Change Your Image
Hopper-2
Reviews
Win Ben Stein's Money (1997)
Finally a game show worth watching
Win Ben Stein's Money was a novel concept for a game show: contestants compete with each other and the host in a trivia contest to win some or all of the host's $5000. The show will always be memorable for me as the only game show I can stand to watch. Most game shows are too serious to be enjoyable, and those that aim to be more entertaining are usually too obvious and cheesy.
Putting Ben Stein and Jimmy Kimmel together made this show different. Ben, aside from being very smart, is a very funny man. His boring monotone turned him into an icon through roles in Ferris Bueler's Day Off and The Wonder Years. He has the perfect voice for the crude humour of Win Ben Stein's Money. You can't help but laugh when this intelligent, dignified, expressionless and utterly uncool-looking old man swears at the judges, flips Jimmy the bird or knocks over a safe.
Jimmy Kimmel was clearly chosen to create an "Odd Couple" contrast to Ben. He has raised the bar for shockingly inappropriate comments from a game show host.
The questions are interesting, the topics are hilarious, and it's great fun to see a host actually compete with the contestants. You have to watch the end to see if Ben wins or loses. Giving Ben a vested interest in the outcome of the game adds great entertainment value because the competition brings out the best and worst in him. Truly a delightful game show experience.
Serenity (2005)
The end of the line
This review is aimed at fans of Firefly, the television show that this movie is based on. If you didn't watch the show, you probably won't get anything out of this review. I will simply say that you will enjoy this movie. It portrays a realistic possible future and is full of action, violence and suspense. The story is compelling, and has some scary moments as well. It will be a great adrenaline rush.
If you are a fan of Firefly, you'll have to see the movie, but it will be difficult to watch. Many of the unanswered questions will finally be explained. You'll gain a new perspective on the show and Joss Whedon's vision, but you may have trouble ever watching the show again once you know how the story ends. I am including two levels of spoiler warning so that you can decide how much you want to know.
*** SPOILER WARNING: MEDIUM *** No plot information, but information about the characters.
Some of the main characters die, and it's not easy to watch. I've heard rumours that there will be two more movies, and maybe there will be. In an age full of television shows that shouldn't be made, a growing number of excellent shows are being cancelled prematurely. Firefly was barely given a chance, but it is gaining a cult following through syndication and a DVD release of the entire series. Family Guy, another FOX show, successfully returned to the airwaves, and I had hoped that the success of the DVDs and movie would lead to new episodes of Firefly. How can it ever be a show again without all of the crew? I don't think Joss Whedon intends his creation to ever be a television show again.
The information in the next spoiler explains my point in greater detail and mentions characters specifically. I recommend only reading it if you have already seen the movie.
*** SPOILER WARNING: HIGH *** Individual characters discussed
Whenever a television show becomes a movie, the need for action means that some characters are underused, or aren't free to be what they normally are. Firefly was full of thought and humour, and much of it came from Inara's work as a companion. Serenity is an action movie, so Inara's character suffers. There's no time to go off on her own to entertain clients. That means the feel of the story is entirely different. This is not an episode of Firefly.
Shepherd Book and Wash die in this movie. To see the most gentle and positive characters die will be very difficult for any fan. You can understand why I say that Firefly can't return to television now. Book is the moral center for the crew. Without him, they really are just thieves. Wash is the counter-balance to Zoe and Mal. He is the comic relief; the man who plays with toy dinosaurs on the bridge of a space ship. He's not a soldier; not a fighter. He allows Zoe to be feminine and creates sympathy for the crew. Without these two characters, Kaylee is the only lighter character left. The characters who remain are the soldiers, the mercenary, the psychic killing machine and the prostitute. I don't say this to be hard on the surviving characters. Each one filled an important role when they made up a whole. They represent the best and worst sides of humanity. Without Book and Wash, the picture is incomplete. They don't complement each other any more. You can't turn this franchise into anything more than an action movie without replacing them. I no longer expect new episodes, and I worry about what sort of stories might be created for the next two movies.
When the movie ended, no one stuck around to watch the credits. I was left full of sadness and disappointment. Normally a movie ends with an uplifting victory that carries you happily into the night. All I could think about was, "why did these characters die?", and getting home to write this review. If you've read this, you still need to see the movie. Just be prepared to be saddened by what you see.
Kissed (1996)
Powerful, passionate and relevant: exactly what a movie should be
There is no more natural preoccupation than death. Everyone is aware that they are going to die but no one knows precisely what death is. We all come to terms with our mortality in our own way. Most of us try to think about death as little as possible, choosing denial. Some turn to religion for comforting beliefs about death, others embrace a "death culture", as Goths do. A very small number of people embrace death to the extent that cadavers become sexually attractive to them.
