FilmRoar

Shot in beautiful high contrast black and white stock Suna no onna [Woman in the Dunes](1964) feels like an episode of ” The Twilight Zone” (1959) as written by Albert Camus. Close-ups of running water, moving sand, human bodies are alluring. The scenes are often too darkly lit to be seen and the camera is often not properly blimped (muffled) and heard over the dialog. Details like that would make another film seem inferior but grant an air of authentic cinema classic to this Japanese noir film.

Short skirts, loud music and even shorter skirts punctuate the story about a bunch of teenagers trying to save the music store they work for in director Allan Moyle’s Empire Records (1995). I may have been expecting too much from the director who brought us Pump Up the Volume (1990), but Empire Records seemed rather pointless. There is plenty of teen-angst as well as some strong talent (Renée Zellweger, Liv Tyler, Rory Cochrane, Johnny Whitworth, Debi Mazar) but the story about an independent record store manager (Anthony LaPaglia) trying to ‘take care of his kids’ as he takes care of himself never seemed to do much more than give an excuse for our teens to dance around the store and sing into cleaning tools. On the plus side we do get to see both Zellweger and Tyler in their underwear.

BOOM! BANG! [witty one liner] POW! BOOM! [sneer from bad guy] BANG! KAPLOW! [half dressed sex-object] BANG! BOOM! [car chase], was pretty much the plot of the spy action flick XXX (2002). But for a brainless, pointless, clichéd popcorn flick, it had some fun parts.
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I really did not like the episode TNG: The Child at all. Not only was it centered on the still whinny Troi but it had a pretty bogus pregnancy-to child in a few days plot. To make things worse it was the first episode of Season 2 and therefore the moment when we realize they replaced Dr. Crusher with Dr. Pulaski. No offense to Diana Muldaur, who I think did a great job in her ‘female version of McCoy role’ but common guys, what were you thinking?!

Probably one of the best episodes of TNG season one is The Neutral Zone. The episode re-introduces the Romulans to the Star Trek universe, with a bang, not a whisper. The moment of first re-encounter is properly built up as Picard explains that the Enterprise, being the largest and most sophisticated ship in the Federation Fleet has been sent in a show of force. When the Romulan ship first decloacks and we realize the Enterprise could almost fit between the nacelles of the new Romulan ship the balance of power in the Universe is no longer as clear. Add to that moment the first foreshadowing of the new enemy, the Borg, who have scooped a whole federation outpost off a planet and some great comedy between Data and a 20th century cowboy and you have an episode that is enjoyable and memorable.

I feel like a traitor for saying this, but The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) is not a good movie at all. Oh sure the movie has some funny lines (I still howl “I want to go hoooooome” like Rowlf when the mood hits me) and who can’t help but laugh as the Swedish Chef throws popcorn while wearing 3D glasses, but if you stop and pay attention for even a minute you start to notice that the script pretty much stinks as does the acting. Most of the dialogue is cheap and unimaginative and the movie feels like an excuse for an extended episode of “Muppet Show, The” (1976). I may have been expecting too much after being touched by the original big screen adaptation The Muppet Movie (1979), but I doubt The Muppets Take Manhattan could have impressed me no matter what my mood.

Kevin Smith’s second movie after the acclaimed indie hit Clerks. (1994), Mallrats (1995) is not nearly as witty, funny or cutting as his debut or the movies to follow (with the possible exception of the ass-joke driven comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)). It is nevertheless a must have for any true Kevin Smith fan. With all the usual characters (Jason Lee (I), Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Mewes) plus a few new faces who honestly give every impression of wanting nothing more than to not be in this movie (Jeremy London, Shannen Doherty) Mallrats has most of the KS writing style that we love but without the charm. As simple as this movie may be, I do none the less own it on DVD and have enjoyed repeated viewings. The DVD extras like the commentary (complete with Mewes falling down drunk in mid recording) and missing scenes adds a lot to what is really a funny flick with no real depth.