Reviews

I completely agree with what one reviewer stated -- that Spielberg is THE master of the big budget Hollywood SFX movie, and certainly outclasses the lesser competition offered by comparative amateurs Bay and Emmerich. Spieberg's SFX, while impressive and unrivaled, still play a close second to character definition and development. You care about his characters and their progress through the film. Yeah okay, I thought Tom Cruise's character was an *ssh*le too, but you came to a reluctant understanding and respect for his love for his kids.

I certainly didn't feel any of this character empathy from "Day After Tomorrow" or "The Island." I was almost happy NYC froze over in DAT, if only to shut up those whiny New York nomads and put an end to all their belly-aching. Lady Liberty destroyed? Give me a break -- why not add a final shout of "Damn you! Damn you all the hell!" Sure, the plot suffered somewhat and I too groaned at the abrupt and convenient ending typical of many Hollywood films, but you have to admit some of the scenes in the film were the most intense and exciting you watched in a long time.

I ordered this hard-to-find show on eBay and got an excellent copy of it. I'd been literally waiting years to finally watch the TV show that had left the greatest impression of terror on me since childhood. I mean, I wasn't let down when I acquired a DVD of Trilogy of Terror with Karen Black; that last episode with the freaky doll still creeped me out... kinda.

Well, last night I sat down, put the disc in my trusty old DVD player , and -- uh, found it to be a less-than-horrific experience. Of course I knew it wasn't going to have the same sort of effect on me that it did back then, so I prepared myself for a bit of disappointment.

It was okay I guess, and considering I'm much older and can follow the storyline infinitely better than I did when I was 9 helps too. I liked the shots of the Bay Area and the Pacific coastline, and a young and lovely Angie Dickenson is always easy on the eyes, but still -- I wasn't even so much as mildly surprised throughout the entire film. The evil manifestation that happened at the end of the film almost had me laughing -- and I scolded myself for mocking this beloved show.

As a made-for-TV film it is somewhat enjoyable and certainly above average, but as with all things nostalgic and memorable, don't get your hopes up too much like I did.

Okay, now I'm off to find some "ABC Movie of the Week" episodes that hopefully have aged a little better than this one did...

I'd give this a lower rating if I could, and that's not because I don't "GET the Asian genre." I love Asian films (being Asian myself), even during times when the story lines become overbearingly sentimental, cute or cloying.

But this one... I could barely get past the first 15 minutes. Each time I saw that smug face of Richie Renn's character I wanted to punch him in the nose. No offense to the actor himself (as I know there are many of his fans probably reading this), but I really hated the character. And his entourage of 3 Korean "babes" -- give me a break! All they did was follow him around and display the worst martial arts skills this side of Kung Pao.

I like Tony Leung, and Qi Shu always makes nice eye candy, but c'mon -- couldn't they have come up with something better than this? It's like they're all sleepwalking through their roles. And the ridiculous subtitles? Who distributed this? I've seen more coherent sentences coming from a 3-year old preschooler.

Movies like this make films like the incredibly bad "Dream of a Warrior" instant classics by comparison. What next? Calcutta Raiders? Mercy, please...