Kissed is a beautiful story about a young woman named Sandra who explores death through necrophilia. When Matt, a fellow student she becomes romantically involved with, becomes infatuated with her he desperately tries to understand her and to incorporate himself into her necrophilic lifestyle.
They both, each in their own way, use the powerful nature of love and lust to explore their feelings about death.
The acting is both professional and believable and the audience can relate to the complex characters even though none of us is ever likely to personally experience such a bizarre situation. Even when Matt's need to be loved by Sandra makes him strange and frightening, the story only feels more familiar when we realize how much we have changed ourselves for lovers. Isn't life about finding someone to love before the time is up?
The sex and nudity are artistic, not pornographic. I went away from this movie feeling like I had witnessed something important and special. It may be disturbing at times, but Kissed is never revolting. I would not have believed that a movie about this subject matter could be so beautifully and sensitively made. If you ever find yourself anxious about death or plan to die someday, I highly recommend this passionate exploration of our most primal fear.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
How to destroy a classic
It isn't very often that a truly original movie comes along but Star Wars was considered such a movie in its day. Usually such a movie has a sequel and, since it can't possibly be as original as the predecessor on which it is based, critics and audiences are disappointed. Sometimes a sequel is so bad that we question how good the original really was. Star Wars: Episode I was the sequel that began this process for me.
The original Star Wars (now Episode IV) was basically the classic medieval story of the damsel in distress (Princess Leia) locked in the impenetrable fortress of the enemy (the Death Star), but the "droids", living robots with personalities and even neurotic paranoias, had only previously been introduced to us by the likes of Isaac Asimov. The Empire Strikes Back was vastly superior and was the height of Lucas' saga. The urge to sell out was apparently too great by the time the Return of the Jedi was written. The furry little ewoks were obviously designed to market Star Wars to children and led to an animated series. That could have been ignored if The Phantom Menace had not sunk so much lower.
I'll ignore the billions of dollars of merchandise that the market was flooded with and judge this movie on its own merit. Let's face it, everyone hates Jar Jar Binks. Why is he in the movie? To sell the movie to kids. This movie is an insult to an adult's intelligence. The hero is a small boy who wins a long, pointless "pod race" (to sell a video game) and saves the day by accident. Jar Jar Binks is a klutz who somehow becomes a war hero as a result of his blundering idiocy. There is even a scientific (blood) test to measure one's connection to the spiritual "Force", the Brahman essence of everything. Apparently Lucas felt it necessary to dumb that concept down for us.
The saddest thing is that the original trilogy was very popular with children even before the ewoks were introduced. This a long overlooked truth that Hollywood producers would do well to learn: children will watch movies written for adults but adults won't watch movies aimed at children. A grown-up version of this movie would have brought in as many kids, but this infantile production only leaves parents wondering when the movie will be over. After suffering through this uninspired motion picture, you can be excused if you find yourself wondering if the original trilogy was really any good in the first place.
The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Underrated, mature science fiction
Transformers: The Movie received poor reviews in the papers and was called unsuitable for children. That was precisely the point. Western culture has traditionally considered animated television programs and movies to be for children. This movie was aimed at a mature (teenaged, at least) audience and did a fantastic job satisfying that demographic. Called an overly violent movie, it pales in comparison to almost any action movie teenagers regularly attend and even the Power Rangers which were popular with even very young children until recently. One critic referred to the "gratuitous profanity" in this movie, a single, minor expletive appropriate to the situation. The premise is intelligent and the plot is well designed and executed. The animation was excellent for its day (perhaps some critics said the animation wasn't up to Disney's standards because the robots happen to be mostly block-shaped, but the backgrounds and Earth scenes are beautiful). The soundtrack, called noise by some critics, rocks. The reality is that all of the things the critics didn't like about this movie are what make it so popular and perfectly suited for its target audience. My only complaint is that, in its eagerness to replace the old characters with a new generation, the movie glossed over the death of the original characters. Most of the Autobots on the shuttle died too easily and didn't so much as hit any of the Decepticons, let alone take any of them with them. The death of some Autobots, Wheeljack for instance, are not even shown. Also, Optimus Prime's defeat of Megatron wasn't decisive enough and Megatron wasn't damaged enough in the fight. The fact that Prime died and Megatron wasn't even dying make Megatron seem the winner, and not Prime the victor, tragically lost to the recklessness and inexperience of Hot Rod. That aside, the movie is simply a lot of fun of fun to watch and has excellent replay value. The story, animation and soundtrack are excellent, making for a mature, intelligent work of science fiction which belongs in every young adult's collection. Truly an animation classic.
