.

With the new format, it is simply not as funny. While I do enjoy the addition of Joanne Nosuchinsky, she would be better as an occasional guest. She does have insights sometimes, and is certainly quite beautiful, but I don't think she adds much to the show as a whole. Also, Levy's humor and intellect just doesn't shine through as well as it did before--perhaps as a result of him having to comment on everything, rather than being able to pick and choose some choice words for whatever they're covering.

Whatever they have to pay him, bring back Schulz!

If you are looking for high art, don't come here. If you want a ridiculously implausible movie that has every element that a kid growing up in the 80s would have loved, this might just be your cup of tea. I do not understand the low rating - did people expect Bill Shakespeare in place of Chuck Norris? Norris is actually good in this film (ggo in the sense that he is not singing his own theme-song and galavanting around my fair state with a clearly bored black guy and overacting blonde). Lee Marvin, while not up to his standards in, say, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or even The Professionals, is pretty darned decent, though some might accuse him of phoning it in. Remember, though, that Marvin phoning it in is better than most at their best. Now, I realise that my brain may have suffered from the 90 minutes I spent watching this, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, and you will too as long as you do not go into it with your nose up in the air.

All that I can say about this movie is that past greats like Bruce Lee (and even no-talent hacks like Jean-Claude Van Damme) are all brought down by this low-quality excuse for a movie. It is not worth the celluloid that was wasted producing it. About midway through the movie, one can not help but wish that Brazil had fallen off of South America, or better yet, that the plane with the Green Beret had simply been blown up mid-course. If you possibly can, avoid this horrid movie.

The acting, directing, and writing in this film are superb. Russell Crowe and Christopher Plummer especially do noteworthy jobs. The story is also told very well, and it avoids getting too preachy, which many of today's PC anti-whatever movies do. One thing which proves this movie's quality is the fact that I totally disagree with its underlying message and still found it very good. Anyone who smokes does it at their own risk and shouldn't whine when their lungs turn black and they have to breathe through a hole in their throat. Apparently, the producers of this film don't think along the same lines. All in all, this is a great movie that you should rent whenever you have a chance.

I hold this movie in absolute disdain. It is one of those "we have a do-good, politically correct, neatly packaged little movie that we swear really does have a point." This movie is about a sleepy little town that has a gay murder that may or may not have been a hate crime (though they not-so-subtly make it clear that it was). An ill writer moves there, exposes the story, and is harassed to no end. This movie is basically here to say that moral positions against homosexuality are wrong, that religion is really an evil narcotic, and that anyone who disagrees is a bigoted homophobe. It is sad that the director let the soap-box proclamations get in the way, because the idea of a xenophobic little town with strange people and not enough genetic variation is a decent premise. James Coburn, Christopher Plummer, and Ron Silver are all very good actors, but they are simply not able to show what they can do.

The pace at which this film staggers reminds me of one of my alcoholic friend's storytelling abilities. It lurches forth and alternates between fast action that makes no sense, then bizarre attempts to build suspense that fail miserably. The film also takes a turn for the bizarre when a crazy lady befriends the ill writer. I can't say too much about it without giving the move away, but the end is especially bizarre and disappointing. All in all, a very bad movie.

I would, in closing, like to point out one key similarity between this movie and my aforementioned alcoholic friend. At the end of his stories he would usually throw up. At the end of this movie, you will.

I must first say that I went into my game-room to watch this movie expecting to be bored out of my mind. However, I was wrong. Not being gay or Austrian, I don't know much about musicals or Vienna, so I didn't really expect to find much in this movie for me. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it very much. In fact, I would be willing to say that this is Christopher Plummer's best performance, and I liked Julie Andrews more here than in Mary Poppins or 10, which are the only other movies I've seen her in. I recommend this movie to just about everyone, especially gay Austrians.