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Reviews
Sons of Liberty (2015)
Shame on the History Channel
This is the comic book version of American History: Sam Adams running around on housetops like a colonial Batman. Fistfights and riots left and right (when do these people have time to get anything done? All they do is swill liquor and fight Redcoats). Adams portrayed as a guy with a perpetual 3-day growth of beard. Hey, he's just a 21st century kinda guy living in the 18th century. Why not put him in jeans and a t-shirt and be done with it? The real Sam Adams was nothing like the dude portrayed in this trash. He was a politician who fought for the rights of British citizens in the colonies until it became obvious that was not going to happen, then he became a revolutionary. The only reason this deserves 3 stars is because it might inspire somebody to pick up a book. As for the History Channel, its name really needs to be changed, because it no longer has anything to do with history.
The Curse of Oak Island (2014)
The curse of watching "The Curse of Oak Island"
The mystery of Oak Island is a fascinating story. Unfortunately, this program has nothing to do with that. It is a "reality" show that has nothing to do with reality at all. It is a poorly scripted program that will appeal to people for whom the real world is painful and want to escape into fantasies about Atlantis, the pyramids being built by off-worlders, and other claptrap expounded by people who can't make legitimate incomes, so they sell comic-book theories about history. I watched one episode of this atrocious show, and heard the usual theories about Knights Templars, Free Masons, and ancient treasures being sent around the world like they had Fed Ex in pre-industrial times. Apparently, the men who are supposedly exhausting their hard-earned wealth on Oak Island are willing to believe anything, because a man came to them with a ridiculous theory backed up by utter nonsense, and they immediately dropped what they were doing and ran off to hunt with him. And what did they find? A rock! Why, this insane theory must be true! Please. The real curse of Oak Island is wasting your precious time watching this drivel.
Uncovering Aliens (2013)
Absolutely awful
Of all the lame, tedious insults to intelligence "reality TV" has foisted on audiences, this is the worst. Four people who are supposed to be intelligent, sophisticated researchers sit around slack-jawed with awe listening to any kind of bunk coming from "witnesses," as if the four just fell off the back of the pumpkin truck. Evidence? Who needs evidence? People talk about their "emotional" close encounters ("when I saw the triangle in the sky I felt a great sense of peace and love"),and nobody even questions the statement. UFOs zooming out of Lake Michigan and sailing off into the western sky? Sure, why not? No photographs? No problem! An alien waltzes into the bedroom of a teenage girl and she doesn't completely freak out? Okay! An alien is seen in the bedroom of a married couple eyeballing the wife and the husband says, "get out," and the "evil" alien obeys? Absolutely! In one particularly ridiculous scene, two "researchers," one of whom--an "ex-CIA operative"--wears a black cowboy hat and long black coat, like he just walked off the set of "Gunsmoke," are standing by a creek. The body of water is maybe 10 feet across and 3 feet deep, but they think it was the means of escape for a triangular space ship, which was landed on the creek and floated to Lake Michigan, where it could be hidden. Yikes.
In a word, avoid.
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
A classic of the bad sci-fi genre
This is one of the best of the worst films of all time. When viewed with the right mindset it never fails to entertain. Poor production values, terrible acting, worse directing, and dialog that has to be heard to be believed, combine to create a cinematic gem.
When speaking of bad movies, it is important to understand what is meant by "bad". There is good bad, and there is bad bad. Bad bad is a movie that combines all the elements listed above--bad acting, bad directing, etc.--to produce something that bores. Good bad combines the same elements in such a way that a highly entertaining movie is made, although not in the way the movie makers hope.
"Plan 9" is not just good bad, it is brilliant bad. It is unintentionally hilarious, and that's as funny as it gets. This is a movie that has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Everything about it is bad. When George Romero made "Night of the Living Dead" he did it on the cheap, but still produced a film that was intense, scary, and had a point. "Plan 9" is nothing but bad, albeit in a wonderful way.
As an example of bad production values, there is a scene where a police car is speeding away from headquarters. As the action begins it is broad daylight. The next scene is the car racing across the city. Now, however, it is night! Next is the car arriving at its destination, a cemetery, and again it is daylight. That is either one huge city, or somebody on the Plan 9 crew was asleep at the switch.
"Plan 9" is so full of great badness that to detail all the goofs, flubs, and cheesiness would require remaking the entire movie. The cemetery is a weed-infested lot; an airline cockpit set is a shower curtain, some plywood and a couple chairs; a cop scratches his head with the business end of a gun barrel; the outside of the space ship has a ladder that goes nowhere; the plan itself, that is, plan number 9, makes no sense at all. And on and on and on...
If you love movies, and want to consider yourself conversant in all genres of film, seeing at least one bad sci-fi movie is a must. "Plan 9" is the Hamlet of that genre. See it with a couple people who get it, and have a great time.