Kôkaku kidôtai (1995)
Important science fiction
Ghost in the Shell is a visually stunning animated masterpiece. Japanese animation has always been in a class of its own, so I won't even attempt to describe the incredible attention to detail and beautiful imagery in this movie. In this case the animation is merely icing for what is one of the most important works of science fiction in recent years.
Every generation has had books and movies that have contributed to our collective understanding of reality. Prior to World War II this included books like Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" and Huxley's "Brave New World", and later Orwell's "1984". Today most warnings about the future fall into the category of science fiction. Science fiction began to fill this role when Arthur C. Clarke's "2001" warned us of the potential for humanity to create intelligent, even sentient computers that could murder their human creators. "2001" envisioned computer intelligence imprisoned in the physical body of a computer. Where "2001" left off, Ghost in the Shell begins.
Ghost in the Shell tells the story of a future in which a computer program, Project 2501, becomes self-aware and begins a quest to fill basic needs it feels are qualifiers of being alive by controlling computers and people to achieve its ultimate goals. Whereas the HAL-9000 computer was relatively harmless, owing to its confinement in the Odyssey space ship, Project 2501 is a recognition that the global internet could have dire consequences for all of us. By comparison, this new villain is virtually invincible. But is Project 2501 a villain?
Most people who have told me that they didn't like this move said that they didn't understand it. Indeed, the story and concepts are very complicated. I have watched it several times and still get new things out of it every time. Roger Ebert called Ghost in the Shell, "Unusually intelligent and challenging science fiction, aimed at smart audiences".
Ghost in the Shell is full of fascinating dialog, such as this diatribe about the cycle of life and death by Project 2501. "A copy is just an identical image. There is the possibility that a single virus could destroy an entire set of systems, and copies do not give rise to variety and originality. Life perpetuates itself through diversity, and this includes the ability to sacrifice itself when necessary. Cells repeat the process of degeneration and regeneration until one day they die, obliterating an entire set of memory and information. Only genes remain. Why continually repeat this cycle? Simply to survive by avoiding the weaknesses of an unchanging system."
Thus Ghost in the Shell goes beyond simply a prediction or warning for the future: it attempts to contribute to our understanding of reality by breaking existence down into biological terms and making us question, along with the characters in the movie, whether or not any of us has a soul. The characters in Ghost in the Shell are unusually deep and are a refreshing change from the one-dimensional stereotypes we've become numbed by in modern media. Ghost in the Shell would be required reading in many high school and university courses if it weren't for the fortuitous fact that it can be enjoyed in this beautifully animated feature film. This is one of the few movies ever made that everyone should watch at least once.
The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
Underrated, mature science fiction
Transformers: The Movie received poor reviews in the papers and was called unsuitable for children. That was precisely the point. Western culture has traditionally considered animated television programs and movies to be for children. This movie was aimed at a mature (teenaged, at least) audience and did a fantastic job satisfying that demographic. Called an overly violent movie, it pales in comparison to almost any action movie teenagers regularly attend and even the Power Rangers which were popular with even very young children until recently. One critic referred to the "gratuitous profanity" in this movie, a single, minor expletive appropriate to the situation. The premise is intelligent and the plot is well designed and executed. The animation was excellent for its day (perhaps some critics said the animation wasn't up to Disney's standards because the robots happen to be mostly block-shaped, but the backgrounds and Earth scenes are beautiful). The soundtrack, called noise by some critics, rocks. The reality is that all of the things the critics didn't like about this movie are what make it so popular and perfectly suited for its target audience. My only complaint is that, in its eagerness to replace the old characters with a new generation, the movie glossed over the death of the original characters. Most of the Autobots on the shuttle died too easily and didn't so much as hit any of the Decepticons, let alone take any of them with them. The death of some Autobots, Wheeljack for instance, are not even shown. Also, Optimus Prime's defeat of Megatron wasn't decisive enough and Megatron wasn't damaged enough in the fight. The fact that Prime died and Megatron wasn't even dying make Megatron seem the winner, and not Prime the victor, tragically lost to the recklessness and inexperience of Hot Rod. That aside, the movie is simply a lot of fun of fun to watch and has excellent replay value. The story, animation and soundtrack are excellent, making for a mature, intelligent work of science fiction which belongs in every young adult's collection. Truly an animation classic.